[1] Chrysander says Mattei instead of Ariosti.
[2] By a dramatic coincidence Handel's blindness interrupted him
during the writing of the chorus, "How dark, oh Lord, are Thy
decrees, ... all our joys to sorrow turning ... as the night succeeds
the day."
[3] The "moral" question has been raised afresh in reviews of Mr
Sedley Taylor's admirable volume of analysed illustrations (_The
Indebtedness of Handel to works of other Composers_, Cambridge,
1906). The latest argument is that Handel shows moral obliquity in
borrowing "regrettably" from sources no one could know at the time.
This reasoning makes it mysterious that a man of such moral obliquity
should ever have written a note of his own music in England when he
could have stolen the complete choral works of Bach and most of the
hundred operas of Alessandro Scarlatti with the certainty that the
sources would not be printed for a century after his death, even if
his own name did not then check curiosity among antiquarians. Of
course Handel's plagiarisms would have damaged his reputation if
contemporaries had known of them. His polyphonic scholarship was more
"antiquated" in the 18th century than it is in the 20th.
[4] Much light would be thrown on the subject if some one
sufficiently ignorant of architecture were to make researches into
Sir Christopher Wren's indebtedness to Italian architects!
HANDFASTING (A.S. _handfaestnung_, pledging one's hand), primarily the O.
Eng. synonym for _betrothal_ (q.v.), and later a peculiar form of
temporary marriage at one time common in Scotland, the only necessary
ceremony being the verbal pledge of the couple while holding hands. The
pair thus handfasted were, in accordance with Scotch law, entitled to
live together for a year and a day. If then they so wished, the
temporary marriage could be made permanent: if not, they could go their
several ways without reproach, the child, if any, being supported by the
party who objected to further cohabitation.
HANDICAP (from the expression _hand in cap_, referring to drawing lots),
a disadvantageous condition imposed upon the superior competitor in
sports and games, or an advantage allowed the inferior, in order to
equalize the chances of both. The character of the handicap depends upon
the nature of the sport. Thus in horse-racing the better horse must
carry the heavier weight. In foot races the inferior runners are allowed
to start at certain distances in advance of the best (or "scratch") man,
according to their previous records. In distance competitions (weights,
fly-casting, jumping, &c.) the inferior contestants add certain
distances to their scores. In time contests (yachting, canoe-racing,
&c.) the weaker or smaller competitors subtract certain periods of time
from that actually made, reckoned by the mile. In stroke contests (e.g.
golf) a certain number of strokes are subtracted from or added to the
scores, according to the strength of the players. In chess and draughts
the stronger competitor may play without one or more pieces. In court
games (tennis, lawn-tennis, racquets, &c.) and in billiards certain
points, or percentage of points, are accorded the weaker players.
Handicapping was applied to horse-racing as early as 1680, though the
word was not used in this connexion much before the middle of the 18th
century. A "Post and Handy-Cap Match" is described in _Pond's Racing
Calendar_ for 1754. A reference to something similar in Germany and
Scandinavia, called _Freimarkt_, may be found in _Germania_, vol. xix.
Competitions in which handicaps are given are called _handicap-events_
or _handicaps_. There are many systems which depend upon the whim of the
individual competitors. Thus a tennis player may offer to play against
his inferior with a selzer-bottle instead of a racquet; or a golfer to
play with only one club; or a chess-player to make his moves without
seeing the board.
The name "handicap" was taken from an ancient English game, to which
Pepys, in his _Diary_ under the date of the 18th of September 1660, thus
refers: "Here some of us fell to handicap, a sport that I never knew
before, which was very good." This game, which became obsolete in the
19th century, was described as early as the 14th in _Piers the Plowman_
under the name of "New Faire." It was originally played by three
persons, one of whom proposed to "challenge," or exchange, some piece of
property belonging to another for something of his own. The challenge
being accepted an umpire was chosen, and all three put up a sum of money
as a forfeit. The two players then placed their right hands in a cap, or
in their pockets, in which there was loose money, while the umpire
proceeded to describe the two objects of exchange, and to declare what
sum of money the owner of the inferior article should pay as a bonus to
the other. This declaration was made as rapidly as possible and ended
with the invitation, "Draw, gentlemen!" Each player then withdrew and
held out his hand, which he opened. If both hands contained money the
exchange was effected according to the conditions laid down by the
umpire, who then took the forfeit money for himself. If neither hand
contained money the exchange was declined and the umpire took the
forfeit money. If only one player signified his acceptance of the
exchange by holding money in his hand, he was entitled to the
forfeit-money, though the exchange was not made.
Handicap was also the name of an old game at cards, now obsolete. It
resembled the game of Loo, and probably derived its name from the
ancient sport described above.
HANDSEL, the O. Eng. term for earnest money; especially in Scotland the
first money taken at a market or fair. The termination _sel_ is the
modern "sell." "Hand" indicates, not a bargain by shaking hands, but the
actual putting of the money into the hand. Handsels were also presents
or earnests of goodwill in the North; thus Handsel Monday, the first
Monday in the year, an occasion for universal tipping, is the equivalent
of the English Boxing day.
HANDSWORTH. (1) An urban district in the Handsworth parliamentary
division of Staffordshire, England, suburban to Birmingham on the
north-west. Pop. (1891), 32,756; (1901) 52,921. (See BIRMINGHAM.) (2) An
urban district in the Hallamshire parliamentary division of Yorkshire, 4
m. S.E. of Sheffield. Pop. (1901), 13,404. In this neighbourhood are
extensive collieries and quarries.
HANDWRITING. Under PALAEOGRAPHY and WRITING, the history of handwriting
is dealt with. Questions of handwriting come before legal tribunals
mainly in connexion with the law of evidence. In Roman law, the
authenticity of documents was proved first by the attesting witnesses;
in the second place, if they were dead, by comparison of handwritings.
It was necessary, however, that the document to be used for purposes of
comparison either should have been executed with the formalities of a
public document, or should have its genuineness proved by three
attesting witnesses. The determination was apparently, in the latter
case, left to experts, who were sworn to give an impartial opinion (Code
4, 21. 20). Proof by comparison of handwritings, with a reference if
necessary to three experts as to the handwriting which is to be used for
the purposes of comparison, is provided for in the French Code of Civil
Procedure (arts. 193 et seq.); and in Quebec (Code Proc. Civ. arts. 392
et seq.) and St Lucia (Code Civ. Proc. arts. 286 et seq.), the French
system has been adopted with modifications. Comparison by witnesses of
disputed writings with any writing proved to the satisfaction of the
judge to be genuine is accepted in England and Ireland in all legal
proceedings whether criminal or civil, including proceedings before
arbitrators (Denman Act, 28 & 29 Vict. c. 18, 55. 1, 8); and such
writings and the evidence of witnesses respecting the same may be
submitted to the court and jury as evidence of the genuineness or
otherwise of the writing in dispute. It is admitted in Scotland (where
the term _comparatio literarum_ is in use) and in most of the American
states, subject to the same conditions. In England, prior to the Common
Law Procedure Act of 1854 (now superseded by the act of 1866), documents
irrelevant to the matter in issue were not admissible for the sole
purpose of comparison, and this rule has been adopted, and is still
adhered to, in some of the states in America. In England, as in the
United States, and in most legal systems, the primary and best evidence
of handwriting is that of the writer himself. Witnesses who saw him
write the writing in question, or who are familiar with his handwriting
either from having seen him write or from having corresponded with him,
or otherwise, may be called. In cases of disputed handwriting the court
will accept the evidence of experts in handwriting, i.e. persons who
have an adequate knowledge of handwriting, whether acquired in the way
of their business or not, such as solicitors or bank cashiers (_R._ v.
_Silverlock_, 1894, 2 Q.B. 766). In such cases the witness is required
to compare the admitted handwriting of the person whose writing is in
question with the disputed document, and to state in detail the
similarities or differences as to the formation of words and letters, on
which he bases his opinion as to the genuineness or otherwise of the
disputed document. By the use of the magnifying glass, or, as in the
Parnell case, by enlarged photographs of the letters alleged to have
been written by Mr Parnell, the court and jury are much assisted to
appreciate the grounds on which the conclusions of the expert are
founded. Evidence of this kind, being based on opinion and theory, needs
to be very carefully weighed, and the dangers of implicit reliance on it
have been illustrated in many cases (e.g. the Beck case in 1904; and see
_Seaman_ v. _Netherclift_, 1876, 1 C.P.D. 540). Evidence by comparison
of handwriting comes in principally either in default, or in
corroboration, of the other modes of proof.
Where attestation is necessary to the validity of a document, e.g. wills
and bills of sale, the execution must be proved by one or more of the
attesting witnesses, unless they are dead or cannot be produced, when it
is sufficient to prove the signature of one of them to the attesting
clause (28 & 29 Vict. c. 18, s. 7). Signatures to certain public and
official documents need not in general be proved (see e.g. Evidence Act,
1845, ss. 1, 2).
See Taylor, _Law of Evidence_ (10th ed., London, 1906); Erskine
_Principles of the Law of Scotland_ (20th ed., Edinburgh, 1903);
Bouvier, _Law Dicty._ (Boston and London, 1897); Harris,
_Identification_ (Albany, 1892); Hagan, _Disputed Handwriting_ (New
York, 1894); also the article IDENTIFICATION. (A. W. R.)
HANG-CHOW-FU, a city of China, in the province of Cheh-Kiang, 2 m. N.W.
of the Tsien-tang-Kiang, at the southern terminus of the Grand canal, by
which it communicates with Peking. It lies about 100 m. S.W. of
Shanghai, in 30 deg. 20' 20" N., 120 deg. 7' 27" E. Towards the west is
the Si-hu or Western Lake, a beautiful sheet of water, with its banks
and islands studded with villas, monuments and gardens, and its surface
traversed by gaily-painted pleasure boats. Exclusive of extensive and
flourishing suburbs, the city has a circuit, of 12 m.; its streets are
well paved and clean; and it possesses a large number of arches, public
monuments, temples, hospitals and colleges. It has long ranked as one of
the great centres of Chinese commerce and Chinese learning. In 1869 the
silk manufactures alone were said to give employment to 60,000 persons
within its walls, and it has an extensive production of gold and silver
work and tinsel paper. On one of the islands in the lake is the great
Wen-lan-ko or pavilion of literary assemblies, and it is said that at
the examinations for the second degree, twice every three years, from
10,000 to 15,000 candidates come together. In the north-east corner of
the city is the Nestorian church which was noted by Marco Polo, the
facade being "elaborately carved and the gates covered with elegantly
wrought iron." There is a Roman Catholic mission in Hangchow, and the
Church Missionary Society, the American Presbyterians, and the Baptists
have stations. The local dialect differs from the Mandarin mainly in
pronunciation. The population, which is remarkable for gaiety of
clothing, was formerly reckoned at 2,000,000, but is now variously
estimated at 300,000, 400,000 or 800,000. Hang-chow-fu was declared open
to foreign trade in 1896, in pursuance of the Japanese treaty of
Shimonoseki. It is connected with Shanghai by inland canal, which is
navigable for boats drawing up to 4 ft. of water, and which might be
greatly improved by dredging. The cities of Shanghai, Hangchow and
Suchow form the three points of a triangle, each being connected with
the other by canal, and trade is now open by steam between all three
under the inland navigation rules. These canals pass through the richest
and most populous districts of China, and in particular lead into the
great silk-producing districts. They have for many centuries been the
highway of commerce, and afford a cheap and economical means of
transport. Hangchow lies at the head of the large estuary of that name,
which is, however, too shallow for navigation by steamers. The estuary
or bay is funnel-shaped, and its configuration produces at spring tides
a "bore" or tidal wave, which at its maximum reaches a height of 15 to
20 ft. The value of trade passing through the customs in 1899 was
L1,729,000; in 1904 these figures had risen to L2,543,831.
Hang-chow-fu is the Kinsai of Marco Polo, who describes it as the finest
and noblest city in the world, and speaks enthusiastically of the number
and splendour of its mansions and the wealth and luxuriance of its
inhabitants. According to this authority it had a circuit of 100 m., and
no fewer than 12,000 bridges and 3000 baths. The name Kinsai, which
appears in Wassaf as Khanzai, in Ibn Batuta as Khansa, in Odoric of
Pordenone as Camsay, and elsewhere as Campsay and Cassay, is really a
corruption of the Chinese _King-sze_, capital, the same word which is
still applied to Peking. From the 10th to the 13th century (960-1272)
the city, whose real name was then Ling-nan, was the capital of southern
China and the seat of the Sung dynasty, which was dethroned by the
Mongolians shortly before Marco Polo's visit. Up to 1861, when it was
laid in ruins by the T'aip'ings, Hangchow continued to maintain its
position as one of the most flourishing cities in the empire.
HANGING, one of the modes of execution under Roman law (_ad furcam
domnatio_), and in England and some other countries the usual form of
capital punishment. It was derived by the Anglo-Saxons from their German
ancestors (Tacitus, _Germ._ 12). Under William the Conqueror this mode
of punishment is said to have been disused in favour of mutilation: but
Henry I. decreed that all thieves taken should be hanged (i.e. summarily
without trial), and by the time of Henry II. hanging was fully
established as a punishment for homicide; the "right of pit and
gallows" was ordinarily included in the royal grants of jurisdiction to
lords of manors and to ecclesiastical[1] and municipal corporations. In
the middle ages every town, abbey, and nearly all the more important
manorial lords had the right of hanging. The clergy had rights, too, in
respect to the gallows. Thus William the Conqueror invested the abbot of
Battle Abbey with authority to save the life of any criminal. From the
end of the 12th century the jurisdiction of the royal courts gradually
became exclusive; as early as 1212 the king's justices sentenced
offenders to be hanged (_Seld. Soc. Publ._ vol. i.; _Select Pleas of the
Crown_, p. 111), and in the Gloucester eyre of 1221 instances of this
sentence are numerous (Maitland, pl. 72, 101, 228). In 1241 a nobleman's
son, William Marise, was hanged for piracy. In the reign of Edward I.
the abbot of Peterborough set up a gallows at Collingham, Notts, and
hanged a thief. In 1279 two hundred and eighty Jews were hanged for
clipping coin. The mayor and the porter of the South Gate of Exeter were
hanged for their neglect in leaving the city gate open at night, thereby
aiding the escape of a murderer. Hanging in time superseded all other
forms of capital punishment for felony. It was substituted in 1790 for
burning as a punishment of female traitors and in 1814 for beheading as
a punishment for male traitors. The older and more primitive modes of
carrying out the sentence were by hanging from the bough of a tree ("the
father to the bough, the son to the plough") or from a gallows. Formerly
in the worst cases of murder it was customary after execution to hang
the criminal's body in chains near the scene of his crime. This was
known as "gibbeting," and, though by no means rare in the earliest
times, was, according to Blackstone, no part of the legal sentence.
Holinshed is the authority for the statement that sometimes culprits
were gibbeted alive, but this is doubtful. It was not until 1752 that
gibbeting was recognized by statute. The act (25 Geo. II. c. 37)
empowered the judges to direct that the dead body of a murderer should
be hung in chains, in the manner practised for the most atrocious
offences, or given over to surgeons to be dissected and anatomized, and
forbade burial except after dissection (see Foster, Crown Law, 107, Earl
Ferrers' case, 1760). The hanging in chains was usually on the spot
where the murder took place. Pirates were gibbeted on the sea shore or
river bank. The act of 1752 was repealed in 1828, but the alternatives
of dissection or hanging in chains were re-enacted and continued in use
until abolished as to dissection by the Anatomy Act in 1832, and as to
hanging in chains in 1834. The last murderer hung in chains seems to
have been James Cook, executed at Leicester on the 10th of August 1832.
The irons used on that occasion are preserved in Leicester prison.
Instead of chains, gibbet irons, a framework to hold the limbs together,
were sometimes used. At the town hall, Rye, Sussex, are preserved the
irons used in 1742 for one John Breeds who murdered the mayor.
The earlier modes of hanging were gradually disused, and the present
system of hanging by use of the drop is said to have been inaugurated at
the execution of the fourth Earl Ferrers in 1760. The form of scaffold
now in use[2] has under the gallows a drop constructed on the principle
of the trap-doors on a theatrical stage, upon which the convict is
placed under the gallows, a white cap is placed over his head, and when
the halter has been properly adjusted the drop is withdrawn by a
mechanical contrivance worked by a lever, much like those in use on
railways for moving points and signals. The convict falls into a pit,
the length of the fall being regulated by his height and weight. Death
results not from real hanging and strangulation, but from a fracture of
the cervical vertebrae. Compression of the windpipe by the rope and the
obstruction of the circulation aid in the fatal result. Recently the
noose has had imbedded in its fibre a metal eyelet which is adjusted
tightly beneath the ear and considerably expedites death. The convict is
left hanging until life is extinct.
It was long considered essential that executions, like trials, should be
public, and be carried out in a manner calculated to impress evil-doers.
Partly to this idea, partly to notions of revenge and temporal
punishment of sin, is probably due the rigour of the administration of
the English law. But the methods of execution were unseemly, as
delineated in Hogarth's print of the execution of the idle apprentice,
and were ineffectual in reducing the bulk of crime, which was augmented
by the inefficiency of the police and the uncertainty and severity of
the law, which rendered persons tempted to commit crime either reckless
or confident of escape. The scandals attending public executions led to
an attempt to alter the law in 1841, although many protests had been
made long before, among them those of the novelist Fielding. But perhaps
the most forcible and effectual was that of Charles Dickens in his
letters to _The Times_ written after mixing in the crowd gathered to
witness the execution of the Mannings at Horsemonger Lane gaol in 1849.
After his experiences he came to the conclusion that public executions
attracted the depraved and those affected by morbid curiosity; and that
the spectacle had neither the solemnity nor the salutary effect which
should attend the execution of public justice. His views were strongly
resisted in some quarters; and it was not until 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c.
24) that they were accepted. The last public hanging in England was that
of Michael Barrett for murder by causing an explosion at Clerkenwell
prison with the object of releasing persons confined there for treason
and felony (Ann. Reg., 1868, p. 63). Under the act of 1868 (31 & 32
Vict. c. 24), which was adapted from similar legislation already in
force in the Australian colonies convicted murderers are hanged within
the walls of a prison. The sentence of the court is that the convict "be
hanged by the neck until he is dead." The execution of the sentence
devolves on the sheriff of the county (Sheriffs Act 1887, s. 13). As a
general rule the sentence is carried out in England and Ireland at 8
A.M. on a week-day (not being Monday), in the week following the third
Sunday after sentence was passed. In old times prisoners were often
hanged on the day after sentence was passed; and under the act of 1752
this was made the rule in cases of murder. A public notice of the date
and hour of execution must be posted on the prison walls not less than
twelve hours before the execution and must remain until the inquest is
over. The persons required to be present are the sheriff, the gaoler,
chaplain and surgeon of the prison, and such other officers of the
prison as the sheriff requires; justices of the peace for the
jurisdiction to which the prison belongs, and such of the relatives, or
such other persons as the sheriff or visiting justices allow, may also
attend. It is usual to allow the attendance of some representatives of
the press. The death of the prisoner is certified by the prison surgeon,
and a declaration that judgment of death has been executed is signed by
the sheriff. An inquest is then held on the body by the coroner for the
jurisdiction and a jury from which prison officers are excluded. The
certificate and declaration, and a duplicate of the coroner's inquiry
also, are sent to the home office, or in Ireland to the lord-lieutenant,
and the body of the prisoner is interred in quicklime within the prison
walls if space is available. It is also the practice to toll the bell of
the parish or other neighbouring church, for fifteen minutes before and
fifteen minutes after the execution. The hoisting of the black flag at
the moment of execution was abolished in 1902. The regulations as to
execution are printed in the Statutory Rules and Orders, Revised ed.
1904, vol. x. (tits. Prison E. and Prison I). The act of 1868 applies
only to executions for murder; but since the passing of the act there
have been no executions for any other crime within the United Kingdom.
(See further CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.)
In Scotland execution by hanging is carried out in the same manner as in
England and Ireland, but under the supervision of the magistrates of the
burgh in which it is decreed to take place, and in lieu of the inquest
required in England and Ireland an inquiry is held at the instance of
the procurator-fiscal before a sheriff or sheriff substitute (act of
1868, s. 13). The procedure at the execution is governed by the act of
1868 and the Scottish Prison Rules, rr. 465-469 (Stat. Rules and Orders,
Revised ed. 1904, tit. Prison S).
_British Dominions beyond the Seas._--Throughout the King's dominions
hanging is the regular method of executing sentence of death. In India
the Penal Code superseded the modes of punishment under Mahommedan law,
and s. 368 of the Criminal Procedure Code of 1898 provides that sentence
of death is to be executed by hanging by the neck.
In Canada the sentence is executed within a prison under conditions very
similar to those in England (Criminal Code, 1892; ss. 936-945). In
Australia the execution takes place within the prison walls, at a time
and place appointed by the governor of the state. See Queensland Code,
1899, s. 664; Western Australia Code, 1901, s. 663; in these states no
inquest is held. In Western Australia the governor may cause an
aboriginal native to be executed outside a prison. In New Zealand the
only mode of execution is by hanging within a prison (Act of 1883).
_United States._---In all the states except New York, Massachusetts, New
Jersey, North Carolina, Mississippi, Virginia, and Ohio (see
ELECTROCUTION) persons sentenced to death are hanged. In Utah the
criminal may elect to be shot instead.
The only countries, whose law is not of direct English origin, which
inflict capital punishment by hanging are Japan, Austria, Hungary and
Russia. (W. F. C.)