UK KSC I IK I, 



HERTFORDSHIRE 



1833 to the Royal Society in the form of a catalogue 

 of stars in order of their right ascension. The 

 .u.ilu-iie contained obHervationa on ."_'.". nrl.uLr 

 .iii.l clusters of -iai - not noticed by hi- father, and 

 mi a great niiniber of double atari* in all between 

 .SIMM) and 4000. This important eontribatfa t" 

 M-ience led to his being acknowledged as the worthy 

 Hucceaaor of his father ; no early, indeed, as 1826 

 tin- Koyal Society had voted to him and South a 

 Hold medal apiece for their observations on double 

 Htare ; but by 1833 his pre-eminence was beyond the 

 necessity of being marked by acknowledgments. 

 His treatises on Sound and on the Theory of Light 

 had appeared in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana 

 (1830-31); his treatise on Astronomy (1831) 

 and the ' Preliminary Discourse on the Study of 

 Natural Philosophy' in Lardner's Cyclopaedia; not 

 to mention his papers in the Transactions of the 

 Astronomical Society. In January 1834 Herschel 

 arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, with the inten- 

 tion of completing the survey of the sidereal 

 heavens, by examining the southern hemisphere as 

 he had done the northern. Here he established his 

 observatory at Feldhausen, six miles from Table 

 Bay ; and in four years, working all the time 

 at his own expense, he Completed his observations. 

 The public interest taken in his labours was, 

 as might be supposed, very great ; but though 

 now and then gratified by partial statements of his 

 results, it was not till 1847, nine years after his 

 return from the Cape, that it received full gratifica- 

 tion in the publication of a volume of Astronomical 

 Observations made at the Cape ; being the Completion 

 of a Telescopic Survey of the whole Surface of the 

 Visible Heavens commenced in 1825. It need not be 

 said that the results of these labours are invaluable. 

 They are now incorporated into all books on 

 astronomy. Herschel, when at the Cape, gave an 

 impulse to the science of meteorology, having the 

 merit of having suggested the scheme for taking 

 meteorological observations simultaneously at 

 different places. 



On his return to England honours were showered 

 on him he was made D.C.L. of Oxford, and, on 

 the Queen's coronation, a baronet. He was presi- 

 dent of the Astronomical Society, and in 1849 

 became Master of the Mint. His articles on 

 Meteorology, Physical Geography, and Telescope, 

 contributed to the Encydopceaia Britannica, were 

 published separately ; and his Popular Lectures 

 on Scientific Subjects (new ed. 1880) and Collected 

 Addresses are well-known works. Herschel was 

 also a distinguished chemist, and attained import- 

 ant results in photography independent, of Fox 

 Talbot. His researches on the undulatory theory 

 of light were very valuable. He had also a pro- 

 found interest in poetry, and made translations from 

 Schiller and from the Iliad. He died at Colling- 

 wood, in Kent, on 12th (not llth) May 1871, and 

 was buried in Westminster Abbey near Sir Isaac 

 Newton. See AIMICS M. ('lerke, The Herschels and 

 Modern Asti-oiinm;/ ( 18!K). 



Herschel, or URANUS. See PLANETS. 



Hersfcld, an old town of Hesse-Nassau, on 

 the river Fiilda, whicll here becomes navigable, 27 

 miles N. of Fulda by rail. Here are a fine Gothic 

 church, built in 1890; the ruins of the cathedral, 

 destroyed by the French in 1761 ; and the formerly- 

 celebrated Benedictine abbey, founded in 769. 

 Pop. 7271. 



llcrsllip. an old Scotch law term, denoting the 

 offence of carrying off cattle by force. 



Hertford, the county town of Hertfordshire, 

 26 miles N. of London by rail, is situated on the 

 Lea, which is navigable for barges up to this point. 

 It contains few buildings of any architectural im- 

 portance, save one ancient church ; but there are 



also a town or nhire hall (1768), an infirmary, 

 ;ui' I u corn exchange and free library ( 1859). Hert- 

 ford has a grammar-school and several charity 

 school*, whilst at the entrance into the town on 

 tin- London Road is u preparatory school in con- 

 nection with Christ'** Hospital (q.v.) in London. 

 A considerable trade i- carried on in corn, malt, 

 an I Hour. Hertford returned two member* to 

 parliament till 1867, and in 1885 ceased to be a 

 parliamentary borough. Pop. ( 1881 ) 7747 ; ( 1891 ) 

 7232. The head spring of the New River (q.v.) 

 rises about a mile east of the town, and 2 mil' - 

 westward is Panshanger, the seat of Earl COWJMT, 

 with its valuable collection of pictures. Of the 

 old castle of Hertford, commenced by Edward the 

 Elder about 905 to protect the inhabitants from 

 the incursions of the Danes, and strengthened by 

 William the Conqueror, but a email portion now 

 remains ; the present castle was built by William 

 Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, or Sir William Harring- 

 ton, in the reign of James I., and in 1805-9 was 

 occupied by the East India Company as a tempo- 

 rary college during the erection of Haileybury 

 (q.v.). See Turner's History of Hertford ( 1 830 ). 



Hertfordshire, or HERTS, an inland county 

 of England, extending 35 miles in a north-easterly 

 direction and 20 miles in mean breadth, is bounded 

 N. by Cambridge, E. by Essex, S. by Middlesex, 

 arid W. by Buckingham. It contains 611 sq. m., 

 of which more than one-half is under tillage, 

 one-fourth pasture, and one-seventeenth in wood ; 

 is divided into 8 hundreds, 2 municipal boroughs 

 viz. Hertford and St Albans 138 parishes, 

 and has 11 market-towns, the chief of which are 

 Hertford (the county town ), St Albans, Wat- 

 ford, Hitchin, Hemel Hempstead, and Bishop- 

 Stortford. Pop. (1801) 97,577; (1841) 156,660; 

 (1881) 203,140; (1891) 220,125. The surface is 

 mostly level, except in the north, where a branch 

 of the Chiltern Hills skirts the county, Kensworth 

 Hill ( 904 feet ) being the highest elevation. The 

 principal Tivers are the Lea, the Stort, and the 

 Colne, all affluents of the Thames, and the 

 artificial stream 'called the New River (q.v.): the 

 Grand Junction Canal, too, passes through the 

 south-western extremity of the county. Chalk, at 

 a greater or less depth below the surface, forms the 

 basis of the soil, which is various, but principally 

 loam and clay, the former being met with in nearly 

 all its gradations, more or less intermingled with 

 flint or sand. The climate is mild and healthy. 

 As a manufacturing county Herts does not stand 

 high. Straw-plaiting is, however, largely carried 

 on in the north and west portions, where the land 

 is least adapted for agriculture ; in the neighlMiur- 

 liood of Watford and Rickmansworth are several 

 paper and silk factories, and at Great Berk- 

 hampstead are extensive chemical works. The 

 agriculture of the county has improved very much 

 of late years, the quantity of barley and wheat 

 grown l>eiiig very considerable; immense quanti 

 ties of hay, too, are sold off the land, and sent to 

 London. Ware is the chief seat of the malting 

 trade in the kingdom ; Cheshunt, Waltham Cross, 

 and Bishop-Stortford are famous for their !- 

 gardens, and in some districts watercre-> i- . \ 

 tensively cultivated for the London market. Herts 

 is almost entirely in the diocese of St Albans and 

 in the South-eastern Circuit, and since 1885 has 

 returned one member to parliament for each of its 

 four divisions North or Hitchin, East or Hert- 

 ford, Mid or St Albans, and West or Watford. 

 Many historical events are connected with the 

 county : it was the scene, at Verulam near the 

 present town of St Albans (q.v.), of contests with 

 the Romans, and of the martyrdom of St Alban ; 

 in it, too, were fought three of the most ini|K>i tant 

 battles in England's history the first in 1455, 



