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HELVETIUS 



HEMIPTERA 



which the most important was thepagus Tigurinus. 

 They are first mentioned in the war with the 

 Cimbri, but the chief event in their history is their 

 attempted irruption into and conquest of southern 

 Gaul, in which they were repulsed by Caesar with 

 frightful slaughter, 58 B.C. Fortunately we have 

 the story in the terse but vivid narrative of Caesar. 

 They collected three months' provisions, burned 

 down their twelve towns and 400 villages, and made 

 a general rendezvous by Lake Leman in the spring 

 of the year. Csesar hastened to Geneva, destroyed 

 the bridge, raised two legions in Cisalpine Gaul, 

 and when the Helvetians sent delegates to demand 

 a passage, delayed them until he nad built a wall 

 along the Rhone, 16 feet high and about 19 Roman 

 miles in length, flanked with redoubts. After 

 vainly attempting to pass this barrier, the Helvetii 

 took another route, but were followed and defeated 

 with terrible slaughter at Bibracte (Autun), and 

 the remnant obliged to return to their own country, 

 where they became subject to the Romans, who 

 overawed all disaffection by the fortresses which 

 they built, Noviodunum, Vindonissa, Aventicum. 

 Of 368,000 who left their homes, including 92,000 

 fighting-men, only 110,000 are said to have 

 returned. See SWITZERLAND. 



II H v< ; ti u s. CLAUDE ADRIEN, one of the French 

 Encyclopaedists, was of Swiss origin, and was born 

 at Paris in 1715. He was trained for a financial 

 career, and in 1738 was appointed to the lucra- 

 tive office of farmer-general. But this post he 

 quickly resigned for the situation of chamberlain 

 to the queen's household. At this time he asso- 

 ciated much with the French philosophers of the 

 day, Diderot, D'Alembert, Holbach, and others. 

 In 1751 he withdrew to a small estate at Vore (Le 

 Perclie), where he spent the most of his life in the 

 education of his family, the improvement of his 

 peasantry, and in literary labours. In 1758 ap- 

 peared his celebrated work, De V Esprit, in which, 

 carrying out, as lie thought, the work of Locke, he 

 endeavoured to prove that sensation is the source of 

 all intellectual activity, and that the grand lever of 

 all human conduct is self-gratification. The book 

 created an immense sensation. It was denounced 

 by the doctors of the Sorbonne, and condemned 

 by the parliament of Paris to be publicly burned. 

 Everybody read it, and it was translated into 

 the principal European tongues. Helvetius died 

 at Paris, 26th December 1771, leaving behind 

 him a work, De f Horn/me, de ses Facultes, et de son 

 Education (2 vols. Lond. 1772). His collected 

 works were published in 14 vols. at Paris in 1796, 

 and again in 3 vols. in 1818. See Morley's Diderot 

 anil the Encyclopaedists (1878). 



Helvoetsliiys, or HELLEVOETSLUIS, a forti- 

 fied seaport of South Holland, on the Haring-Vliet, 

 an arm of the Maas, 17 miles SW. of Rotterdam. It 

 has an excellent harbour, and is to Rotterdam and 

 u he mouth of the Maas what the Helder is to 

 Amsterdam and the Zuider Zee. There is a school 

 of navigation. Here William III. embarked for 

 England, November 11, 1688. Pop. 4362. 



Hemans, FELICIA DOROTHEA, poetess, was 

 born at Liverpool, 25th September 1793. Her 

 father, George Browne, was a Liverpool merchant, 

 of Irish extraction ; her mother, whose maiden 

 name was Wagner, was of mixed Italian and 

 German descent. Felicia was distinguished for 

 her beauty and precocity, and at an early age she 

 manifested a taste for poetry, in which she was 

 encouraged by her mother. Family reverses led to 

 the removal of the Brownes to Wales, where the 

 young poetess imbibed a strong passion for nature, 

 read books of chronicle and romance, and gained a 

 working knowledge of the German, Italian, Span- 

 ish, and Portuguese languages. She also cultivated 



her excellent musical taste. Her first volume was 

 published in 1808, when she was only fifteen years 

 of age, and contained a few pieces written about 

 four years earlier ; her second, entitled The 

 Domestic Affections, appeared in 1812. In the 

 same year she married Captain Hemans of the 

 4th Regiment, whose health had suffered in the 

 retreat on Corunna, and afterwards in the Wal- 

 cheren expedition, and who settled in Italy in 

 1818. After this time they never met again ; 

 their marriage was understood not to have been 

 happy. Mrs Hemans, though in poor health, 

 now devoted herself to the education of her 

 children, to reading and writing, and spent the 

 rest of her life in North Wales, Lancashire, and 

 latterly at Dublin, where she died, 16th May 

 1835. Her principal works are : The Vespers 

 of Palermo, a tragedy (1823), which proved a 

 failure when acted at Covent Garden ; The Siege 

 of Valencia, The Last Constantine, and other 

 Poems (1823); The Forest Sanctuary (1827); 

 Records of Women (1828); The Songs of the 

 Affections (1830); and Hymns for Childhood, 

 National Lyrics and Songs for Music (1834); 

 and Scenes and Hymns of Life (1834). A volume 

 of Poetical Remains was published after her death, 

 and subsequently a complete edition of her works, 

 with a memoir by her sister, was issued in 7 vols. 

 ( 1839). During a visit that she paid to Abbotsford, 

 Scott complimented her on her musical talents : 

 ' I should say you had too many gifts, Mrs Hemans, 

 were they not all made to give pleasure to those 

 around you. ' And on parting he said : ' There are 

 some whom we meet and should like ever after to 

 claim as kith and kin ; and you are one of these. ' 



Mrs Hemans, without great originality or force, is 

 yet sweet, natural, and pleasing. But she was too 

 fluent, and wrote much and hastily ; her lyrics are 

 her best productions ; her more ambitious poems, 

 especially her tragedies, being, in fact, quite in- 

 sipid. Still, she was a woman of true genius, 

 though her range was circumscribed, and some 

 of her little lyrics, The Voice of Spring, The 

 Better Land, The Graves of a Household, The 

 Treasures of the Deep, and The Homes of Eng- 

 land, are perfect in pathos and sentiment, and 

 will live as long as the English language. These 

 are found in almost every school collection, and 

 this early familiarity with her sweet and simple 

 lyrics has helped to keep her memory green. 



Besides her sister's memoir, there are Memorials by H. 

 F. Chorley (1836); Recollections by Mrs Lawrence 

 ( 1836 ) ; Poetical Remains, with memoir by Delta ( 1836 ) ; 

 and Poetical Works, with memoir by W. M. Rossetti 

 (1873). See also Espinasse's Lancashire Worthies ( 1874 ). 



Hematite. See HEMATITE. 



Heinel Hempstead, a market-town of Hert- 

 fordshire, 23 miles NW. of London, a centre of the 

 straw-plaiting industry. It has also paper-mills, 

 iron-foundries, tanneries, and breweries. Pop. 

 of parish ( 1851 ) 7073 ; ( 1881 ) 9064 ; ( 1891 ) 9678. 



Hemerocallis. See DAY-LILY. 



Hemianopia (Gr. hemi, ' one-half,' an, 'not; 

 and ops, 'the eye'), vision limited to one-half of 

 an object a peculiar and rare form of disease, 

 generally due to disease within the brain. 



Hemicrania. See HEADACHE. 



Hemidesmus. See SARSAPARILLA. 



Hemiplegia (Gr. hemi, 'one-half,' and plesso, 

 'I strike ), Paralysis (q.v.) limited to one side of 

 the face and body, and usually depending upon 

 disease of the brain. Opposed in signification to 

 Paraplegia. 



Heinipode. See QUAIL. 



Hemip'tera ( Gr. , ' half- winged ' ), a large order 

 of insects, to which the general term ' bugs ' is often 



