Haldane (q.v.), was born in London on the 28th of February 1764. After
attending classes in the Dundee grammar school and in the high school
and university of Edinburgh in 1780, he joined H.M.S. "Monarch," of
which his uncle Lord Duncan was at that time in command, and in the
following year was transferred to the "Foudroyant," on board of which,
during the night engagement with the "Pegase," he greatly distinguished
himself. Haldane was afterwards present at the relief of Gibraltar, but
at the peace of 1783 he finally left the navy, and soon afterwards
settled on his estate of Airthrey, near Stirling. He put himself under
the tuition of David Bogue of Gosport and carried away deep impressions
from his academy. The earlier phases of the French Revolution excited
his deepest sympathy, a sympathy which induced him to avow his strong
disapproval of the war with France. As his over-sanguine visions of a
new order of things to be ushered in by political change disappeared, he
began to direct his thoughts to religious subjects. Resolving to devote
himself and his means wholly to the advancement of Christianity, his
first proposal for that end, made in 1796, was to organize a vast
mission to Bengal, of which he was to provide the entire expense; with
this view the greater part of his estate was sold, but the East India
Company refused to sanction the scheme, which therefore had to be
abandoned. In December 1797 he joined his brother and some others in the
formation of the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel at Home," in
building chapels or "tabernacles" for congregations, in supporting
missionaries, and in maintaining institutions for the education of young
men to carry on the work of evangelization. He is said to have spent
more than L70,000 in the course of the following twelve years
(1798-1810). He also initiated a plan for evangelizing Africa by
bringing over native children to be trained as Christian teachers to
their own countrymen. In 1816 he visited the continent, and first at
Geneva and afterwards in Montauban (1817) he lectured and interviewed
large numbers of theological students with remarkable effect; among them
were Malan, Monod and Merle d'Aubigne. Returning to Scotland in 1819, he
lived partly on his estate of Auchengray and partly in Edinburgh, and
like his brother took an active part, chiefly through the press, in many
of the religious controversies of the time. He died on the 12th of
December 1842.
In 1816 he published a work on the _Evidences and Authority of Divine
Revelation_, and in 1819 the substance of his theological prelections
in a _Commentaire sur l'Epitre aux Romains_. Among his later writings,
besides numerous pamphlets on what was known as "the Apocrypha
controversy," are a treatise _On the Inspiration of Scripture_ (1828),
which has passed through many editions, and a later _Exposition of the
Epistle to the Romans_ (1835), which has been frequently reprinted,
and has been translated into French and German.
See _Memoirs of R. and J. A. Haldane_, by Alexander Haldane (1852).
HALDEMAN, SAMUEL STEHMAN (1812-1880), American naturalist and
philologist, was born on the 12th of August 1812 at Locust Grove, Pa. He
was educated at Dickinson College, and in 1851 was appointed professor
of the natural sciences in the university of Pennsylvania. In 1855 he
went to Delaware College, where he filled the same position, but in 1869
he returned to the university of Pennsylvania as professor of
comparative philology and remained there till his death, which occurred
at Chickies, Pa., on the 10th of September 1880. His writings include
_Freshwater Univalve Mollusca of the United States_ (1840); _Zoological
Contributions_ (1842-1843); _Analytic Orthography_ (1860); _Tours of a
Chess Knight_ (1864); _Pennsylvania Dutch, a Dialect of South German
with an Infusion of English_ (1872); _Outlines of Etymology_ (1877); and
_Word-Building_ (1881).
HALDIMAND, SIR FREDERICK (1718-1791), British general and administrator,
was born at Yverdun, Neuchatel, Switzerland, on the 11th of August 1718,
of Huguenot descent. After serving in the armies of Sardinia, Russia and
Holland, he entered British service in 1754, and subsequently
naturalized as an English citizen. During the Seven Years' War he served
in America, was wounded at Ticonderoga (1758) and was present at the
taking of Montreal (1760). After filling with credit several
administrative positions in Canada, Florida and New York, in 1778 he
succeeded Sir Guy Carleton (afterwards Lord Dorchester) as
governor-general of Canada. His measures against French sympathizers
with the Americans have incurred extravagant strictures from
French-Canadian historians, but he really showed moderation as well as
energy. In 1785 he returned to London. He died at his birthplace on the
5th of June 1791.
His life has been well written by Jean McIlwraith in the "Makers of
Canada" series (Toronto, 1904). His Correspondence and Diary fill 262
volumes in the Canadian Archives, and are catalogued in the Annual
Reports (1884-1889).
HALE, EDWARD EVERETT (1822-1909), American author, was born in Boston on
the 3rd of April 1822, son of Nathan Hale (1784-1863), proprietor and
editor of the Boston _Daily Advertiser_, nephew of Edward Everett, the
orator and statesman, and grand-nephew of Nathan Hale, the martyr spy.
He graduated from Harvard in 1839; was pastor of the church of the
Unity, Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1846-1856, and of the South
Congregational (Unitarian) church, Boston, in 1856-1899; and in 1903
became chaplain of the United States Senate. He died at Roxbury
(Boston), Massachusetts, on the 10th of June 1909. His forceful
personality, organizing genius, and liberal practical theology, together
with his deep interest in the anti-slavery movement (especially in
Kansas), popular education (especially Chautauqua work), and the
working-man's home, were active in raising the tone of American life for
half a century. He was a constant and voluminous contributor to the
newspapers and magazines. He was an assistant editor of the Boston
_Daily Advertiser_, and edited the _Christian Examiner, Old and New_
(which he assisted in founding in 1869; in 1875 it was merged in
_Scribner's Magazine_), _Lend a Hand_ (founded by him in 1886 and merged
in the _Charities Review_ in 1897), and the _Lend a Hand Record_; and he
was the author or editor of more than sixty books--fiction, travel,
sermons, biography and history.
He first came into notice as a writer in 1859, when he contributed the
short story "My Double and How He Undid Me" to the _Atlantic Monthly_.
He soon published in the same periodical other stories, the best known
of which was "The Man Without a Country" (1863), which did much to
strengthen the Union cause in the North, and in which, as in some of his
other non-romantic tales, he employed a minute realism which has led his
readers to suppose the narrative a record of fact. The two stories
mentioned, and such others as "The Rag-Man and the Rag-Woman" and "The
Skeleton in the Closet," gave him a prominent position among the
short-story writers of America. The story _Ten Times One is Ten_ (1870),
with its hero Harry Wadsworth, and its motto, first enunciated in 1869
in his Lowell Institute lectures, "Look up and not down, look forward
and not back, look out and not in, and lend a hand," led to the
formation among young people of "Lend-a-Hand Clubs," "Look-up Legions"
and "Harry Wadsworth Clubs." Out of the romantic Waldensian story _In
His Name_ (1873) there similarly grew several other organizations for
religious work, such as "King's Daughters," and "King's Sons."
Among his other books are _Kansas and Nebraska_ (1854); _The Ingham
Papers_ (1869); _His Level Best, and Other Stories_ (1870); _Sybaris
and Other Homes_ (1871); _Philip Nolan's Friends_ (1876), his
best-known novel, and a sequel to _The Man Without a Country; The
Kingdom of God_ (1880); _Christmas at Narragansett_ (1885); _East and
West_, a novel (1892); _For Fifty Years_ (poems, 1893); _Ralph Waldo
Emerson_ (1899); _We, the People_ (1903); _Prayers Offered in the
Senate of the United States_ (1904), and _Tarry-at-Home Travels_
(1906). He edited Lingard's _History of England_ (1853), and
contributed to Winsor's _Memorial History of Boston_ (1880-1881), and
to his _Narrative and Critical History of America_ (1886-1889). With
his son, Edward Everett Hale, Jr., he published _Franklin in France_
(2 vols., 1887-1888), based largely on original research. The most
charming books of his later years were _A New England Boyhood_ (1893),
_James Russell Lowell and His Friends_ (1899), and _Memories of a
Hundred Years_ (1902).
A uniform and revised edition of his principal writings, in ten
volumes, appeared in 1899-1901.
HALE, HORATIO (1817-1896), American ethnologist, was born in Newport,
New Hampshire, on the 3rd of May 1817. He was the son of David Hale, a
lawyer, and of Sarah Josepha Hale (1790-1879), a popular poet, who,
besides editing _Godey's Lady's Magazine_ for many years and publishing
some ephemeral books, is supposed to have written the verses "Mary had a
little lamb," and to have been the first to suggest the national
observance of Thanksgiving Day. The son graduated in 1837 at Harvard,
and during 1838-1842 was philologist to the United States Exploring
Expedition, which under Captain Charles Wilkes sailed around the world.
Of the reports of that expedition Hale prepared the sixth volume,
_Ethnography and Philology_ (1846), which is said to have "laid the
foundations of the ethnography of Polynesia." He was admitted to the
Chicago bar in 1855, and in the following year removed to Clinton,
Ontario, Canada, where he practised his profession, and where on the
28th of December 1896 he died. He made many valuable contributions to
the science of ethnology, attracting attention particularly by his
theory of the origin of the diversities of human languages and
dialects--a theory suggested by his study of "child-languages," or the
languages invented by little children. He also emphasized the importance
of languages as tests of mental capacity and as "criteria for the
classification of human groups." He was, moreover, the first to discover
that the Tutelos of Virginia belonged to the Siouan family, and to
identify the Cherokee as a member of the Iroquoian family of speech.
Besides writing numerous magazine articles, he read a number of valuable
papers before learned societies. These include: _Indian Migrations as
Evidenced by Language_ (1882); _The Origin of Languages and the
Antiquity of Speaking Man_ (1886); _The Development of Language_ (1888);
and _Language as a Test of Mental Capacity: Being an Attempt to
Demonstrate the True Basis of Anthropology_ (1891). He also edited for
Brinton's "Library of Aboriginal Literature," the _Iroquois Book of
Rites_ (1883).
HALE, JOHN PARKER (1806-1873), American statesman, was born at
Rochester, New Hampshire, on the 31st of March 1806. He graduated at
Bowdoin College in 1827, was admitted to the New Hampshire bar in 1830,
was a member of the state House of Representatives in 1832, and from
1834 to 1841 was United States district attorney for New Hampshire. In
1843-1845 he was a Democratic member of the national House of
Representatives, and, though his earnest co-operation with John Quincy
Adams in securing the repeal of the "gag rule" directed against the
presentation to Congress of anti-slavery petitions estranged him from
the leaders of his party, he was renominated without opposition. In
January 1845, however, he refused in a public statement to obey a
resolution (28th of December 1844) of the state legislature directing
him and his New Hampshire associates in Congress to support the cause of
the annexation of Texas, a Democratic measure which Hale regarded as
being distinctively in the interest of slavery. The Democratic State
convention was at once reassembled, Hale was denounced, and his
nomination withdrawn. In the election which followed Hale ran
independently, and, although the Democratic candidates were elected in
the other three congressional districts of the state, his vote was large
enough to prevent any choice (for which a majority was necessary) in his
own. Hale then set out in the face of apparently hopeless odds to win
over his state to the anti-slavery cause. The remarkable canvass which
he conducted is known in the history of New Hampshire as the "Hale
Storm of 1845." The election resulted in the choice of a legislature
controlled by the Whigs and the independent Democrats, he himself being
chosen as a member of the state House of Representatives, of which in
1846 he was speaker. He is remembered, however, chiefly for his long
service in the United States Senate, of which he was a member from 1847
to 1853 and again from 1855 to 1865. At first he was the only
out-and-out anti-slavery senator,--he alone prevented the vote of thanks
to General Taylor and General Scott for their Mexican war victories from
being made unanimous in the Senate (February 1848)--but in 1849 Salmon
P. Chase and William H. Seward, and in 1851 Charles Sumner joined him,
and the anti-slavery cause became for the first time a force to be
reckoned with in that body. In October 1847 he had been nominated for
president by the Liberty party, but he withdrew in favour of Martin Van
Buren, the Free Soil candidate, in 1848. In 1851 he was senior counsel
for the rescuers of the slave Shadrach in Boston. In 1852 he was the
Free Soil candidate for the presidency, but received only 156,149 votes.
In 1850 he secured the abolition of flogging in the U.S. navy, and
through his efforts in 1862 the spirit ration in the navy was abolished.
He was one of the organizers of the Republican party, and during the
Civil War was an eloquent supporter of the Union and chairman of the
Senate naval committee. From 1865 to 1869 he was United States minister
to Spain. He died at Dover, New Hampshire, on the 19th of December 1873.
A statue of Hale, presented by his son-in-law William Eaton Chandler (b.
1835), U.S. senator from New Hampshire in 1887-1901, was erected in
front of the Capitol in Concord, New Hampshire, in 1892.
HALE, SIR MATTHEW (1609-1676), lord chief justice of England, was born
on the 1st of November 1609 at Alderley in Gloucestershire, where his
father, a retired barrister, had a small estate. His paternal
grandfather was a rich clothier of Wotton-under-Edge; on his mother's
side he was connected with the noble family of the Poyntzes of Acton.
Left an orphan when five years old, he was placed by his guardian under
the care of the Puritan vicar of Wotton-under-Edge, with whom he
remained till he attained his sixteenth year, when he entered Magdalen
Hall, Oxford. At Oxford, Hale studied for several terms with a view to
holy orders, but suddenly there came a change. The diligent student, at
first attracted by a company of strolling players, threw aside his
studies, and plunged carelessly into gay society. He soon decided to
change his profession; and resolved to trail a pike as a soldier under
the prince of Orange in the Low Countries. Before going abroad, however,
Hale found himself obliged to proceed to London in order to give
instructions for his defence in a legal action which threatened to
deprive him of his patrimony. His leading counsel was the celebrated
Serjeant Glanville (1586-1661), who, perceiving in the acuteness and
sagacity of his youthful client a peculiar fitness for the legal
profession, succeeded, with much difficulty, in inducing him to renounce
his military for a legal career, and on the 8th of November 1629 Hale
became a member of the honourable society of Lincoln's Inn.
He immediately resumed his habits of intense application. The rules
which he laid down for himself, and which are still extant in his
handwriting, prescribe sixteen hours a day of close application, and
prove, not only the great mental power, but also the extraordinary
physical strength he must have possessed, and for which indeed, during
his residence at the university, he had been remarkable. During the
period allotted to his preliminary studies, he read over and over again
all the yearbooks, reports, and law treatises in print, and at the Tower
of London and other antiquarian repositories examined and carefully
studied the records from the foundation of the English monarchy down to
his own time. But Hale did not confine himself to law. He dedicated no
small portion of his time to the study of pure mathematics, to
investigations in physics and chemistry, and even to anatomy and
architecture; and there can be no doubt that this varied learning
enhanced considerably the value of many of his judicial decisions.
Hale was called to the bar in 1637, and almost at once found himself in
full practice. Though neither a fluent speaker nor bold pleader, in a
very few years he was at the head of his profession. He entered public
life at perhaps the most critical period of English history. Two parties
were contending in the state, and their obstinacy could not fail to
produce a most direful collision. But amidst the confusion Hale steered
a middle course, rising in reputation, and an object of solicitation
from both parties. Taking Pomponius Atticus as his political model, he
was persuaded that a man, a lawyer and a judge could best serve his
country and benefit his countrymen by holding aloof from partisanship
and its violent prejudices, which are so apt to distort and confuse the
judgment. But he is best vindicated from the charges of selfishness and
cowardice by the thoughts and meditations contained in his private
diaries and papers, where the purity and honour of his motives are
clearly seen. It has been said, but without certainty, that Hale was
engaged as counsel for the earl of Strafford; he certainly acted for
Archbishop Laud, Lord Maguire, Christopher Love, the duke of Hamilton
and others. It is also said that he was ready to plead on the side of
Charles I. had that monarch submitted to the court. The parliament
having gained the ascendancy, Hale signed the Solemn League and
Covenant, and was a member of the famous assembly of divines at
Westminster in 1644; but although he would undoubtedly have preferred a
Presbyterian form of church government, he had no serious objection to
the system of modified Episcopacy, proposed by Usher. Consistently with
his desire to remain neutral, Hale took the engagement to the
Commonwealth as he had done to the king, and in 1653, already serjeant,
he became a judge in the court of common pleas. Two years afterwards he
sat in Cromwell's parliament as one of the members for Gloucestershire.
After the death of the protector, however, he declined to act as a judge
under Richard Cromwell, although he represented Oxford in Richard's
parliament. At the Restoration in 1660 Hale was very graciously received
by Charles II., and in the same year was appointed chief baron of the
exchequer, and accepted, with extreme reluctance, the honour of
knighthood. After holding the office of chief baron for eleven years he
was raised to the higher dignity of lord chief justice, which he held
till February 1676, when his failing health compelled him to resign. He
retired to his native Alderley, where he died on the 25th of December of
the same year. He was twice married and survived all his ten children
save two.
As a judge Sir Matthew Hale discharged his duties with resolute
independence and careful diligence. His sincere piety made him the
intimate friend of Isaac Barrow, Archbishop Tillotson, Bishop Wilkins
and Bishop Stillingfleet, as well as of the Nonconformist leader,
Richard Baxter. He is chargeable, however, with the condemnation and
execution of two poor women tried before him for witchcraft in 1664, a
kind of judicial murder then falling under disuse. He is also reproached
with having hastened the execution of a soldier for whom he had reason
to believe a pardon was preparing.
Of Hale's legal works the only two of importance are his _Historia
placitorum coronae, or History of the Pleas of the Crown_ (1736); and
the _History of the Common Law of England, with an Analysis of the
Law_, &c. (1713). Among his numerous religious writings the
_Contemplations, Moral and Divine_, occupy the first place. Others are
_The Primitive Origination of Man_ (1677); _Of the Nature of True
Religion_, &c. (1684); _A Brief Abstract of the Christian Religion_
(1688). One of his most popular works is the collection of _Letters of
Advice to his Children and Grandchildren_. He also wrote an _Essay
touching the Gravitation or Nongravitation of Fluid Bodies_ (1673);
_Difficiles Nugae, or Observations touching the Torricellian
Experiment_, &c. (1675); and a translation of the _Life of Pomponius
Atticus_, by Cornelius Nepos (1677). His efforts in poetry were
inauspicious. He left his valuable collection of MSS. and records to
the library of Lincoln's Inn. His life has been written by G. Burnet
(1682); by J. B. Williams (1835); by H. Roscoe, in his _Lives of
Eminent Lawyers_, in 1838; by Lord Campbell, in his _Lives of the
Chief Justices_, in 1849; and by E. Foss in his _Lives of the Judges_
(1848-1870).
HALE, NATHAN (1756-1776). American hero of the War of Independence, was
born at Coventry, Conn., and educated at Yale, then becoming a school
teacher. He joined a Connecticut regiment after the breaking out of the
war, and served in the siege of Boston, being commissioned a captain at
the opening of 1776. When Heath's brigade departed for New York he went
with them, and the tradition is that he was one of a small and daring
band who captured an English provision sloop from under the very guns of
a man-of-war. But on the 21st of September, having volunteered to enter
the British lines to obtain information concerning the enemy, he was
captured in his disguise of a Dutch school-teacher and on the 22nd was
hanged. The penalty was in accordance with military law, but young
Hale's act was a brave one, and he has always been glorified as a
martyr. Tradition attributes to him the saying that he only regretted
that he had but one life to lose for his country; and it is said that
his request for a Bible and the services of a minister was refused by
his captors. There is a fine statue of Hale by Macmonnies in New York.
See H. P. Johnston, _Nathan Hale_ (1901).
HALE, WILLIAM GARDNER (1849- ), American classical scholar, was born
on the 9th of February 1849 in Savannah, Georgia. He graduated at
Harvard University in 1870, and took a post-graduate course in
philosophy there in 1874-1876; studied classical philology at Leipzig
and Gottingen in 1876-1877; was tutor in Latin at Harvard from 1877 to
1880, and professor of Latin in Cornell University from 1880 to 1892,
when he became professor of Latin and head of the Latin department of
the University of Chicago. From 1894 to 1899 he was chairman and in
1895-1896 first director of the American School of Classical Studies at
Rome. He is best known as an original teacher on questions of syntax. In
The _Cum-Constructions: Their History and Functions_, which appeared in
_Cornell University Studies in Classical Philology_ (1888-1889; and in
German version by Neizert in 1891), he attacked Hoffmann's distinction
between absolute and relative temporal clauses as published in
_Lateinische Zeitpartikeln_ (1874); Hoffmann replied in 1891, and the
best summary of the controversy is in Wetzel's _Der Streit zwischen
Hoffmann und Hale_ (1892). Hale wrote also _The Sequence of Tenses in
Latin_ (1887-1888), _The Anticipatory Subjunctive in Greek and Latin_
(1894), and a _Latin Grammar_ (1903), to which the parts on sounds,
inflection and word-formation were contributed by Carl Darling Buck.
HALEBID, a village in Mysore state, southern India; pop. (1901), 1524.
The name means "old capital," being the site of Dorasamudra, the capital
of the Hoysala dynasty founded early in the 11th century. In 1310 and
again in 1326 it was taken and plundered by the first Mahommedan invader
of southern India. Two temples, still standing, though never completed
and greatly ruined, are regarded as the finest examples of the
elaborately carved Chalukyan style of architecture.
HALES, or HAYLES, JOHN (d. 1571), English writer and politician, was a
son of Thomas Hales of Hales Place, Halden, Kent. He wrote his _Highway
to Nobility_ about 1543, and was the founder of a free school at
Coventry for which he wrote _Introductiones ad grammaticam_. In
political life Hales, who was member of parliament for Preston, was
specially concerned with opposing the enclosure of land, being the most
active of the commissioners appointed in 1548 to redress this evil; but
he failed to carry several remedial measures through parliament. When
the protector, the duke of Somerset, was deprived of his authority in
1550, Hales left England and lived for some time at Strassburg and
Frankfort, returning to his own country on the accession of Elizabeth.
However he soon lost the royal favour by writing a pamphlet, _A
Declaration of the Succession of the Crowne Imperiall of Inglande_,
which declared that the recent marriage between Lady Catherine Grey and
Edward Seymour, earl of Hertford, was legitimate, and asserted that,
failing direct heirs to Elizabeth, the English crown should come to Lady
Catherine as the descendant of Mary, daughter of Henry VII. The author
was imprisoned, but was quickly released, and died on the 28th of
December 1571. The _Discourse of the Common Weal_, described as "one of
the most informing documents of the age," and written about 1549, has
been attributed to Hales. This has been edited by E. Lamond (Cambridge,
1893).
Hales is often confused with another John Hales, who was clerk of the
hanaper under Henry VIII. and his three immediate successors.
HALES, JOHN (1584-1656), English scholar, frequently referred to as "the
ever memorable," was born at Bath on the 19th of April 1584, and was
educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He was elected a fellow of
Merton in 1605, and in 1612 he was appointed public lecturer on Greek.
In 1613 he was made a fellow of Eton. Five years later he went to
Holland, as chaplain to the English ambassador, Sir Dudley Carleton, who
despatched him to Dort to report upon the proceedings of the synod then
sitting. In 1619 he returned to Eton and spent his time among his books
and in the company of literary men, among whom he was highly reputed for
his common sense, his erudition and his genial charity. Andrew Marvell
called him "one of the clearest heads and best-prepared breasts in
Christendom." His eirenical tract entitled _Schism and Schismaticks_
(1636) fell into the hands of Archbishop Laud, and Hales, hearing that
he had disapproved of it, is said to have written to the prelate a
vindication of his position. This led to a meeting, and in 1639 Hales
was made one of Laud's chaplains and also a canon of Windsor. In 1642 he
was deprived of his canonry by the parliamentary committee, and two
years later was obliged to hide in Eton with the college documents and
keys. In 1649 he refused to take the "Engagement" and was ejected from
his fellowship. He then retired to Buckinghamshire, where he found a
home with Mrs Salter, the sister of the bishop of Salisbury (Brian
Duppa), and acted as tutor to her son. The issue of the order against
harbouring malignants led him to return to Eton. Here, having sold his
valuable library at great sacrifice, he lived in poverty until his death
on the 19th of May 1656.
His collected works (3 vols.) were edited by Lord Hailes, and
published in 1765.
HALES, STEPHEN (1677-1761), English physiologist, chemist and inventor,
was born at Bekesbourne in Kent on the 7th or 17th of September 1677,
the fifth (or sixth) son of Thomas Hales, whose father, Sir Robert
Hales, was created a baronet by Charles II. in 1670. In June 1696 he was
entered as a pensioner of Benet (now Corpus Christi) College, Cambridge,
with the view of taking holy orders, and in February 1703 was admitted
to a fellowship. He received the degree of master of arts in 1703 and of
bachelor of divinity in 1711. One of his most intimate friends was
William Stukeley (1687-1765) with whom he studied anatomy, chemistry,
&c. In 1708-1709 Hales was presented to the perpetual curacy of
Teddington in Middlesex, where he remained all his life, notwithstanding
that he was subsequently appointed rector of Porlock in Somerset, and
later of Faringdon in Hampshire. In 1717 he was elected fellow of the
Royal Society, which awarded him the Copley medal in 1739. In 1732 he
was named one of a committee for establishing a colony in Georgia, and
the next year he received the degree of doctor of divinity from Oxford.
He was appointed almoner to the princess-dowager of Wales in 1750. On
the death of Sir Hans Sloane in 1753, Hales was chosen foreign associate
of the French Academy of Sciences. He died at Teddington on the 4th of
January 1761.
Hales is best known for his _Statical Essays_. The first volume,
_Vegetable Staticks_ (1727), contains an account of numerous experiments
in plant-physiology--the loss of water in plants by evaporation, the
rate of growth of shoots and leaves, variations in root-force at
different times of the day, &c. Considering it very probable that plants
draw "through their leaves some part of their nourishment from the air,"
he undertook experiments to show in "how great a proportion air is
wrought into the composition of animal, vegetable and mineral
substances"; though this "analysis of the air" did not lead him to any
very clear ideas about the composition of the atmosphere, in the course
of his inquiries he collected gases over water in vessels separate from
those in which they were generated, and thus used what was to all
intents and purposes a "pneumatic trough." The second volume (1733) on
_Haemostaticks_, containing experiments on the "force of the blood" in
various animals, its rate of flow, the capacity of the different
vessels, &c., entitles him to be regarded as one of the originators of
experimental physiology. But he did not confine his attention to
abstract inquiries. The quest of a solvent for calculus in the bladder
and kidneys was pursued by him as by others at the period, and he
devised a form of forceps which, on the testimony of John Ranby
(1703-1773), sergeant-surgeon to George II., extracted stones with
"great ease and readiness." His observations of the evil effect of
vitiated air caused him to devise a "ventilator" (a modified
organ-bellows) by which fresh air could be conveyed into gaols,
hospitals, ships'-holds, &c.; this apparatus was successful in reducing
the mortality in the Savoy prison, and it was introduced into France by
the aid of H. L. Duhamel du Monceau. Among other things Hales invented a
"sea-gauge" for sounding, and processes for distilling fresh from sea
water, for preserving corn from weevils by fumigation with brimstone,
and for salting animals whole by passing brine into their arteries. His
_Admonition to the Drinkers of Gin, Brandy, &c._, published anonymously
in 1734, has been several times reprinted.
HALESOWEN, a market town in the Oldbury parliamentary division of
Worcestershire, England, on a branch line of the Great Western and
Midland railways, 6-1/2 m. W.S.W. of Birmingham. Pop. (1901), 4057. It
lies in a pleasant country among the eastern foothills of the Lickey
Hills. There are extensive iron and steel manufactures. The church of SS
Mary and John the Baptist has rude Norman portions; and the poet William
Shenstone, buried in 1763 in the churchyard, has a memorial in the
church. His delight in landscape gardening is exemplified in the
neighbouring estate of the Leasowes, which was his property. There is a
grammar school founded in 1652, and in the neighbourhood is the
Methodist foundation of Bourne College (1883). Close to the town, on the
river Stour, which rises in the vicinity, are slight ruins of a
Premonstratensian abbey of Early English date. Within the parish and 2
m. N.W. of Halesowen is Cradley, with iron and steel works, fire-clay
works and a large nail and chain industry.
HALEVI, JUDAH BEN SAMUEL (c. 1085-c. 1140), the greatest Hebrew poet of
the middle ages, was born in Toledo c. 1085, and died in Palestine after
1140. In his youth he wrote Hebrew love poems of exquisite fancy, and
several of his Wedding Odes are included in the liturgy of the
Synagogue. The mystical connexion between marital affection and the love
of God had, in the view of older exegesis, already expressed itself in
the scriptural _Song of Songs_ and Judah Halevi used this book as his
model. In this aspect of his work he found inspiration also in Arabic
predecessors. The second period of his literary career was devoted to
more serious pursuits. He wrote a philosophical dialogue in five books,
called the _Cuzari_, which has been translated into English by
Hirschfeld. This book bases itself on the historical fact that the
Crimean Kingdom of the Khazars adopted Judaism, and the Hebrew
poet-philosopher describes what he conceives to be the steps by which
the Khazar king satisfied himself as to the claims of Judaism. Like many
other medieval Jewish authors, Judah Halevi was a physician. His real
fame depends on his liturgical hymns, which are the finest written in
Hebrew since the Psalter, and are extensively used in the Septardic
rite. A striking feature of his thought was his devotion to Jerusalem.
To the love of the Holy City he devoted his noblest genius, and he wrote
some memorable Odes to Zion, which have been commemorated by Heine, and
doubly appreciated recently under the impulse of Zionism (q.v.). He
started for Jerusalem, was in Damascus in 1140, and soon afterwards
died. Legend has it that he was slain by an Arab horseman just as he
arrived within sight of what Heine called his "Woebegone poor darling,
Desolation's very image,--Jerusalem."
Excellent English renderings of some of Judah Halevi's poems may be
read in Mrs H. Lucas's _The Jewish Year_, and Mrs R. N. Solomon's
_Songs of Exile_. (I. A.)
HALEVY, JACQUES FRANCOIS FROMENTAL ELIE (1799-1862), French composer,
was born on the 27th of May 1799, at Paris, of a Jewish family. He
studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Berton and Cherubini, and in
1819 gained the grand prix de Rome with his cantata _Herminie_. In
accordance with the conditions of his scholarship he started for Rome,
where he devoted himself to the study of Italian music, and wrote an
opera and various minor works. In 1827 his opera _L'Artisan_ was
performed at the Theatre Feydeau in Paris, apparently without much
success. Other works of minor importance, and now forgotten, followed,
amongst which _Manon Lescaut_, a ballet, produced in 1830, deserves
mention. In 1834 the Opera-Comique produced _Ludovic_, the score of
which had been begun by Herold and had been completed by Halevy. In 1835
Halevy composed the tragic opera _La Juive_ and the comic opera
_L'Eclair_, and on these works his fame is mainly founded. The famous
air of Eleazar and the anathema of the cardinal in _La Juive_ soon
became popular all over France. _L'Eclair_ is a curiosity of musical
literature. It is written for two tenors and two soprani, without a
chorus, and displays the composer's mastery over the most refined
effects of instrumentation and vocalization in a favourable light. After
these two works he wrote numerous operas of various genres, amongst
which only _La Reine de Chypre_, a spectacular piece analyzed by Wagner
in one of his Paris letters (1841), and _La Tempesta_, in three acts,
written for Her Majesty's theatre, London (1850), need be mentioned. In
addition to his productive work Halevy also rendered valuable services
as a teacher. He was professor at the Conservatoire from 1827 till his
death--some of the most successful amongst the younger composers in
France, such as Gounod, Victor Masse and Georges Bizet, the author of
_Carmen_, being amongst his pupils. He was _maestro al cembalo_ at the
Theatre Italien from 1827 to 1829; then director of singing at the Opera
House in Paris until 1845, and in 1836 he succeeded Reicha at the
Institut de France. Halevy also tried his hand at literature. In 1857 he
became permanent secretary to the Academie des Beaux Arts, and there
exists an agreeable volume of _Souvenirs et portraits_ from his pen. He
died at Nice, on the 17th of March 1862.
HALEVY, LUDOVIC (1834-1908), French author, was born in Paris on the 1st
of January 1834. His father, Leon Halevy (1802-1883), was a clever and
versatile writer, who tried almost every branch of literature--prose and
verse, vaudeville, drama, history--without, however, achieving decisive
success in any. His uncle, J. F. Fromental E. Halevy (q.v.), was for
many years associated with the opera; hence the double and early
connexion of Ludovic Halevy with the Parisian stage. At the age of six
he might have been seen playing in that _Foyer de la danse_ with which
he was to make his readers so familiar, and, when a boy of twelve, he
would often, of a Sunday night, on his way back to the College Louis le
Grand, look in at the Odeon, where he had free admittance, and see the
first act of the new play. At eighteen he joined the ranks of the French
administration and occupied various posts, the last being that of
secretaire-redacteur to the Corps Legislatif. In that capacity he
enjoyed the special favour and friendship of the famous duke of Morny,
then president of that assembly. In 1865 Ludovic Halevy's increasing
popularity as an author enabled him to retire from the public service.
Ten years earlier he had become acquainted with the musician Offenbach,
who was about to start a small theatre of his own in the Champs Elysees,
and he wrote a sort of prologue, _Entrez, messieurs, mesdames_, for the
opening night. Other little productions followed, _Ba-ta-clan_ being the
most noticeable among them. They were produced under the pseudonym of
Jules Servieres. The name of Ludovic Halevy appeared for the first time
on the bills on the 1st of January 1856. Soon afterwards the
unprecedented run of _Orphee aux enfers_, a musical parody, written in
collaboration with Hector Cremieux, made his name famous. In the spring
of 1860 he was commissioned to write a play for the manager of the
Varietes in conjunction with another vaudevillist, Lambert Thiboust. The
latter having abruptly retired from the collaboration, Halevy was at a
loss how to carry out the contract, when on the steps of the theatre he
met Henri Meilhac (1831-1897), then comparatively a stranger to him. He
proposed to Meilhac the task rejected by Lambert Thiboust, and the
proposal was immediately accepted. Thus began a connexion which was to
last over twenty years, and which proved most fruitful both for the
reputation of the two authors and the prosperity of the minor Paris
theatres. Their joint works may be divided into three classes: the
_operettes_, the farces, the comedies. The _operettes_ afforded
excellent opportunities to a gifted musician for the display of his
peculiar humour. They were broad and lively libels against the society
of the time, but savoured strongly of the vices and follies they were
supposed to satirize. Amongst the most celebrated works of the joint
authors were _La Belle Helene_ (1864), _Barbe Bleue_ (1866), _La Grande
Duchesse de Gerolstein_ (1867), and _La Perichole_ (1868). After 1870
the vogue of Parody rapidly declined. The decadence became still more
apparent when Offenbach was no longer at hand to assist the two authors
with his quaint musical irony, and when they had to deal with
interpreters almost destitute of singing powers. They wrote farces of
the old type, consisting of complicated intrigues, with which they
cleverly interwove the representation of contemporary whims and social
oddities. They generally failed when they attempted comedies of a more
serious character and tried to introduce a higher sort of emotion. A
solitary exception must be made in the case of _Frou-frou_ (1869),
which, owing perhaps to the admirable talent of Aimee Desclee, remains
their unique _succes de larmes_.
Meilhac and Halevy will be found at their best in light sketches of
Parisian life, _Les Sonnettes_, _Le Roi Candaule_, _Madame attend
Monsieur_, _Toto chez Tata_. In that intimate association between the
two men who had met so opportunely on the _perron des varietes_, it was
often asked who was the leading partner. The question was not answered
until the connexion was finally severed and they stood before the
public, each to answer for his own work. It was then apparent that they
had many gifts in common. Both had wit, humour, observation of
character. Meilhac had a ready imagination, a rich and whimsical fancy;
Halevy had taste, refinement and pathos of a certain kind. Not less
clever than his brilliant comrade, he was more human. Of this he gave
evidence in two delightful books, _Monsieur et Madame Cardinal_ (1873)
and _Les Petites Cardinal_, in which the lowest orders of the Parisian
middle class are faithfully described. The pompous, pedantic, venomous
Monsieur Cardinal will long survive as the true image of sententious and
self-glorifying immorality. M. Halevy's peculiar qualities are even more
visible in the simple and striking scenes of the _Invasion_, published
soon after the conclusion of the Franco-German War, in _Criquette_
(1883) and _L'Abbe Constantin_ (1882), two novels, the latter of which
went through innumerable editions. Zola had presented to the public an
almost exclusive combination of bad men and women; in _L'Abbe
Constantin_ all are kind and good, and the change was eagerly welcomed
by the public. Some enthusiasts still maintain that the _Abbe_ will rank
permanently in literature by the side of the equally chimerical _Vicar
of Wakefield_. At any rate, it opened for M. Ludovic Halevy the doors of
the French Academy, to which he was elected in 1884.
Halevy remained an assiduous frequenter of the Academy, the
Conservatoire, the Comedie Francaise, and the Society of Dramatic
Authors, but, when he died in Paris on the 8th of May 1908, he had
produced practically nothing new for many years. His last romance, _Kari
Kari_, appeared in 1892.
The _Theatre_ of MM. Meilhac and Halevy was published in 8 vols.
(1900-1902).
HALFPENNY, WILLIAM, English 18th-century architectural designer--he
described himself as "architect and carpenter." He was also known as
Michael Hoare; but whether his real name was William Halfpenny or
Michael Hoare is uncertain. His books, of which he published a score,
deal almost entirely with domestic architecture, and especially with
country houses in those Gothic and Chinese fashions which were so
greatly in vogue in the middle of the 18th century. His most important
publications, from the point of view of their effect upon taste, were
_New Designs for Chinese Temples_, in four parts (1750-1752); _Rural
Architecture in the Gothic Taste_ (1752); _Chinese and Gothic
Architecture Properly Ornamented_ (1752); and _Rural Architecture in the
Chinese Taste_ (1750-1752). These four books were produced in
collaboration with John Halfpenny, who is said to have been his son.
_New Designs for Chinese Temples_ is a volume of some significance in
the history of furniture, since, having been published some years before
the books of Thomas Chippendale and Sir Thomas Chambers, it disproves
the statement so often made that those designers introduced the Chinese
taste into this country. Halfpenny states distinctly that "the Chinese
manner" had been "already introduced here with success." The work of the
Halfpennys was by no means all contemptible. It is sometimes distinctly
graceful, but is marked by little originality.
HALF-TIMBER WORK, an architectural term given to those buildings in
which the framework is of timber with vertical studs and cross pieces
filled in between with brickwork, rubble masonry or plaster work on oak
laths; in the first two, brick nogging or nogging are the terms
occasionally employed (see CARPENTRY). Sometimes the timber structure is
raised on a stone or brick foundation, as at Ledbury town hall in
Herefordshire, where the lower storey is open on all sides; but more
often it is raised on a ground storey, either in brick or stone, and in
order to give additional size to the upper rooms projects forward, being
carried on the floor joists. Sometimes the masonry or brickwork rises
through two or three storeys and the half-brick work is confined to the
gables. There seems to be some difference of opinion as to whether the
term applies to the mixture of solid walling with the timber structure
or to the alternation of wood posts and the filling in, but the latter
definition is that which is generally understood. The half-timber
throughout England is of the most picturesque description, and the
earliest examples date from towards the close of the 15th century. In
the earliest example, Newgate House, York (c. 1450), the timber framing
is raised over the ground floor. The finest specimen is perhaps that of
Moreton Old Hall, Cheshire (1570), where there is only a stone
foundation about 12 in. high, and the same applies to Bramall Hall, near
Manchester, portions of which are very early. Among other examples are
Speke Hall, Lancashire; Park Hall, Shropshire (1553-1558); Hall i' th'
Wood, Lancashire (1591); St Peter's Hospital, Bristol (1607); the Ludlow
Feather's Inn (1610); many of the streets at Chester and Shrewsbury; the
Sparrowe's Home, Ipswich; and Staple Inn, Holborn, from which in recent
years the plaster coat which was put on many years ago has been removed,
displaying the ancient woodwork. A similar fate has overtaken a very
large number of half-timber buildings to keep out the driving winds;
thus in Lewes nearly all the half-timbered houses have had slates hung
on the timbers, others tiles, the greater number having been covered
with plaster or stucco. Although there are probably many more
half-timber houses in England than on the continent of Europe, in the
north of France and in Germany are examples in many of the principal
towns, and in some cases in better preservation than in England. They
are also enriched with carving of a purer and better type, especially in
France; thus at Chartres, Angers, Rouen, Caen, Lisieux, Bayeux, St Lo
and Beauvais, are many extremely fine examples of late Flamboyant and
early Transitional examples. Again on the borders of the Rhine in all
the small towns most of the houses are in half-timber work, the best
examples being at Bacharach, Rhense and Boppart. Far more elaborate
examples, however, are found in the vicinity of the Harz Mountains; the
supply of timber from the forests there being very abundant; thus at
Goslar, Wernigerode and Quedlingburg there is an endless variety, as
also farther on at Gelnhausen and Hameln, the finest series of all being
at Hildesheim. In Bavaria at Nuremberg, Rothenburg and Dinkelsbuhl,
half-timber houses dating from the 16th century are still well
preserved; and throughout Switzerland the houses constructed in timber
and plaster are the most characteristic features of the country.
HALFWAY COVENANT, an expedient adopted in the Congregational churches of
New England between 1657 and 1662. Under its terms baptized persons of
moral life and orthodox belief might receive the privilege of baptism
for their children and other church benefits, without the full enrolment
in membership which admitted them to the communion of the Lord's Supper.
See CONGREGATIONALISM: _American_.
HALHED, NATHANIEL BRASSEY (1751-1830), English Orientalist and
philologist, was born at Westminster on the 25th of May 1751. He was
educated at Harrow, where he began his intimacy with Richard Brinsley
Sheridan (see SHERIDAN FAMILY) continued after he entered Christ Church,
Oxford, where, also, he made the acquaintance of Sir William Jones, the
famous Orientalist, who induced him to study Arabic. Accepting a
writership in the service of the East India Company, Halhed went out to
India, and here, at the suggestion of Warren Hastings, by whose orders
it had been compiled, translated the Gentoo code from a Persian version
of the original Sanskrit. This translation was published in 1776 under
the title _A Code of Gentoo Laws_. In 1778 he published a Bengali
grammar, to print which he set up, at Hugli, the first press in India.
It is claimed for him that he was the first writer to call attention to
the philological connexion of Sanskrit with Persian, Arabic, Greek and
Latin. In 1785 he returned to England, and from 1790-1795 was M.P. for
Lymington, Hants. For some time he was a disciple of Richard Brothers
(q.v.), and his unwise speech in parliament in defence of Brothers made
it impossible for him to remain in the House, from which he resigned in
1795. He subsequently obtained a home appointment under the East India
Company. He died in London on the 18th of February 1830.
His collection of Oriental manuscripts was purchased by the British
Museum, and there is an unfinished translation by him of the
_Mahabharata_ in the library of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
HALIBURTON, THOMAS CHANDLER (1796-1865), British writer, long a judge of
Nova Scotia, was born at Windsor, Nova Scotia, in 1796, and received his
education there, at King's College. He was called to the bar in 1820,
and became a member of the House of Assembly. He distinguished himself
as a barrister, and in 1828 was promoted to the bench as a chief-justice
of the common pleas. In 1829 he published _An Historical and Statistical
Account of Nova Scotia_. But it is as a brilliant humourist and satirist
that he is remembered, in connexion with his fictitious character "Sam
Slick." In 1835 he contributed anonymously to a local paper a series of
letters professedly depicting the peculiarities of the genuine Yankee.
These sketches, which abounded in clever picturings of national and
individual character, drawn with great satirical humour, were collected
in 1837, and published under the title of _The Clockmaker, or Sayings
and Doings of Samuel Slick of Slickville_. A second series followed in
1838, and a third in 1840. _The Attache, or Sam Slick in England_
(1843-1844), was the result of a visit there in 1841. His other works
include: _The Old Judge, or Life in a Colony_ (1843); _The Letter Bag of
the Great Western_ (1839); _Rule and Misrule of the English in America_
(1851); _Traits of American Humour_ (1852); and _Nature and Human
Nature_ (1855).
Meanwhile he continued to secure popular esteem in his judicial
capacity. In 1840 he was promoted to be a judge of the supreme court;
but within two years he resigned his seat on the bench, removed to
England, and in 1859 entered parliament as the representative of
Launceston, in the Conservative interest. But the tenure of his seat for
Launceston was brought to an end by the dissolution of the parliament in
1865, and he did not again offer himself to the constituency. He died on
the 27th of August of the same year, at Gordon House, Isleworth,
Middlesex.
A memoir of Haliburton, by F. Blake Crofton, appeared in 1889.
HALIBUT, or HOLIBUT (_Hippoglossus vulgaris_), the largest of all
flat-fishes, growing to a length of 10 ft. or more, specimens of 5 ft.
in length and of 100 [lb] in weight being frequently exposed for sale in
the markets. Indeed, specimens under 2 ft. in length are very rarely
caught, and singularly enough, no instance is known of a very young
specimen having been obtained. Small ones are commonly called "chicken
halibut." The halibut is much more frequent in the higher latitudes of
the temperate zone than in its southern portion; it is a circumpolar
species, being found on the northern coasts of America, Europe and Asia,
extending in the Pacific southwards to California. On the British coasts
it keeps at some distance from the shore, and is generally caught in
from 50 to 150 fathoms. Its flesh is generally considered coarse, but it
is white and firm, and when properly served is excellent for the table.
The name is derived from "holy" (M.E. _haly_), and recalls its use for
food on holy days.
HALICARNASSUS (mod. _Budrum_), an ancient Greek city on the S.W. coast
of Caria, Asia Minor, on a picturesque and advantageous site on the
Ceramic Gulf or Gulf of Cos. It originally occupied only the small
island of Zephyria close to the shore, now occupied by the great castle
of St Peter, built by the Knights of Rhodes in 1404; but in course of
time this island was united to the mainland and the city extended so as
to incorporate Salmacis, an older town of the Leleges and Carians.
About the foundation of Halicarnassus various traditions were current;
but they agree in the main point as to its being a Dorian colony, and
the figures on its coins, such as the head of Medusa, Athena and
Poseidon, or the trident, support the statement that the mother cities
were Troezen and Argos. The inhabitants appear to have accepted as their
legendary founder Anthes, mentioned by Strabo, and were proud of the
title of Antheadae. At an early period Halicarnassus was a member of the
Doric Hexapolis, which included Cos, Cnidus, Lindus, Camirus and
Ialysus; but one of the citizens, Agasicles, having taken home the prize
tripod which he had won in the Triopian games instead of dedicating it
according to custom to the Triopian Apollo, the city was cut off from
the league. In the early 5th century Halicarnassus was under the sway of
Artemisia, who made herself famous at the battle of Salamis. Of
Pisindalis, her son and successor, little is known; but Lygdamis, who
next attained to power, is notorious for having put to death the poet
Panyasis and caused Herodotus, the greatest of Halicarnassians, to leave
his native city (c. 457 B.C.). In the 5th century B.C. Halicarnassus and
other Dorian cities of Asia were to some extent absorbed by the Delian
League, but the peace of Antalcidas in 387 made them subservient to
Persia; and it was under Mausolus, a Persian satrap who assumed
independent authority, that Halicarnassus attained its highest
prosperity. Struck by the natural strength and beauty of its position,
Mausolus removed to Halicarnassus from Mylasa, increasing the population
of the city by the inhabitants of six towns of the Leleges. He was
succeeded by Artemisia, whose military ability was shown in the
stratagem by which she captured the Rhodian vessels attacking her city,
and whose magnificence and taste have been perpetuated by the
"Mausoleum," the monument she erected to her husband's memory (see
MAUSOLUS). One of her successors, Pixodarus, tried to ally himself with
the rising power of Macedon, and is said to have gained the momentary
consent of the young Alexander to wed his daughter. The marriage,
however, was forbidden by Philip. Alexander, as soon as he had reduced
Ionia, summoned Halicarnassus, where Memnon, the paramount satrap of
Asia Minor, had taken refuge with the Persian fleet, to surrender; and
on its refusal took the city after hard fighting and devastated it, but
not being able to reduce the citadel, was forced to leave it blockaded.
He handed the government of the city back to the family of Mausolus, as
represented by Ada, sister of the latter. Not long afterwards we find
the citizens receiving the present of a gymnasium from Ptolemy, and
building in his honour a stoa or portico; but the city never recovered
altogether from the disasters of the siege, and Cicero describes it as
almost deserted. The site is now occupied in part by the town of Budrum;
but the ancient walls can still be traced round nearly all their
circuit, and the position of several of the temples, the theatre, and
other public buildings can be fixed with certainty.
From the ruins of the Mausoleum sufficient has been recovered by the
excavations carried out in 1857 by C. T. Newton to enable a fairly
complete restoration of its design to be made. The building consisted of
five parts--a basement or podium, a pteron or enclosure of columns, a
pyramid, a pedestal and a chariot group. The basement, covering an area
of 114 ft. by 92, was built of blocks of greenstone and cased with
marble. Round the base of it were probably disposed groups of statuary.
The pteron consisted (according to Pliny) of thirty-six columns of the
Ionic order, enclosing a square _cella_. Between the columns probably
stood single statues. From the portions that have been recovered, it
appears that the principal frieze of the pteron represented combats of
Greeks and Amazons. In addition to these, there are also many life-size
fragments of animals, horsemen, &c., belonging probably to pedimental
sculptures, but formerly supposed to be parts of minor friezes. Above
the pteron rose the pyramid, mounting by 24 steps to an apex or
pedestal. On this apex stood the chariot with the figure of Mausolus
himself and an attendant. The height of the statue of Mausolus in the
British Museum is 9 ft. 9-1/2 in. without the plinth. The hair rising
from the forehead falls in thick waves on each side of the face and
descends nearly to the shoulder; the beard is short and close, the face
square and massive, the eyes deep set under overhanging brows, the mouth
well formed with settled calm about the lips. The drapery is grandly
composed. All sorts of restorations of this famous monument have been
proposed. The original one, made by Newton and Pullan, is obviously in
error in many respects; and that of Oldfield, though to be preferred for
its lightness (the Mausoleum was said anciently to be "suspended in
mid-air"), does not satisfy the conditions postulated by the remains.
The best on the whole is that of the veteran German architect, F. Adler,
published in 1900; but fresh studies have since been made (see below).
See C T. Newton and R. P. Pullan, _History of Discoveries at
Halicarnassus_ (1862-1863); J. Fergusson, _The Mausoleum at
Halicarnassus_ restored (1862); E. Oldfield, "The Mausoleum," in
_Archaeologia_ (1895); F. Adler, _Mausoleum zu Halikarnass_ (1900); J.
P. Six in _Journ. Hell. Studies_ (1905); W. B. Dinsmoor, in _Amer.
Journ. of Arch._ (1908); J. J. Stevenson, _A Restoration of the
Mausoleum of Halicarnassus_ (1909); J. B. K. Preedy, "The Chariot
Group of the Mausoleum," in _Journ. Hell. Stud._, 1910. (D. G. H.)
HALICZ, a town of Austria, in Galicia, 70 m. by rail S.S.E. of Lemberg.
Pop. (1900), 4809. It is situated at the confluence of the Luckow with
the Dniester and its principal resources are the recovery of salt from
the neighbouring brine wells, soap-making and the trade in timber. In
the neighbourhood are the ruins of the old castle, the seat of the ruler
of the former kingdom from which Galicia derived its Polish name.
Halicz, which is mentioned in annals as early as 1113, was from 1141 to
1255 the residence of the princes of that name, one of the
principalities into which western Russia was then divided. The town was
then much larger, as is shown by excavations in the neighbourhood made
during the 19th century, and probably met its doom during the Mongol
invasion of 1240. In 1349 it was incorporated in the kingdom of Poland.
HALIFAX, CHARLES MONTAGUE, EARL OF (1661-1715), English statesman and
poet, fourth son of the Hon. George Montague, fifth son of the first
earl of Manchester, was born at Horton, Northamptonshire, on the 16th of
April 1661. In his fourteenth year he was sent to Westminster school,
where he was chosen king's scholar in 1677, and distinguished himself in
the composition of extempore epigrams made according to custom upon
theses appointed for king's scholars at the time of election. In 1679 he
entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he acquired a solid knowledge
of the classics and surpassed all his contemporaries at the university
in logic and ethics. Latterly, however, he preferred to the abstractions
of Descartes the practical philosophy of Sir Isaac Newton; and he was
one of the small band of students who assisted Newton in forming the
Philosophical Society of Cambridge. But it was his facility in
verse-writing, and neither his scholarship nor his practical ability,
that first opened up to him the way to fortune. His clever but absurdly
panegyrical poem on the death of Charles II. secured for him the notice
of the earl of Dorset, who invited him to town and introduced him to the
principal wits of the time; and in 1687 his joint authorship with Prior
of the _Hind and Panther transversed to the Story of the Country Mouse
and the City Mouse_, a parody of Dryden's political poem, not only
increased his literary reputation but directly helped him to political
influence.
In 1689, through the patronage of the earl of Dorset, he entered
parliament as member for Maldon, and sat in the convention which
resolved that William and Mary should be declared king and queen of
England. About this time he married the countess-dowager of Manchester,
and it would appear, according to Johnson, that it was still his
intention to take orders; but after the coronation he purchased a
clerkship to the council. On being introduced by Earl Dorset to King
William, after the publication of his poetical _Epistle occasioned by
his Majesty's Victory in Ireland_, he was ordered to receive an
immediate pension of L500 per annum, until an opportunity should present
itself of "making a man of him." In 1691 he was chosen chairman of the
committee of the House of Commons appointed to confer with a committee
of the Lords in regard to the bill for regulating trials in cases of
high treason; and he displayed in these conferences such tact and
debating power that he was made one of the commissioners of the treasury
and called to the privy council. But his success as a politician was
less due to his oratorical gifts than to his skill in finance, and in
this respect he soon began to manifest such brilliant talents as
completely eclipsed the painstaking abilities of Godolphin. Indeed it
may be affirmed that no other statesman has initiated schemes which have
left a more permanent mark on the financial history of England. Although
perhaps it was inevitable that England should sooner or later adopt the
continental custom of lightening the annual taxation in times of war by
contracting a national debt, the actual introduction of the expedient
was due to Montague, who on the 15th of December 1692 proposed to raise
a million of money by way of loan. Previous to this the Scotsman William
Paterson (q.v.) had submitted to the government his plan of a national
bank, and when in the spring of 1694 the prolonged contest with France
had rendered another large loan absolutely necessary, Montague
introduced a bill for the incorporation of the Bank of England. The bill
after some opposition passed the House of Lords in May, and immediately
after the prorogation of parliament Montague was rewarded by the
chancellorship of the exchequer. In 1695 he was triumphantly returned
for the borough of Westminster to the new parliament, and succeeded in
passing his celebrated measure to remedy the depreciation which had
taken place in the currency on account of dishonest manipulations. To
provide for the expense of recoinage, Montague, instead of reviving the
old tax of hearth money, introduced the window tax, and the difficulties
caused by the temporary absence of a metallic currency were avoided by
the issue for the first time of exchequer bills. His other expedients
for meeting the emergencies of the financial crisis were equally
successful, and the rapid restoration of public credit secured him a
commanding influence both in the House of Commons and at the board of
the treasury; but although Godolphin resigned office in October 1696,
the king hesitated for some time between Montague and Sir Stephen Fox as
his successor, and it was not till 1697 that the former was appointed
first lord. In 1697 he was accused by Charles Duncombe, and in 1698 by a
Col. Granville, of fraud, but both charges broke down, and Duncombe was
shown to have been guilty of extreme dishonesty himself. In 1698 and
1699 he acted as one of the council of regency during the king's absence
from England. With the accumulation of his political successes his
vanity and arrogance became, however, so offensive that latterly they
utterly lost him the influence he had acquired by his administrative
ability and his masterly eloquence; and when his power began to be on
the wane he set the seal to his political overthrow by conferring the
lucrative sinecure office of auditor of the exchequer on his brother in
trust for himself should he be compelled to retire from power. This
action earned him the offensive nickname of "Filcher," and for some time
afterwards, in attempting to lead the House of Commons, he had to submit
to constant mortifications, often verging on personal insults. After the
return of the king in 1699 he resigned his offices in the government and
succeeded his brother in the auditorship.
On the accession of the Tories to power he was removed in 1701 to the
House of Lords by the title of Lord Halifax. In the same year he was
impeached for malpractices along with Lord Somers and the earls of
Portland and Oxford, but all the charges were dismissed by the Lords;
and in 1703 a second attempt to impeach him was still more unsuccessful.
He continued out of office during the reign of Queen Anne, but in 1706
he was named one of the commissioners to negotiate the union with
Scotland; and after the passing of the Act of Settlement in favour of
the house of Hanover, he was appointed ambassador to the elector's court
to convey the insignia of order of the garter to George I. On the death
of Anne (1714) he was appointed one of the council of regency until the
arrival of the king from Hanover; and after the coronation he received
the office of first lord of the treasury in the new ministry, being at
the same time created earl of Halifax and Viscount Sunbury. He died on
the 19th of May 1715 and left no issue. He was buried in the vault of
the Albemarle family in Westminster Abbey. His nephew George (d. 1739)
succeeded to the barony, and was created Viscount Sunbury and earl of
Halifax in 1715.
Montague's association with Prior in the travesty of Dryden's _Hind and
Panther_ has no doubt largely aided in preserving his literary
reputation; but he is perhaps indebted for it chiefly to his subsequent
influential position and to the fulsome flattery of the men of letters
who enjoyed his friendship, and who, in return for his liberal donations
and the splendid banqueting which they occasionally enjoyed at his villa
on the Thames, "fed him," as Pope says, "all day long with dedications."
Swift says he gave them nothing but "good words, and good dinners."
That, however, his beneficence to needy talent, if sometimes
attributable to an itching ear for adulation, was at others prompted by
a sincere appreciation of intellectual merit, is sufficiently attested
by the manner in which he procured from Godolphin a commissionership for
Addison, and also by his life-long intimacy with Newton, for whom he
obtained the mastership of the mint. The small fragments of poetry which
he left behind him, and which were almost solely the composition of his
early years, display a certain facility and vigour of diction, but their
thought and fancy are never more than commonplace, and not unfrequently
in striving to be eloquent and impressive he is only grotesquely and
extravagantly absurd. In administrative talent he was the superior of
all his contemporaries, and his only rival in parliamentary eloquence
was Somers; but the skill with which he managed measures was superior to
his tact in dealing with men, and the effect of his brilliant financial
successes on his reputation was gradually almost nullified by the
affected arrogance of his manner and by the eccentricities of his
sensitive vanity. So eager latterly was his thirst for fame and power
that perhaps Marlborough did not exaggerate when he said that "he had no
other principle but his ambition, so that he would put all in
distraction rather than not gain his point."
Among the numerous notices of Halifax by contemporaries may be
mentioned the eulogistic reference which concludes Addison's account
of the "greatest of English poets"; the dedications by Steel to the
second volume of the _Spectator_ and to the fourth of the _Tatler_;
Pope's laudatory mention of him in the epilogue to his _Satires_ and
in the preface to the _Iliad_, and his portrait of him as "Full-blown
Bufo" in the _Epistle to Arbuthnot_. Various allusions to him are to
be found in Swift's works and in Marlborough's _Letters_. See also
Burnet's _History of his Own Times; The Parliamentary History_;
Howell's _State Trials_; Johnson's _Lives of the Poets_; and
Macaulay's _History of England_. His _Miscellaneous Works_ were
published at London in 1704; his _Life and Miscellaneous Works_ in
1715; and his _Poetical Works_, to which also his "Life" is attached,
in 1716. His poems were reprinted in the 9th volume of Johnson's
_English Poets_.
HALIFAX, GEORGE MONTAGU DUNK, 2ND EARL OF (1716-1771), son of George
Montagu, 1st earl of Halifax (of the second creation), was born on the
5th or 6th of October 1716, becoming earl of Halifax on his father's
death in 1739. Educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge, he
was married in 1741 to Anne Richards (d. 1753), a lady who had inherited
a great fortune from Sir Thomas Dunk, whose name was taken by Halifax.
After having been an official in the household of Frederick, prince of
Wales, the earl was made master of the buckhounds, and in 1748 he became
president of the Board of Trade. While filling this position he helped
to found Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, which was named after him,
and in several ways he rendered good service to trade, especially with
North America. About this time he sought to become a secretary of state,
but in vain, although he was allowed to enter the cabinet in 1757. In
March 1761 Halifax was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and during
part of the time which he held this office he was also first lord of the
admiralty. He became secretary of state for the northern department
under the earl of Bute in October 1762, retaining this post under George
Grenville and being one of the three ministers to whom George III.
entrusted the direction of affairs. He signed the general warrant under
which Wilkes was arrested in 1763, for which action he was mulcted in
damages by the courts of law in 1769, and he was mainly responsible for
the exclusion of the name of the king's mother, Augusta, princess of
Wales, from the Regency Bill of 1765. With his colleagues the earl left
office in July 1765, returning to the cabinet as lord privy seal under
his nephew, Lord North, in January 1770. He had just been transferred to
his former position of secretary of state when he died on the 8th of
June 1771. Halifax, who was lord-lieutenant of Northamptonshire and a
lieutenant-general in the army, showed some disinterestedness in money
matters, but was very extravagant. He left no children, and his titles
became extinct on his death. Horace Walpole speaks slightingly of the
earl, and says he and his mistress, Mary Anne Faulkner, "had sold every
employment in his gift."
See the _Memoirs_ of his secretary, Richard Cumberland (1807).
HALIFAX, GEORGE SAVILE, 1ST MARQUESS OF (1633-1695), English statesman
and writer, great-grandson of Sir George Savile of Lupset and Thornhill
in Yorkshire (created baronet in 1611), was the eldest son of Sir
William Savile, 3rd baronet, who distinguished himself in the civil war
in the royalist cause and who died in 1644, and of Anne, eldest daughter
of Lord Keeper Coventry. He was thus nephew of Sir William Coventry, who
is said to have influenced his political opinions, and of Lord
Shaftesbury, afterwards his most bitter opponent, and great-nephew of
the earl of Strafford; by his marriage with the Lady Dorothy Spencer, he
was brother-in-law to Lord Sunderland. He entered public life with all
the advantages of lineage, political connexions, great wealth and
estates, and uncommon abilities. He was elected member of the Convention
parliament for Pontefract in 1660, and this was his only appearance in
the Lower House. A peerage was sought for him by the duke of York in
1665, but was successfully opposed by Clarendon, on the ground of his
"ill-reputation amongst men of piety and religion," the real motives of
the chancellor's hostile attitude being probably Savile's connexion with
Buckingham and Coventry. The honours were, however, only deferred for a
short time and were obtained after the fall of Clarendon on the 31st of
December 1667,[1] when Savile was created Baron Savile of Eland and
Viscount Halifax.
He supported zealously the anti-French policy formulated in the Triple
Alliance of January 1668. He was at this time in favour at court, was
created a privy councillor in 1672, and, while ignorant of the
disgraceful secret clauses in the treaty of Dover, was chosen envoy to
negotiate terms of peace with Louis XIV. and the Dutch at Utrecht. His
mission was still further deprived of importance by Arlington and
Buckingham, who were in the king's counsels, and who anticipated his
arrival and took the negotiations out of his hands; and though he signed
the compact, he had no share in the harsh terms imposed upon the Dutch,
and henceforth became a bitter opponent of the policy of subservience to
French interests and of the Roman Catholic claims.
He took an active part in passing through parliament the great Test Act
of 1673[2] and forfeited in consequence his friendship with James. In
1674 he brought forward a motion for disarming "popish recusants," and
supported one by Lord Carlisle for restricting the marriages in the
royal family to Protestants; but he opposed the bill introduced by Lord
Danby (see LEEDS, 1ST DUKE OF) in 1675, which imposed a test oath on
officials and members of parliament, speaking "with that quickness,
learning and elegance that are inseparable from all his discourses," and
ridiculing the multiplication of oaths, since "no man would ever sleep
with open doors ... should all the town be sworn not to rob." He was now
on bad terms with Danby, and a witty sally at that minister's expense
caused his dismissal from the council in January 1676. In 1678 he took
an active part in the investigation of the "Popish Plot," to which he
appears to have given excessive credence, but opposed the bill which was
passed on the 30th of October 1678, to exclude Roman Catholics from the
House of Lords.
In 1679, as a consequence of the fall of Danby, he became a member of
the newly constituted privy council. With Charles, who had at first
"kicked at his appointment," he quickly became a favourite, his lively
and "libertine" (i.e. free or sceptical) conversation being named by
Bishop Burnet as his chief attraction for the king. His dislike of the
duke of York and of the Romanist tendencies of the court did not induce
him to support the rash attempt of Lord Shaftesbury to substitute the
illegitimate duke of Monmouth for James in the succession. He feared
Shaftesbury's ascendancy in the national councils and foresaw nothing
but civil war and confusion as a result of his scheme. He declared
against the exclusion of James, was made an earl in 1679, and was one of
the "Triumvirate" which now directed public affairs. He assisted in
passing into law the Habeas Corpus Bill. According to Sir W. Temple he
showed great severity in putting into force the laws against the Roman
Catholics, but this statement is considered a misrepresentation.[3] In
1680 he voted against the execution of Lord Stafford.
Meanwhile (1679) his whole policy had been successfully directed towards
uniting all parties with the object of frustrating Shaftesbury's plans.
Communications were opened with the prince of Orange, and the illness of
the king was made the occasion for summoning James from Brussels.
Monmouth was compelled to retire to Holland, and Shaftesbury was
dismissed. On the other hand, while Halifax was so far successful, James
was given an opportunity of establishing a new influence at the court.
It was with great difficulty that his retirement to Scotland was at last
effected; the ministers lost the confidence and support of the "country
party," and Halifax, fatigued and ill, at the close of this year,
retired to Rufford Abbey, the country home of the Saviles since the
destruction of Thornhill Hall in 1648, and for some time took little
part in affairs. He returned in September 1680 on the occasion of the
introduction of the Exclusion Bill in the Lords. The debate which
followed, one of the most famous in the whole annals of parliament,
became a duel of oratory between Halifax and his uncle Shaftesbury, the
finest two speakers of the day, watched by the Lords, the Commons at the
bar, and the king, who was present. It lasted seven hours. Halifax spoke
sixteen times, and at last, regardless of the menaces of the more
violent supporters of the bill, who closed round him, vanquished his
opponent. The rejection of the bill by a majority of 33 was attributed
by all parties entirely to the eloquence of Halifax. His conduct
transformed the allegiance to him of the Whigs into bitter hostility,
the Commons immediately petitioning the king to remove him from his
councils for ever, while any favour which he might have regained with
James was forfeited by his subsequent approval of the regency scheme.
He retired to Rufford again in January 1681, but was present at the
Oxford parliament, and in May returned suddenly to public life and held
for a year the chief control of affairs. The arrest of Shaftesbury on
the 2nd of July was attributed to his influence, but in general, during
the period of Tory reaction, he seems to have urged a policy of
conciliation and moderation upon the king. He opposed James's return
from Scotland and, about this time (Sept.), made a characteristic but
futile attempt to persuade the duke to attend the services of the
Church of England and thus to end all difficulties. He renewed relations
with the prince of Orange, who in July paid a visit to England to seek
support against the French designs upon Luxemburg. The influence of
Halifax procured for the Dutch a formal assurance from Charles of his
support; but the king informed the French ambassador that he had no
intention of fulfilling his engagements, and made another secret treaty
with Louis. Halifax opposed in 1682 James's vindictive prosecution of
the earl of Argyll, arousing further hostility in the duke, while the
same year he was challenged to a duel by Monmouth, who attributed to him
his disgrace.
His short tenure of power ended with the return of James in May.
Outwardly he still retained the king's favour and was advanced to a
marquisate (Aug. 17) and to the office of lord privy seal (Oct. 25).
Being still a member of the administration he must share responsibility
for the attack now made upon the municipal franchises, a violation of
the whole system of representative government, especially as the new
charters passed his office. In January 1684 he was one of the
commissioners "who supervise all things concerning the city and have
turned out those persons who are whiggishly inclined" (N. Luttrell's
_Diary_, i. 295). He made honourable but vain endeavours to save
Algernon Sidney and Lord Russell. "My Lord Halifax," declared Tillotson
in his evidence before the later inquiry, "showed a very compassionate
concern for my Lord Russell and all the readiness to serve them that
could be wished."[4] The Rye-House Plot, in which it was sought to
implicate them, was a disastrous blow to his policy, and in order to
counteract its consequences he entered into somewhat perilous
negotiations with Monmouth, and endeavoured to effect his reconciliation
with the king. On the 12th of February 1684, he procured the release of
his old antagonist, Lord Danby. Shortly afterwards his influence at the
court revived. Charles was no longer in receipt of his French pension
and was beginning to tire of James and Rochester. The latter, instead of
becoming lord treasurer, was, according to the epigram of Halifax which
has become proverbial, "kicked upstairs," to the office of lord
president of the council. Halifax now worked to establish intimate
relations between Charles and the prince of Orange and opposed the
abrogation of the recusancy laws. In a debate in the cabinet of November
1684, on the question of the grant of a fresh constitution to the New
England colonies, he urged with great warmth "that there could be no
doubt whatever but that the same laws which are in force in England
should also be established in a country inhabited by Englishmen and that
an absolute government is neither so happy nor so safe as that which is
tempered by laws and which sets bounds to the authority of the prince,"
and declared that he could not "live under a king who should have it in
his power to take, whenever he thought proper, the money he has in his
pocket." The opinions thus expressed were opposed by all the other
ministers and highly censured by Louis XIV., James and Judge Jeffreys.
At the accession of James he was immediately deprived of all power and
relegated to the presidency of the council. He showed no compliance,
like other Lords, with James's Roman Catholic preferences. He was
opposed to the parliamentary grant to the king of a revenue for life; he
promoted the treaty of alliance with the Dutch in August 1685; he
expostulated with the king on the subject of the illegal commissions in
the army given to Roman Catholics; and finally, on his firm refusal to
support the repeal of the Test and Habeas Corpus Acts, he was dismissed,
and his name was struck out of the list of the privy council (Oct.
1685). He corresponded with the prince of Orange, conferred with
Dykveldt, the latter's envoy, but held aloof from plans which aimed at
the prince's personal interference in English affairs. In 1687 he
published the famous _Letter to a Dissenter_, in which he warns the
Nonconformists against being beguiled by the "Indulgence" into joining
the court party, sets in a clear light the fatal results of such a step,
and reminds them that under their next sovereign their grievances would
in all probability be satisfied by the law. The tract, which has
received general and unqualified admiration, must be classed amongst the
few known writings which have actually and immediately altered the
course of history. Copies to the number of 20,000 were circulated
through the kingdom, and a great party was convinced of the wisdom of
remaining faithful to the national traditions and liberties. He took the
popular side on the occasion of the trial of the bishops in June 1688,
visited them in the Tower, and led the cheers with which the verdict of
"not guilty" was received in court; but the same month he refrained from
signing the invitation to William, and publicly repudiated any share in
the prince's plans. On the contrary he attended the court and refused
any credence to the report that the prince born to James was
supposititious. After the landing of William he was present at the
council called by James on the 27th of November. He urged the king to
grant large concessions, but his speech, in contrast to the harsh and
overbearing attitude of the Hydes, was "the most tender and obliging ...
that ever was heard." He accepted the mission with Nottingham and
Godolphin to treat with William at Hungerford, and succeeded in
obtaining moderate terms from the prince. The negotiations, however,
were abortive, for James had from the first resolved on flight. In the
crisis which ensued, when the country was left without a government,
Halifax took the lead. He presided over the council of Lords which
assembled and took immediate measures to maintain public order. On the
return of James to London on the 16th of November, after his capture at
Faversham, Halifax repaired to William's camp and henceforth attached
himself unremittingly to his cause. On the 17th he carried with Lords
Delamere and Shrewsbury a message from William to the king advising his
departure from London, and, after the king's second flight, directed the
proceedings of the executive. On the meeting of the convention on the
22nd of January 1689, he was formally elected speaker of the House of
Lords. He voted against the motion for a regency (Jan. 20), which was
only defeated by two votes. The moderate and comprehensive character of
the settlement at the revolution plainly shows his guiding hand, and it
was finally through his persuasion that the Lords yielded to the Commons
and agreed to the compromise whereby William and Mary were declared
joint sovereigns. On the 13th of February in the Banqueting House at
Whitehall, he tendered the crown to them in the name of the nation, and
conducted the proclamation of their accession in the city.
At the opening of the new reign he had considerable influence, was made
lord privy seal, while Danby his rival was obliged to content himself
with the presidency of the council, and controlled the appointments to
the new cabinet which were made on a "trimming" or comprehensive basis.
His views on religious toleration were as wide as those of the new king.
He championed the claims of the Nonconformists as against the high or
rigid Church party, and he was bitterly disappointed at the miscarriage
of the Comprehension Bill. He thoroughly approved also at first of
William's foreign policy; but, having excited the hostility of both the
Whig and Tory parties, he now became exposed to a series of attacks in
parliament which finally drove him from power. He was severely censured,
as it seems quite unjustly, for the disorder in Ireland, and an attempt
was made to impeach him for his conduct with regard to the sentences on
the Whig leaders. The inquiry resulted in his favour; but
notwithstanding, and in spite of the king's continued support, he
determined to retire. He had already resigned the speakership of the
House of Lords, and he now (Feb. 8, 1690) quitted his place in the
cabinet. He still nominally retained his seat in the privy council, but
in parliament he became a bitter critic of the administration; and the
rivalry of Halifax (the Black Marquess) with Danby, now marquess of
Carmarthen (the White Marquess) threw the former at this time into
determined opposition. He disapproved of William's total absorption in
European politics, and his open partiality for his countrymen. In
January 1691 Halifax had an interview with Henry Bulkeley, the Jacobite
agent, and is said to have promised "to do everything that lay in his
power to serve the king." This was probably merely a measure of
precaution, for he had no serious Jacobite leanings. He entered bail for
Lord Marlborough, accused wrongfully of complicity in a Jacobite plot in
May 1692, and in June, during the absence of the king from England, his
name was struck off the privy council.
He spoke in favour of the Triennial Bill (Jan. 12, 1693) which passed
the legislature but was vetoed by William, suggested a proviso in the
Licensing Act, which restricted its operation to anonymous works,
approved the Place Bill (1694), but opposed, probably on account of the
large sums he had engaged in the traffic of annuities, the establishment
of the bank of England in 1694. Early in 1695 he delivered a strong
attack on the administration in the House of Lords, and, after a short
illness arising from a neglected complaint, he died on the 5th of April
at the age of sixty-one. He was buried in Henry VII.'s chapel in
Westminster Abbey.
The influence of Halifax, both as orator and as writer, on the public
opinion of his day was probably unrivalled. His intellectual powers, his
high character, his urbanity, vivacity and satirical humour made a great
impression on his contemporaries, and many of his witty sayings have
been recorded. But the superiority of his statesmanship could not be
appreciated till later times. Maintaining throughout his career a
complete detachment from party, he never acted permanently or
continuously with either of the two great factions, and exasperated both
in turn by deserting their cause at the moment when their hopes seemed
on the point of realization. To them he appeared weak, inconstant,
untrustworthy. They could not see what to us now is plain and clear,
that Halifax was as consistent in his principles as the most rabid Whig
or Tory. But the principle which chiefly influenced his political
action, that of compromise, differed essentially from those of both
parties, and his attitude with regard to the Whigs or Tories was thus by
necessity continually changing. Measures, too, which in certain
circumstances appeared to him advisable, when the political scene had
changed became unwise or dangerous. Thus the regency scheme, which
Halifax had supported while Charles still reigned, was opposed by him
with perfect consistency at the revolution. He readily accepted for
himself the character of a "trimmer," desiring, he said, to keep the
boat steady, while others attempted to weigh it down perilously on one
side or the other; and he concluded his tract with these assertions:
"that our climate is a Trimmer between that part of the world where men
are roasted and the other where they are frozen; that our Church is a
Trimmer between the frenzy of fanatic visions and the lethargic
ignorance of Popish dreams; that our laws are Trimmers between the
excesses of unbounded power and the extravagance of liberty not enough
restrained; that true virtue hath ever been thought a Trimmer, and to
have its dwelling in the middle between two extremes; that even God
Almighty Himself is divided between His two great attributes, His Mercy
and His Justice. In such company, our Trimmer is not ashamed of his
name...."[5]
His powerful mind enabled him to regard the various political problems
of his time from a height and from a point of view similar to that from
which distance from the events enables us to consider them at the
present day; and the superiority of his vision appears sufficiently from
the fact that his opinions and judgments on the political questions of
his time are those which for the most part have ultimately triumphed and
found general acceptance. His attitude of mind was curiously modern.[6]
Reading, writing and arithmetic, he thinks, should be taught to all and
at the expense of the state. His opinions again on the constitutional
relations of the colonies to the mother country, already cited, were
completely opposed to those of his own period. For that view of his
character which while allowing him the merit of a brilliant political
theorist denies him the qualities of a man of action and of a practical
politician, there is no solid basis. The truth is that while his
political ideas are founded upon great moral or philosophical
generalizations, often vividly recalling and sometimes anticipating the
broad conceptions of Burke, they are at the same time imbued with
precisely those practical qualities which have ever been characteristic
of English statesmenship, and were always capable of application to
actual conditions. He was no star-gazing philosopher, with thoughts
superior to the contemplation of mundane affairs. He had no taste for
abstract political dogma. He seems to venture no further than to think
that "men should live in some competent state of freedom," and that the
limited monarchical and aristocratic government was the best adapted for
his country. "Circumstances," he writes in the _Rough Draft of a New
Model at Sea_, "must come in and are to be made a part of the matter of
which we are to judge; positive decisions are always dangerous, more
especially in politics." Nor was he the mere literary student buried in
books and in contemplative ease. He had none of the "indecisiveness
which commonly renders literary men of no use in the world" (Sir John
Dalrymple). The incidents of his career show that there was no
backwardness or hesitation in acting when occasion required. The
constant tendency of his mind towards antithesis and the balancing of
opinions did not lead to paralysis in time of action. He did not shrink
from responsibility, nor show on any occasion lack of courage. At
various times of crisis he proved himself a great leader. He returned to
public life to defeat the Exclusion Bill. At the revolution it was
Halifax who seized the reins of government, flung away by James, and
maintained public security. His subsequent failure in collaborating with
William is, it is true, disappointing. But the cause was one that has
not perhaps received sufficient attention. Party government had come to
the birth during the struggles over the Exclusion Bill, and there had
been unconsciously introduced into politics a novel element of which the
nature and importance were not understood or suspected. Halifax had
consistently ignored and neglected party; and it now had its revenge.
Detested by the Whigs and by the Tories alike, and defended by neither,
the favour alone of the king and his own transcendent abilities proved
insufficient to withstand the constant and violent attacks made upon him
in parliament, and he yielded to the superior force. He seems indeed
himself to have been at last convinced of the necessity in English
political life of party government, for though in his Cautions to
electors he warns them against men "tied to a party," yet in his last
words he declares "If there are two parties a man ought to adhere to
that which he disliked least though in the whole he doth not approve it;
for whilst he doth not list himself in one or the other party, he is
looked upon as such a straggler that he is fallen upon by both.... Happy
those that are convinced so as to be of the general opinions"
(_Political Thoughts and Reflections of Parties_).
The private character of Lord Halifax was in harmony with the greatness
of his public career. He was by no means the "voluptuary" described by
Macaulay. He was on the contrary free from self-indulgence; his manner
of life was decent and frugal, and his dress proverbially simple. He was
an affectionate father and husband. "His heart," says Burnet (i.
492-493, ed. 1833), "was much set on raising his family"--his last
concern even while on his deathbed was the remarriage of his son Lord
Eland to perpetuate his name; and this is probably the cause of his
acceptance of so many titles for which he himself affected a
philosophical indifference. He was estimable in his social relations and
habits. He showed throughout his career an honourable independence, and
was never seen to worship the rising sun. In a period when even great
men stooped to accept bribes, Halifax was known to be incorruptible; at
a time when animosities were especially bitter, he was too great a man
to harbour resentments. "Not only from policy," says Reresby (_Mem._ p.
231), "(which teaches that we ought to let no man be our enemy when we
can help it), but from his disposition I never saw any man more ready to
forgive than himself." Few were insensible to his personal charm and
gaiety. He excelled especially in quick repartee, in "exquisite
nonsense," and in spontaneous humour. When quite a young man, just
entering upon political life he is described by Evelyn as "a witty
gentleman, if not a little too prompt and daring." The latter
characteristic was not moderated by time but remained through life. He
was incapable of controlling his spirit of raillery, from jests on
Siamese missionaries to sarcasms at the expense of the heir to the
throne and ridicule of hereditary monarchy, and his brilliant paradoxes,
his pungent and often profane epigrams were received by graver persons
as his real opinions and as evidences of atheism. This latter charge he
repudiated, assuring Burnet that he was "a Christian in submission," but
that he could not digest iron like an ostrich nor swallow all that the
divines sought to impose upon the world.
The speeches of Halifax have not been preserved, and his political
writings on this account have all the greater value. _The Character of a
Trimmer_ (1684 or 1685), the authorship of which, long doubtful, is now
established,[7] was his most ambitious production, written seemingly as
advice to the king and as a manifesto of his own opinions. In it he
discusses the political problems of the time and their solution on broad
principles. He supports the Test Act and, while opposing the Indulgence,
is not hostile to the repeal of the penal laws against the Roman
Catholics by parliament. Turning to foreign affairs he contemplates with
consternation the growing power of France and the humiliation of
England, exclaiming indignantly at the sight of the "Roses blasted and
discoloured while lilies triumph and grow insolent upon the comparison."
The whole is a masterly and comprehensive summary of the actual
political situation and its exigencies; while, when he treats such
themes as liberty, or discusses the balance to be maintained between
freedom and government in the constitution, he rises to the political
idealism of Bolingbroke and Burke. _The Character of King Charles II._
(printed 1750), to be compared with his earlier sketch of the king in
the _Character of a Trimmer_, is perhaps from the literary point of view
the most admirable of his writings. The famous _Letter to a Dissenter_
(1687) was thought by Sir James Mackintosh to be unrivalled as a
political pamphlet. _The Lady's New Year's Gift: or Advice to a
Daughter_, refers to his daughter Elizabeth, afterwards wife of the 3rd
and mother of the celebrated 4th earl of Chesterfield (1688). In _The
Anatomy of an Equivalent_ (1688) he treats with keen wit and power of
analysis the proposal to grant a "perpetual edict" in favour of the
Established Church in return for the repeal of the test and penal laws.
_Maxims of State_ appeared about 1692. _The Rough Draft of a New Model
at Sea_ (c. 1694), though apparently only a fragment, is one of the most
interesting and characteristic of his writings. It opens with the
question: "'What shall we do to be saved in this world?' There is no
other answer but this, 'Look to your moat.' The first article of an
Englishman's political creed must be that he believeth in the sea." He
discusses the naval establishment, not from the naval point of view
alone, but from the general aspect of the constitution of which it is a
detail, and is thus led on to consider the nature of the constitution
itself, and to show that it is not an artificial structure but a growth
and product of the natural character. We may also mention _Some
Cautions_ to the electors of the parliament (1694), and _Political,
Moral and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections_ (n.d.), a collection
of aphorisms in the style of the maxims of La Rochefoucauld, inferior in
style--but greatly excelling the French author in breadth of view and in
moderation. (For other writings attributed to Halifax, see Foxcroft,
_Life of Sir G. Savile_, ii. 529 sqq.).
Halifax was twice married, first in 1656 to the Lady Dorothy
Spencer--daughter of the 1st earl of Sunderland and of Dorothy Sidney,
"Sacharissa"--who died in 1670, leaving a family; and secondly, in 1672,
to Gertrude, daughter of William Pierrepont of Thoresby, who survived
him, and by whom he had one daughter, Elizabeth, Lady Chesterfield, who
seems to have inherited a considerable portion of her father's
intellectual abilities. On the death of his son William, 2nd marquess of
Halifax, in August 1700 without male issue, the peerage became extinct,
and the baronetcy passed to the Saviles of Lupset, the whole male line
of the Savile family ending in the person of Sir George Savile, 8th
baronet, in 1784. Henry Savile, British envoy at Versailles, who died
unmarried in 1687, was a younger brother of the first marquess. Halifax
has been generally supposed to have been the father of the illegitimate
Henry Carey, the poet, but this is doubtful.
See _Life and Letters of Sir George Savile, 1st Marquis of Halifax_ (2
vols., 1898), by Miss H. C. Foxcroft, who has collected and made
excellent use of all the material available at that date, including
hitherto unexplored Savile MSS., at Devonshire House, in the Spencer
Archives, in the Longleat and other collections, and who has edited
the works of Halifax and printed a memorandum of conversations with
King William of 1688-1690, left in MS. by Halifax. Macaulay, in his
_History of England_, misjudged Halifax on some points, but
nevertheless understood and did justice to the greatness of his
statesmanship, and pronounced on him a well-merited and eloquent
eulogy (iv. 545). Contemporary characters of Halifax which must be
accepted with caution are Burnet's in the _History of His Own Times_
(ed. 1833, vol. i. pp. 491-493, and iv. 268), that by the author of
"Savilianal," identified as William Mompesson, and "Sacellum
Apollinare," a panegyric in verse by Elkanah Settle (1695).
(P. C. Y.)