810 HOUGHTON-LE-SPRING 



HOUSE 



reformatories (1846); and he counted among his 

 friends Hallam, Tennyson, Thackeray, Dickens, 

 Carlyle, Sydney Smith, Landor, Cardinal Wiseman, 

 Heine, Thirhvall, and a host of others. 



Lord Houghton's works include -Memorials of a Tour 

 in Greece ( 1833 ) ; Poems <>f many Years ( 1838 ) ; Memorials 

 of a Residence on the Continent (1838); Poetry far the 

 People (1840) ; Memorials of many Scenes ( 1843) ; Palm 

 Leaves ( 1844 ) ; Life, Letters, and Remains of Keats ( 2 vols. 

 1848); Good JVif/ht and Good Morniny (1859); Mono- 

 graphs, Personal and Social ( 1873) ; and Collected 

 'Poetical Works (2 vols. 1876). See an article by T. H. 

 S. Escott in the Fortnightly for September 1885, and 

 the Life by Weinyss-Reid (2 vols. 1890). 



Houghton-le-Spring, a town in the county, 

 and 6^ miles NE. of the city, of Durham. Its 

 rapid growth is mainly due to the extension of 

 neighbouring collieries. The fine cruciform parish 

 church contains the cinque-cento altar tomb of 

 Bernard Gilpin (q.v. ), who founded a grammar- 

 school here, and among whose successors were 

 Peter Heylin and Archbishop Bancroft. Pop. 

 ( 1851 ) 3224 ; ( 1891 ) 6746. 



Hound, a name applied to dogs used in hunt- 

 ing. The true hound, such as the Bloodhound, the 

 Foxhound, and the Staghound, hunt only by scent. 

 In this division may also be included the Basset- 

 ,hound (a short-legged dog used in unearthing foxes 

 and badgers), the Beagle, and the Harrier. The 

 greyhound and the deerhound run by sight alone, 

 and are not hounds in the correct acceptance of the 

 term. See also FOX-HUNTING. 



Hounds-tongue (Cynoglossum), a genus of 

 plants of the natural order Boragineae, of which 

 there are many species, all of a coarse appearance, 

 with small flowers. The Common Houna's-tongue 

 (C. qfficinale) is a native of Europe, Asia, Africa, 

 and North America ; not uncommon in some parts 

 of Britain, especially near the sea-coast. It has 

 soft downy leaves, of a dull green colour, purplish- 

 red flowers, and a stem about two feet nigh. 



Hound's-tongue ( Cynoglossum officinale). 



Its odour is very disagreeable. The root was 

 formerly administered in scrofula, dysentery, &c., 

 and is said to be anodyne. It is also one of the 

 pretended specifics for serpent- bites and hydro- 

 phobia. 



Hounslow, a town of Middlesex, 10 miles W. 

 by S. from London by road, was formerly a place 

 of much importance in the old coaching days, it 

 being the first stage out of London on the Bath and 

 Southampton roads. As many as 800 horses were 

 then maintained here, 500 coaches passed through 



daily, whilst a most extensive business in posting 

 was carried on. With the opening of the railways, 

 however, the place gradually declined, and at the 

 present time it contains but little of interest. Its 

 'three churches are all modern, the oldest, rebuilt 

 in 1835, having been formerly the chapel of a 

 priory. West from Hounslow, stretching for 5 

 miles along the road, and in 1546 containing an 

 area of 4293 acres, was Hounslow Heath, the scene 

 of many military encampments, and notorious in 

 the annals of highway robbery. It is now for the 

 most part enclosed. Near to the town are exten- 

 sive gunpowder-mills and cavalry and militia bar- 

 racks, and at Kneller's Hall, once the residence of 

 Sir G. Kneller, the painter, are the quarters of the 

 Royal Military School of Music. Pop. ( 1851 ) 3514; 

 (1871) 9294; (1891) 12,873, of which the barracks 

 contained over 1000. 



Hour, a measure of time equal to ^,th part of 

 an astronomical day or to T \th part of a natural 

 day (excluding the hours of night or darkness). 

 See DAY, and TIME ; and for the hours in Catholic 

 usage, see BREVIARY. Hour-circles, in astronomy, 

 are any great circles which cut the poles. 



Hour-glass, an instrument for measuring in- 

 tervals of time. It is made of glass, and consists 

 of two bulbs united by a narrow neck ; one of the 

 bulbs is nearly filled with dry sand, fine enough to 

 run freely through the orifice in the neck, and 

 the quantity of sand is just as much as can run 

 through the orifice in an hour, if the instrument 

 is to be an hour-glass ; in a minute, if a minute- 

 glass, &c. The obvious defects of this instrument 

 are the expansion or contraction of the orifice 

 produced by heat or cold, and the variations in 

 the dryness of the sand, all of which produce de- 

 viations from the true measurement of the time. 

 The hour-glass was almost universally employed 

 in churches during the 16th and 17tii centuries. 

 In several of the churches in England hour- 

 glass stands of elegant workmanship are still to 

 be seen. 



II ouri. the name of the beautiful damsels who, 

 according to the Moslem faith, await with their 

 companionship in Paradise the true believers after 

 death. See MOHAMMEDANISM. 



Housatonic. River rises in Massachusetts, 

 flows through Connecticut, and enters Long Island 

 Sound near Bridgeport. In its course of nearly 150 

 miles it affords water-power to many manufacturing 

 villages. 



House, in point of law, is an Englishman's 

 castle, though not a Scotchman's. In other words, 

 when a man shuts himself up in his own house no 

 bailiff can break open the door to arrest him, or 

 seize his goods for debt, in England, and no court 

 can give such power, except in the case of a writ 

 of attachment for contempt of court or a writ of 

 habere facias possessionem (the writ by which a 

 judgment for the recovery of land is commonly 

 enforced). In Scotland leave can be got from 

 the court, often called on that account the king's 

 or queen's keys, to enable the messenger to break 

 open the outer door and arrest. In England, 

 though it is not competent for the bailiff to break 

 open the outer door by force, yet every trick or 

 stratagem is fair in order to effect a peaceable 

 entry, and once in he cannot be turned out. 

 Where the party is charged with a criminal offence 

 a constable armed with a warrant, or in some 

 cases without, is entitled to break into the house 

 and arrest him, both in England and Scotland. A 

 man is entitled also to defend his house against 

 trespassers and thieves, using no greater force than 

 is necessary ; and if necessary in that sense, he may 

 even kill the intruder, though very strong circum- 

 stances are required to justify this. He may also 



