England from 1399 to 1418; the first of the Lancastrian kings; eldest
son of John of Gaunt and grandchild of Edward III. After spending some
time of his life in exile at Paris, he invaded England, and owing to
the misrule of his cousin Richard II had little difficulty in deposing
that monarch and assuming the crown. This usurpation of the throne gave
rise to civil strife known as the Wars of the Roses, which broke out
during the reign of Henry VI.
Harry of Bolingbroke
Had holpen Richard’s tottering throne to stand,
Could Harry have foreseen that all our nobles
Would perish on the civil slaughter-field,
During his reign wars were successfully undertaken against the Welsh
under Glendower, and against the rebellion of the Percies in their
attempt to win the crown for Mortimer. A statute for the burning
of heretics--the first in England for the suppression of religious
opinion--was passed during his reign (1366-1413).
_Queen Mary._
HARRY OF MONMOUTH.
_See_ =Henry V=.
HARRY THE EIGHTH.
_See_ =Henry VIII=.
HARRY THE SEVENTH.
_See_ =Henry VII=.
HARRY THE SIXTH.
_See_ =Henry VI=.
HARWICH.
A seaport in Sussex.
_Queen Mary._
HASTINGS (Francis).
Second earl of Huntingdon, eldest son of George Hastings, first earl.
Joined the duke of Northumberland against the protector Somerset, and
on October 13, 1549, conducted Somerset to the Tower. In order to
strengthen his alliance with Northumberland married his son Henry to
Northumberland’s daughter Katherine on the same day as lord Guildford
Dudley married lady Jane Grey. He was one who signed the agreement to
maintain lady Jane Grey’s succession to the crown, and on the death
of Edward VI joined Northumberland in declaring her Queen. By order
of Mary was arrested and sent to the Tower; being released, was sent
down to Leicester to suppress the revolt headed by the duke of Suffolk,
whom he brought back a prisoner to the Tower in February 1555. After
obtaining several minor appointments under Mary and Elizabeth he died
at Ashby-de-la-Zouch in 1561.
_Queen Mary._
HASTINGS.
A town and seaport in Sussex, near to which place was fought the battle
of Senlac, 1066. On a hill near the town are the ruins of the castle
built by the Conqueror.
_Harold._
HAVELOCK (General Sir Henry).
of Bishop-Wearmouth, Durham. Educated at the Charter-house, and in
1823 proceeded to India. Served with distinction in the Afghan and
Sikh Wars and in the Persian Expedition. On the outbreak of the Indian
Mutiny he was sent to the relief of Cawnpore and Lucknow, the latter of
which places he entered on September 25, 1857. He was however in turn
himself besieged, but held out until relieved by sir Colin Campbell.
Almost immediately afterwards he was attacked by dysentery and died on
November 22, 1857, and was buried in the Alum-Bagh.
_Defence of Lucknow._
HAVERINGATTE-BOWER.
The nightingales in Haveringatte-Bower
Sang out their loves so loud, that Edward’s prayers
Were deafen’d and he pray’d them dumb,
A village in Essex. It was the seat of some of the Saxon kings,
and a favourite resort of Edward the Confessor. It abounded with
nightingales--being a woody and peaceful place--and it is said that
they sang so loudly that the king was disturbed in his devotions. The
ruins of Edward the Confessor’s palace are still to be seen.
_Harold._
HAWA-I-EE.
One of the Sandwich islands. It contains the famous volcano Kilauēä,
the crater of which is one of the world’s wonders, being nine miles in
circumference, and which is filled with boiling lava which ebbs and
flows like an ocean tide.
_Kapiolani._
HAWK.
One of a numerous species of rapacious birds of the family _Falconidæ_.
And where the two contrived their daughter’s good,
Lies the hawk’s cast, the mole has made his run,
Hawk’s cast = feathers, fur, and other indigestible matters ejected
from the stomach by a hawk after it has devoured its prey.
_Poet’s Song_;
_Aylmer’s Field_;
_Marriage of Geraint_;
_Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham_;
_Harold_;
_Becket_;
_The Foresters_.
HAWTHORN.
A thorny shrub or tree, with small fragrant flowers. It is extensively
used for hedges.
_May Queen_;
_Progress of Spring_.
HAZEL.
HAZEL-TREE.
A shrub or small tree of the genus _Corylus_.
_Will Waterproof’s Lyrical Monologue_;
_Enoch Arden_;
_In Memoriam_;
_May Queen_.
HEAD (Edward).
_See_ =Edward Head=.
HEAGLE.
= Eagle.
_Owd Roä._
HEATH (Sir Nicholas).
_See_ =Nicholas, Nicholas Heath=.
HEATH.
A small evergreen shrub, growing on waste lands.
_Maud_;
_Coming of Arthur_;
_Pelleas and Ettarre_;
_The Ring_.
HEATHER.
= Heath.
_Romney’s Remorse_;
_June Bracken and Heather_.
HEAVY BRIGADE.
A brigade consisting of two squadrons of the Scots Greys, and the 2nd
squadron of Inniskillings, commanded by sir James Yorke Scarlett which
made the famous charge at Balaclava, October 25, 1854.
_Charge of the Heavy Brigade at Balaclava._
HEBE.
The goddess of eternal youth, daughter of Zeus and Hera; cup-bearer to
the immortals, before Ganymede (_q.v._) superseded her. She became the
wife of Hercules after his admission among the immortals.
_Gardener’s Daughter_;
_The Princess_;
_Romney’s Remorse_.
HEBREW.
‘And I went mourning, No fair Hebrew boy
Shall smile away my maiden blame among
The Hebrew mothers’--emptied of all joy,
Leaving the dance and song,
Among the Jews it was a reproach to women to be childless, as each
hoped to be the maternal ancestor of the promised Messiah.
_Dream of Fair Women._
HECTOR.
Son of Priam and Hecuba, and chief hero of Troy in the Trojan war. He
was a favourite of the gods, especially of Apollo. His chief exploits
were his single combat with Ajax, and his slaying of Patroclus the
friend of Achilles. In revenge for the latter deed Achilles stabbed him
and fastened his body to his chariot, and dragged it three times round
the grave of Patroclus, but Apollo preserved it from mutilation. The
_Iliad_ of Homer describes the last meeting of Hector and Andromache,
her lament upon his death, and the mourning of his mother, his wife and
Helen at the funeral obsequies.
_Specimen of Iliad._
HEDGAR (Edgar).
_See_ =Eva=.
_Promise of May._
HEDGEHOG.
A prickly-backed insectivorous quadruped, able to roll itself into a
ball so as to present the spines outwardly in every direction. It makes
a hole or nest for itself a few inches below the surface of the ground,
and is nocturnal in its habits.
_Aylmer’s Field._
HEDGE-PIG.
= a young hedgehog.
_The Foresters._
HEDGE-ROSE.
= the wild rose.
_Queen Mary._
HELEN.
‘Then, then, from utter gloom stood out the breasts,
The breasts of Helen,
Has reference to Helen of Troy, daughter of Zeus and Leda, and the
wife of Menelaos, king of Sparta, who was carried off to Troy by Paris
(_q.v._), the shepherd-prince of Troy.
_Lucretius._
HELEN’S TOWER.
Helen’s Tower stands on a hill on the southern shore of Belfast Lough.
It was built for the purpose of enshrining the following verses written
by lady Dufferin to her son, the great British diplomatist, on his
coming of age in 1847:
TO MY DEAR BOY ON HIS 21ST
BIRTHDAY.
With a Silver Lamp.
_Fiat Lux._
How shall I bless thee? human love
Is all too poor in passionate words;
The heart aches with a sense above
All language that the lip affords,
Therefore, a symbol shall express
My love, a thing nor rare nor strange;
But yet eternal, measureless,
Knowing no shadow and no change;
Light, which of all the lovely shows
To our poor world of shadows given,
The fervent prophet-voices chose
Alone as attribute of heaven.
At a most solemn pause we stand,
From this day forth for evermore
The weak but loving human hand
Must cease to guide thee as of yore;
Then as through life thy footsteps stray
And earthly beacons dimly shine,
‘Let there be light’ upon the way,
And holier guidance far than mine,
‘Let there be light’ in thy clear soul
When passion tempts or doubts assail,
When grief’s dark tempests o’er thee roll
‘Let there be light’ that shall not fail.
So, angel-guarded may’st thou tread
The narrow path which few may find,
And at the end look back nor dread
To count the vanished years behind;
And pray that she whose hand doth trace
This heart-warm prayer, when life is past,
May see and know thy blessèd face
In God’s own glorious light at last.
In 1861 the marquis of Dufferin addressed to Tennyson a letter to the
effect that he had erected on a hill in his park in Ireland a tower
which he had named after his mother ‘Helen’s Tower,’ and that the
only thing wanting to make it a perfect little gem of architecture
and decoration, was ‘a _voice_.’ In answer to this the poet sent the
marquis the following lines:--
Helen’s Tower, here I stand,
Dominant over sea and land.
Son’s love built me, and I hold
Mother’s love engrav’n in gold.
Love is in and out of time,
I am mortal stone and lime.
Would my granite girth were strong
As either love to last as long!
I should wear my crown entire
To and thro’ the Doomsday fire,
And be found in angel eyes
In earth’s recurring Paradise.[1]
[1] The fancy of some poets and theologians that Paradise is to be the
renovated earth, as, I dare say, you know.
_Life of Tennyson._
_Helen’s Tower._
HELICONIAN HONEY.
Or Heliconian honey in living words,
To make a truth less harsh,
_Lucretius._
HELICONIAN RIDGE.
Part of the mountain range of Parnassus sacred to the Muses.
_Tiresias._
HELLSTOW.
He bad me put her into a nunnery--
Into Godstow, into Hellstow, Devilstow!
The Church! the Church!
God’s eyes!
_Becket._
HEMAN.
Son of Joel, and grandson of Samuel the prophet. He is called the
musician, and was one of the three Levites--the others being Asaph and
Ethan--in charge of the vocal and instrumental music in the second
Temple.
sing, Asaph! clash
The cymbal, Heman! blow the trumpet, priest!
Fall, cloud, and fill the house--lo! my two pillars,
Jachin and Boaz!--
_Harold._
HEMLOCK.
The name of several poisonous herbs. In ancient Greece the punishment
of death was inflicted by criminals being forced to drink a decoction
of the hemlock.
_The Princess_;
_Lover’s Tale_;
_Demeter and Persephone_.
HENGIST.
The first Saxon king of Kent and joint-founder with his brother Horsa
of that kingdom; arrived at Ebbsfleet from Jutland in 449 +A.D.+ at the
invitation of Vortigern to help him in repelling the Picts and Scots;
but afterwards turned against the Britons themselves and was defeated
at Aylesford, 455.
_Guinevere._
HENRY (Bedingfield).
_See_ =Henry Bedingfield=.
HENRY (the First).
King of England, was the youngest son of William the Conqueror, and
the first monarch of the Norman line who was English by birth. He
succeeded his brother William Rufus in 1100, at which time his brother
Robert was in Normandy. Soon after Robert invaded England, but agreed
to renounce his claim to the throne. Robert was however persuaded
again to resort to arms and Henry invaded Normandy, defeated him and
brought him prisoner to England where he died in Cardiff castle, and
Normandy was united to England. William, Robert’s son, however secured
the assistance of Louis VI and the counts of Flanders and Aragon, and
in order to defend himself Henry married his daughter Matilda to the
emperor Henry V, and in 1110 defeated the French king at Brémule. Henry
died suddenly at Rouen in 1135, and was buried at Reading.
_Becket._
HENRY (the Second).
King of England, eldest son of Geoffrey Plantagenet; succeeded Stephen
in 1154. Through his father and mother, Aragon, Touraine, Normandy
and Maine were added to the English crown; while through his wife,
Eleanor--the divorced wife of Louis VII of France--he secured the
provinces of Poitou, Limousin and Gascony. His reign was troubled by
disputes between himself and Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, who
was murdered in 1170; and Henry was obliged by the pope to undergo
penance at the tomb of the archbishop at Canterbury. In 1170 he caused
his son Henry to be crowned king, and three years later his sons, at
the instigation of their mother, rebelled against him on account of
his attachment to Rosamund de Clifford. In 1183 his son Henry died,
and Richard, his third son, revolted against his father, and being
supported by the king of France defeated him in Normandy. He died at
Chinon 1189.
_Becket._
HENRY (the Third).
King of England, eldest son of John, whom he succeeded in 1216, when
only ten years of age. He was of a feeble character, and during his
reign Normandy and other French provinces were relinquished to the
king of France. Civil war broke out, and from 1258-64 a struggle took
place between the king and the barons, and at the battle of Lewes in
1264 Henry was defeated and taken prisoner, but promised to accept the
Provisions of Oxford. At the battle of Evesham the Barons were totally
defeated, chiefly through the courage of Henry’s son Edward, whereupon
he deprived several of them of their estates. He cancelled the Great
Charter and allowed the pope to collect tithes in England. By the
treaty of Shrewsbury in 1267 Wales was pacified. He died in 1272 at
Westminster and was buried in the Abbey.
_On the Jubilee of Queen Victoria._
HENRY.
Son of Henry II, born in 1155 and married at the age of five to
princess Margaret of France. Crowned as his father’s successor at
Westminster 1170, and again with his queen at Winchester 1172. In the
following year he rebelled against his father, and fled to Normandy;
became reconciled to his father in 1174, and eight years later made war
on his brother Richard in Aquitaine, and afterwards on his father. He
died penitent, of fever, at Martel at the age of twenty-eight, and was
buried at Rouen (1155-1183).
_Becket._
HENRY (the Seventh).
King of England, son of Edmund Tudor and of Margaret, of the house of
Lancaster. Henry, who was in Brittany, was invited to invade England
to rescue it from the usurper Richard III, and in 1485 landed in Wales
and marched to Bosworth in Leicestershire, where Richard was defeated
and slain, Henry being crowned king upon the spot. He united the houses
of York and Lancaster, by marrying Elizabeth daughter of Edward IV.
During his reign a joiner’s son named Simnel, who pretended to be the
young earl of Warwick, rose in rebellion, but was suppressed by Henry’s
victory at Stoke, near Newark, in 1487. Some years later a Yorkist
pretender from Flanders, named Perkin Warbeck, personated Richard,
duke of York, who was believed to have been murdered in the tower,
claimed the crown, but he was apprehended and confined to the Tower,
where, with the earl of Warwick, he was executed (1499). Henry died at
Richmond in 1509, and was buried in Henry the Seventh’s chapel, built
by him in Westminster Abbey (1457-1509).
_Queen Mary._
HENRY (the Sixth).
King of England, son of Henry V. Being only ten years of age when he
was proclaimed king, the country during his long minority was governed
by the Privy Council. Charles king of France, dying soon after, the
duke of Orleans encouraged by the minority of Henry assumed the title
of king, under the name of Charles VII. Henry was crowned king of
England at Westminster in 1429, and king of France at Paris in 1431;
but the conclusion of peace between Charles VII, and Burgundy, and
the death of the duke of Bedford brought ruin to the English arms
in France. The siege of Orleans was raised by the French in 1429,
inspired by Jeanne d’Arc; Normandy was lost in 1450, and in 1483 with
the exception of Calais the English were expelled from France. The
king being declared insane, the duke of York was made protector, and
on Henry’s recovery York openly claimed the crown, civil war, known
as the Wars of the Roses, broke out, and at the first great battle
at St. Albans in 1455 Henry was defeated and taken prisoner. For the
two succeeding years there was peace, York governing in Henry’s name,
but in 1459 war again broke out, the Yorkists winning the battle of
Bloreheath, but were defeated at Ludlow. In the following year the
Yorkists won the battle of Northampton, but were defeated at Wakefield
by Margaret, Henry’s queen, York himself being slain. In 1461 York’s
son Edward gained a victory at Mortimer’s Cross, and although Warwick
was defeated by Margaret at the second battle of St. Albans, young
Edward was crowned at Westminster, and Henry fled to Scotland. After
wandering for four years he was captured and imprisoned in the Tower,
where after the defeat of Margaret at Tewkesbury, and the murder of
prince Edward after the battle, he was murdered (1421-71).
_Queen Mary._
HENRY (the Eighth).
King of England, son of Henry VII, whom he succeeded in 1509 at the age
of eighteen. In the same year he married Catherine of Aragon, widow of
his brother Arthur, and the early years of his reign were very popular.
In 1512 he joined the Holy League, formed by pope Julius II, and Henry
invaded France, and having won several victories, concluded peace with
the French king, Louis XII. During his absence James IV of Scotland
invaded England, but was defeated and slain at Flodden Field. Forming
an attachment for Anne Boleyn, he determined to divorce his wife
Catherine, his plea being that she was his brother’s widow, and the
divorce being refused by the pope, Henry assumed the title of head of
the English Church. In 1522 Cranmer, who had been created archbishop of
Canterbury, declared Henry’s marriage with Catherine void, and the king
married Anne Boleyn, but some years later, on the ground of infidelity,
she was executed, and Henry married Jane Seymour, but she dying soon
after the birth of Edward VI, Henry married Anne of Cleves, who was in
1540 divorced. Henry next married Catherine Howard, niece of the duke
of Norfolk, who was subsequently beheaded for infidelity, after which
he married Catherine Parr, who happily survived him. During his reign
the Reformation made great headway; statutes were passed by parliament
completely abrogating the papal authority in England, and in 1535 an
act made Henry the supreme Head of the Church. The monasteries were
suppressed, but this act aroused discontent, and an outbreak known as
the Pilgrimage of Grace, headed by Robert Aske, broke out in 1536. The
rebels were defeated in Lincolnshire, but took possession of York, and
marching on Doncaster were dispersed by the duke of Norfolk. In the
following year they again rose, but were promptly suppressed and the
leader executed (1491-1547). _See_ =Harry=.
_Queen Mary._
HENRY (the Second).
King of France, succeeded his father Francis in 1547. He married
Catherine de Medici, but was largely under the influence of his
celebrated mistress Diane de Poitiers, and the family of Guise. He
formed an alliance with Scotland, and declared war against England
which ended in 1558 with the loss of Calais, the last English
possession on French soil, that city having been in the hands of the
English for 210 years. Henry was accidentally wounded in a tournament
held in honour of his daughter’s marriage, by Montgomery, a Scottish
nobleman and captain of the guard, of which he died on July 10, 1559.
It was his fixed intention to destroy all the Protestants in his
dominions, and his sudden death preserved him from the execration which
clings to the name of Charles IX.
_Queen Mary._
HENRY BEDINGFIELD.
A Privy Councillor, son of sir Edmund Bedingfield. On the death of
Edward VI he supported the cause of Mary, and was appointed Constable
of the Tower in 1555 in succession to Lord Williams of Thame, when the
princess Elizabeth was committed to his keeping for supposed complicity
in the rebellion of sir Thomas Wyatt. On the accession of Elizabeth he
retired into private life.
_Queen Mary._
HENRY OF ENGLAND.
_See_ =Henry (the Second)=.
HENRY OF WINCHESTER.
Henry of Blois, brother of king Stephen. Abbot of Glastonbury, where
he built a palace and abbey buildings; created bishop of Winchester
in 1129, and procured the throne for his brother Stephen--whom he
crowned--by guaranteeing the liberty of the Church.
_Becket._ Henry of Winchester?
_Henry._ Him who crown’d Stephen--
King Stephen’s brother! No; too royal for me.
Was suspended from his bishoprick for advising Stephen to forbid
Theobald’s attendance at the papal council at Rheims in 1148, but
obtained absolution three years later. Consecrated Becket as primate in
1162, and supported him against Henry II, and on his deathbed rebuked
Henry for the murder of Becket.
_Becket._
HENRY (the Fifth).
King of England, surnamed Monmouth from the place of his birth, eldest
son of Henry IV. Henry having laid claim to the French crown, left the
kingdom in the hands of a regency, and invaded France, where he won,
in 1415, a great victory at Agincourt. Three years later he married
Catharine, daughter of the French king, and by the treaty of Troyes
got himself appointed as successor to the French throne. One of the
most illustrious men of this reign was sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham
(_q.v._), a nobleman who had fought with success in France during
the reign of Henry IV, and a friend of Henry V. Being a convert to
Lollardism he was summoned by archbishop Arundel to appear before his
court, and being found guilty of heresy, Henry had the unpleasant task
of choosing between his old comrade and the Roman prelate, with the
result that Cobham was condemned and burnt to death, December 1417.
_Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham._
HERBERT (of Bosham).
Born at Bosham, 1162. On the election of Becket to the archbishoprick
of Canterbury, Bosham was appointed his special monitor. Accompanied
Becket to the Council of Tours (1163), and the Councils of Clarendon
and Northampton in 1164. Went with Becket into exile, and returned with
him in 1170, but returned almost immediately to France. He returned
again to England in 1184, and died two years later and was buried in
Bosham Church. He was the author of a biography of Becket.
_Becket._
HERB-OF-GRACE.
The common rue, a perennial suffrutescent plant, with a bitter taste.
_Queen Mary._
HERCULES.
My Eustace might have sat for Hercules;
So muscular he spread, so broad of breast.
Has reference to Hercules, son of Zeus and Alkmene, the typical hero of
the Greeks.
_Dream of Fair Women_;
_Gardener’s Daughter_.
HERCULES.
_He_ fasts, they say, this mitred Hercules!
_He_ fast! is that an arm of fast?
Bishop Foliot’s reference to archbishop Becket.
_Becket._
HERÈ.
Wife of Zeus and the queen of heaven, whose sacred bird was the
peacock. In Greek mythology the attendant at the banquet of the
gods, whose food was ambrosia and whose drink was nectar. In Italian
mythology she was identified with Juno (_q.v._).
_Œnone_;
_The Princess_.
HEREFORD (Bishop of).
Gerard, archbishop of York, sent by William II in 1095 on a secret
mission to pope Urban, from whom he obtained the despatch of a legate
and pallium. On his return was created bishop of Hereford, and crowned
Henry I; translated to York in 1100; opposed archbishop Anselm in the
investiture dispute, but was repudiated by the pope, and compelled to
profess obedience to Anselm. He attempted to consecrate bishops, and
on his death was refused burial in the minster, but was subsequently
transferred thither by archbishop Thomas II.
_Becket._
HEREWARD THE WAKE.
A yeoman who made a gallant attempt to rally his countrymen against the
Conqueror. He held the Isle of Ely for about twelve months (1070-71),
and when William succeeded in encompassing the English, and penetrating
their camp of refuge, he cut his way through the besieging army and
escaped. His subsequent fate is not certain.
_The Foresters._
HERMON HILL.
A mountain on the north-eastern border of Palestine, over against
Lebanon, and a great landmark to the Israelites. It is referred to
in many instances in the Bible, and the mount on which Christ was
transfigured.
The beauty that endures on the Spiritual height,
When we shall stand transfigured, like Christ on Hermon hill,
_Happy._
HERN.
The Heron.
_The Brook_;
_In Memoriam_;
_Gareth and Lynette_;
_Geraint and Enid_;
_Lancelot and Elaine_;
_The Falcon_.
HEROD.
Ah, gentle cousin, since your Herod’s death,
How oft hath Peter knock’d at Mary’s gate!
_Queen Mary._
HEROD.
And so she throve and prosper’d: so three years
She prosper’d: on the fourth she fell,
Like Herod, when the shout was in his ears,
Struck thro’ the pangs of hell.
Has reference to Herod Agrippa in _Acts xii. 22-23_.
And the people gave a shout, _saying_, It is the voice of a god, and
not of a man.
And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not
God the glory: and he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost.
_Palace of Art._
HEROD-HENRY.
When Herod-Henry first
Began to batter at your English Church,