HuTTKN TOTS' I'.liKAD 



HOUGHTON 



809 



omnium possession of a few verbal root* and the 

 i-.miiiioii u.-e of some harsh faucai sounds or 

 'clicks' in their manner of speech. These 'clicks' 

 are four iti number a dental sound, usually repre- 

 sented by the sign I : palatal, by jt; a lateral,' 

 by || ; and a cerebral, by ! . All the Khoikhoi 

 idioms itn- distinguished by monosyllabic roots 



in a vowel, and the use of pronoininul 

 elements us sutlixes for the purpose of forming 

 de!i\ati\es. They possess no prefixes. One strik- 

 ing feature is a decimal system of counting. 



They have loth sacred, and profane poetry, and 

 IIMIIMS of both kinds are sung accompanied by 

 tin- >o called reed -music or ree<l-dances, performed 

 mi reed or bark pipes. The sacred hymns are 

 generally prayers, invocations, and songs of praise 

 in honour of the supreme being Tsihllgoab, the 

 beneficent deity Heitsi-eibib, and the Moon ; while 

 the profane reed-songs or dances deplore the fate 

 of some dead chief or hero, or are sarcastic lessons 

 to some one who has done something unpopular. 

 They are often given by way of welcome to some 

 guest worthy of honour, and in every large kraal 

 there is a bandmaster, whose business it is to drill 

 the young boys and girls in this music. Dr Halm 

 compares its effect to the harmonium. The chief 

 divinities of the Khoikhoi, as has been seen, are 

 the supreme being Tsuillgoab, who lives in the 

 Red Sky ; another beneficent being, Heitsi-eibib, 

 considered as an ancestral deity, who came origin- 

 ally from the East ; and ||Gaunab, an evil spirit, 

 whose malignant influence has to be averted by 

 prayers and charms, which furnish employment to 

 troops of professional sorcerers. The mythology 

 is rich, but singularly confused and difficult of 

 interpretation. It contains also repulsive features 

 enough, but not more so than the old Greek. Much 

 more might have been known had well-meaning 

 missionaries been more sympathetic or intelligent. 

 Beyond the hymns spoken of, the popular imagina- 

 tion has originated, or at least retained, a great 

 number of fables, as well as legends, proverbs, and 

 riddles. One persistent feature in these is a strong 

 inclination to personifications of impersonal be- 

 ings. Speech and reason are freely imputed to the 

 lower animals, and human-like agencies employed 

 freely as causes of celestial and other natural pheno- 

 mena. The first to give examples of these was 

 Captain (afterwards Sir) James Alexander in his 

 Expedition of Discovery into the Interior of Africa 

 (2 vols. 1838). More were brought to light by 

 Kronlein and other scholars, and in 1864 Dr W. 

 H. I. Bleek gave a good selection in his Reynard 

 tin- Fox in South Africa: Hottentot Fables and 

 . 



For the language, see the grammars by Tindall ( 1871 ), 

 Hahn (1870), Fr. Miiller (Grundriss der Spruchwissen- 

 schaft, voL ii. 1877), and Bleek (1802-69). For the 

 people, see Dr Gustav Fritsch, Die. Eingeborenen Sild- 

 Afi-icat (1872); and Dr T. Hahn's Tuni\\goam : the 

 Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi (1882). 



Hottentots' Bread. See DIOSCOREAC&& . 



Hottoiiia. See WATER-VIOLET. 



Hoiidin, ROBERT ( 1805-71 ). See CONJURING. 



Homlon, JEAN-ANTOINE, the greatest French 

 sculptor of the 18th century, was born at Versailles, 

 20th March 1741. He was of humble origin, his 

 father holding office in a nobleman's house. He 

 was a born sculptor, and at the age of thirteen had 

 already attracted notice. An untrammelled eclecti- 

 cism was ever Houdon's most prominent character- 

 i-tic. In 1761, when he was out twenty, he won 

 the prix de Rome, and in Rome he threw himself 

 with enthusiasm into the study of the antique. 

 Herculaneum and Pompeii had not long been 

 brought to light. All \V inckelmann's works were 

 published during Houdon 's sojourn in Italy. Ten 



\ears he M-maiiied in Koine, ;m.i th-i- <->..-i-uti-d the 

 colossal figure of St Bruno, the founder of tin- order 

 of the Chartreuse, of which I'ope dement XIV. 

 said that it would speak did not the ml.-- of itn 

 order enforce silence. On his return to France the 

 usual official honours were conferred upon him. In 

 1777 he was received int.. the Academy; in 1790 he 

 was elected member ol t he I nst itute ; and he wan 

 appointed professor at the K<-oh- de- Beaux-arta in 

 Apart from his work hi* life was singularly 

 uneventful, though he once visited America under 

 the escort of Franklin, to execute a monument in 

 honour of Washington (17Ho). Nor did he alto- 

 gether escape from the troubles of the Revolution. 

 An allegorical figure from his hand, entitled 'Sainte 

 Scholastique," involved him in the heinous charge 

 of desiring to perpetuate the worship of the -.-tint-. 

 But on pleading that his s at in- only represented 



; Philosophy, he was acquitted. Towards the end of 

 his life his intellect failed him, and death came as 



i a release, 16th July 1828. Houdon is perhaps the 

 most conspicuous figure among the artists of his 

 time. His mastery over his material was complete. 

 So great were his technical skill and adroitness that 

 they sometimes earned him beyond the bound.- of 

 his art. He had essayed all styles without sacri- 

 ficing his personality, and, while much of his work 

 has an almost classical simplicity, it was generally* 

 his method (in portraiture at least) to obtain a 

 resemblance by an infinitude of details. It is a 

 little strange that his ' Ecorche ' should be the most 

 widely known of his works. For it was in i>or- 

 traiture that his greatest triumphs were achieved. 

 Turgot, Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot, F'ranklin, 

 Washington, Lafayette, Mirabeau, Napoleon, and 

 Mdlle. Arnauld are a few of the great men and 

 women whose features he has perpetuated for us. 

 In 1890 a statue of him was erected at Versailles at 

 a cost of 10,000 francs. 



Hough ton, RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES, 

 LORD, was born of a good old Yorkshire family 

 at Fryston Hall, Pontefract, 19th June 1809. His 

 father, 'single-speech Millies' (1784-1858), of Fry- 

 ston, Bawtry, and Great Houghton, declined the 

 chancellorship of the exchequer and a peerage ; his 

 mother was a daughter of the fourth Lord (Jahvay. 

 Educated by private tutors at home and in Italy, 

 he went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, where 

 he graduated M.A. in 1831, and where he was a 

 leader in the Union ( then ' cavernous, tavernous ' ), 

 and one of the famous band of 'Apostles.' From 

 1837 till 1863 he represented Pontefract, first as a 

 Conservative, but latterly as an independent Lil>eral ; 

 and then he was called 'by Lord Palmerston to the 

 Upper House, of which for a score of years he was 

 'the only poet.' In 1851 he married a daughter 

 of the second Lord Crewe. She died in 1874 ; and 

 he himself, having three years before had a passing 

 attack of paralysis, died suddenly at Vichy, llth 

 August 1885. A Mivcenas of poets (and of 

 poetasters), he got Lord Tennyson the laureate- 

 ship, soothed the dying hours of poor David Gray, 

 and was one of the first to recognise Mr Swin- 

 burne's genius. His own poetry is always res] 

 able, and some of the shorter pieces were in their 

 day exceedingly popular ' Strangers Vet. lor 

 example, and the pretty lyric whose refrain is 

 ' The beating of my own heart Was the only sound 

 I heard.' Besides' this. Lord , Houghton the 'Mr 

 Vavasour ' of Beaconsfield's Tattered was a trav- 

 eller, a philanthropist, an unrivalled after-dinner 

 speaker, and Rogers' successor in the art of break- 

 fast-giving. He went up in a balloon, and d-i\\n 

 in a diving-bell: he was the first publishing F.ng- 

 lishman who gained access to the harems of the 

 East; he championed oppressed nationalities, 

 liberty of conscience, fugitive slaves, and the 

 rights of women ; he carried a bill for establishing 



