425 



HILLEL. 



HINCMAR. 



convinced of its important advantages. In 1843 Mr. Hill was offered 

 a directorship in the Brighton Railway ; and soon after entering on 

 his new office became Chairman to that Company, in which capacity 

 he continued till shortly before his appointment at the Post-office in 

 1846. While Chairman of the Brighton Railway, Mr. Hill introduced 

 many improvements on that line, which have been adopted in several 

 instances on other railways. It was his influence in the Board that 

 led to the establishment of express trains, and cheap Sunday excursion 

 trains. 



In the year 1844 a testimonial to Mr. Rowland Hill was begun by 

 subscription throughout the united kingdom, as a token of public 

 gratitude towards one who had conferred so great and lasting a benefit 

 upon his country ; and so warm was the feeling in its support that 

 a sum of 13,0002. was raised and presented to him. In 1846 the Whig 

 ministry having returned to power, Mr. Rowland Hill received from 

 the government a permanent appointment in the Post-office, as Secre- 

 tary to the Postmaster-General. Innumerable have been the good effects 

 of that appointment, and many important improvements, several of 

 which had been pronounced impossible, have been successfully carried 

 out. In April 1 8 54, on the retirement of Colonel Maberley from the Post- 

 office, the Administration of Lord Aberdeen appointed Mr. Rowland 

 Hill Sole Secretary ; an office which he still holds. Mr. Frederick Hill, 

 of whom we have spoken, is now Assistant-Secretary. The plan of 

 portage stamps led to important inventions in their printing by one 

 of the brothers of this family, Mr. Edwin Hill, who is now Surveyor 

 of Stamps. The envelope-machine was invented by him in his 

 connection with the postage-system. 



HILLEL, one of the most celebrated of the Jewish Rabbis, was 

 descended on his mother's side from King David ; but his father 

 belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. His birth is placed by Bartolocci 

 ('Biblioth. Rabinic.,' voL ii, p. 784) in A.M. 3648 (B.C. 112), which 

 agrees with the account of Jerome, who says that he lived shortly 

 before the birth of Christ. According to Jewish tradition he was born 

 in Babylon. At the age of forty he went to Jerusalem, where he 

 applied himself to the study of the law, and became so eminent for 

 his sanctity and knowledge that he was appointed president of the 

 Sanhedrim at the age of eighty. He continued to discharge his duties 

 ax president for forty years; he died at the advanced age of 120. 



Hillel is not mentioned by Josephus ; but it h.-is been supposed that 

 he must have been the same as Pollio, or the high-priest Hananeel. 



The disciples of Hillel were very numerous, amounting, according 

 to tradition, to 1000, of whom one of the most eminent was Jonathan 

 Ben Uzziel, the author of the Chaldee paraphrase upon the prophets. 

 The decisions of Hillel on several points in the Jewish law differed 

 from those of Shammai, vice-president of the Sanhedrim; and the 

 dhciples of each frequently disturbed the peace of Jerusalem by their 

 divisions and quarrels. Hillel' s party at length prevailed, in conse- 

 quence it is said of a ' bath kol,' that is, a voice pretended to come 

 from heaven. The decisions of Hillel are supposed to have been the 

 ground-work of the Mishna. 



Another rabbi of the name of Hillel, the son of Rabbi Juda Xasi, 

 and a descendant of Hillel, of whom we have spoken above, who 

 lived in the 4th century of the Christian era, is said to have established 

 the present calendar of the Jewish year. 



BILLIARD, NICHOLAS, limner, jeweller, and goldsmith to Queen 

 Elizabeth and to James L, was born at Exeter in 1547; his father, 

 Richard Hilliard, was high-sheriff of Exeter and Devonshire in 1560. 



Hilliard, a jeweller by education, acquired painting by studying the 

 works of Holbein, and he obtained great celebrity aa a miniature 

 painter. There are many miniatures, especially of ladies, by Hilliard ex- 

 tant. He painted Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth several times, James L, 

 and Prince Henry : he had for twelve years the exclusive privilege of 

 painting and engraving the portraits of James I. and the royal family. 

 Charles I. possessed several of hia works, among them a view of the 

 Spanish Armada, " and a curious jewel containing the portraits of 

 Henry VII., Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Queen Mary; on the top 

 was an enamelled representation of the battle of Bosworth, and on the 

 reverse the red and white roses." Hilliard was the master of Isaac 

 Oliver : he died in 1619, and was buried in St. Martin's-iu-the- Fields. 



HILTON, WILLIAM, R.A., was born at Lincoln on the 3rd of 

 June 1786. His father, who was a portrait painter and a native of 

 Newark, died in 1822. Hilton was placed with J. R. Smith, the en- 

 graver, in London, in 1800 : he obtained about the same time admis- 

 sion into the Royal Academy as a student, and in 1803 he exhibited 

 at the Academy-exhibition a picture of banditti, of remarkable merit 

 for so young a man. In 1804 he exhibited ' Hector Reinspired by 

 Apollo;' and in 1S06 'Cephalus and Procria.' These early works 

 were followed by a series of compositions, in a superior style of exe- 

 cution and treatment. However, neither his subjects nor his style 

 were popular, and he had to witness the success of very inferior artists, 

 while his own works remained on his hands. In 1814 Hilton exhibited 

 ' Miranda and Ferdinand bearing a Log ; ' and he was elected an asso- 

 ciate of the Academy in the same year. He was elected an academician 

 in 1820, when he exhibited his picture of 'Ganymede,' which he pre- 

 sented to the Academy a* his diploma piece. In 1825 he exhibited his 

 ' Christ Crowned with Thorns.' Two years afterwards he succeeded 

 Fuacli as keeper of the Academy, a post which he held until his death 

 on the 30th of December 1839, in his fifty-fourth year. 



Hilton died in possession of hia beat pictures ' The Angel Releas- 

 ing St. Peter from Prison;' ' Serena Rescued by Sir Calepine ;' 'Comus;' 

 'The Murder of the Innocents/ exhibited in 1838, the last work exhi- 

 bited by Hilton ; ' Amphitrite ; ' ' Una with the Lion Entering Corceca's 

 Cave ; ' and ' Rizpah Watching the Dead Bodies of Saul's Sons ' (un- 

 finished). Sir Calepine Rescuing Serena, exhibited in 1831, was 

 purchased by subscription from Hilton's executors, for 500 guineas, 

 and was presented to the National Gallery; but in consequence of 

 an unfortunate selection of the vehicle in which it was painted, por- 

 tions of the surface have become displaced, and the picture is, for the 

 present at least, withdrawn from exhibition ; it was however far from 

 being the best of Hilton's works. ' Una Entering the Cave of Corceca,' 

 exhibited in 1832, was engraved by W. H. Watt for the Art Union of 

 London, and distributed among the subscribers of 1842. ' St. Peter 

 Delivered out of Prison by the Angel,' of which the figures are of the 

 size of life, exhibited in 1831, was purchased by William Bishop of 

 Plymouth. Two capital works by Hilton ' Rebecca with Abraham's 

 Servant at the Well,' exhibited in 1829; and ' Edith and the Monks 

 Searching for the Body of Harold,' exhibited in 1834, form a portion 

 of the collection which Mr. Veruon preaented to the nation. The 

 following also are among Hilton's best works : ' Nature Blowing 

 Bubbles," in the possession of Sir John Swinburne, Bart. ; ' Jacob 

 Parting from Benjamin,' purchased by W. Wells, Esq. ; ' The Graces 

 teaching Cupid to play on the Lyre,' the property of {Sir George 

 Phillips, Bart. ; ' Cupid Sailing on his Quiver ; ' ' Cupid and a Nymph ;' 

 ' The Rape of Europa,' painted for the late Earl of Egremont, of which 

 there is a print by Charles Heath ; and the ' Infant Warrior,' from 

 Shakspere, exhibited in 1836. The greater part of the above-men- 

 tioned works were exhibited with the works of old masters at the 

 British Institution in 1840. 



Hilton ranks high among the painters of his own country, up to hia 

 own age ; but his glory will diminish as the sphere of comparison is 

 extended. He was not a great painter ; his energy was not extraor- 

 dinary, nor was his invention exuberant, and his drawing is often 

 incorrect or exaggerated, but his colouring is harmonious and rich, 

 and his taste in composition and design was refined and manly. 



HIMILCON, the name of several Carthaginians. 



1. 1 1 iMii.ru:;, who is said by Pliny (' Nat. Hist.,' ii. 67) to have been 

 contemporary with Hanno, was sent by the Carthaginian government 

 to explore the north-western coast of Europe. A few fragments of 

 this voyage are preserved by Festus Avieuus (' Ora Marituma,' 1. 90), 

 in which the Hiberni and Albioni are mentioned, and a promontory, 

 (Estrymnis, aud islands, (Kstrymuides, which are usually considered 

 to be Cornwall and the Scilly Islands. (Gosselin, ' Re'cherches sur la 

 Geographie des Anciens,' voL iv. pp. 162, 163.) 



2. IIiMii.i xi.\, who commanded the Carthaginians in their wars with 

 Dionysius I., tyrant of Syracuse, B.C. 405-368. Himilcon was an able 

 and successful general. He took Gela, Messana, aud many other cities 

 in Sicily, and at length besieged Syracuse by sea and land : but he was 

 defeated by Diouysius, who burnt most of the Carthaginian ships. 

 (' Diodor. Sic.,' b. xiii. xiv.) 



3. HIMILCON, a supporter of the Barcine party at Carthage (Livy, 

 xiii. 12), was sent by the Carthaginian government to oppose Marcellus 

 in Sicily. (Livy, xxiv. 35-39 ; xxv. 23-36.) 



HIMMEL, FRIEDRICH-HKINRICH, a German composer of cele- 

 brity, the reputed son of Frederic William II. of Prussia, was bora 

 in the duchy of Brandenburg in 1765. He was intended for the 

 Church, and studied theology in the University of Halle, but devoted 

 all his spare time to music, in which he became so skilful that the 

 king, his supposed father, encouraged him to pursue the art as a pro- 

 fession, and settled on him a pension to enable him to study it under 

 proper instruction ; he chose Naumann as his guide, with whom he 

 made such progress that in two years he produced the oratorio of 

 'Isacco;' he then travelled into Italy, and at Venice brought out 

 a pastoral opera, 'II Primo Navigatore.' In 1794 he succeeded 

 Reicbardt as kapellmeister at Berlin, and in the following year pro- 

 duced bis ' Semiramide.' The operas on which his fame chiefly rests 

 are ' Fanchon das Leiermiidchen ' (' Fanchon the Lyre-maiden '), and 

 ' Die Sylphen ' (' The Sylphs '). His best compositions are a ' Funeral 

 Cantata ' on the death of Frederic William in 1799, and a ' Te Deuin ' 

 for the coronation of his successor. 



Himmel wrote many good sonatas for the pianoforte, and his 

 romances, songs, &c., which are very numerous, abound in sweet and 

 original melody. He visited London in 1801, but made only a short 

 stay. He died at Berlin in 1804. 



HINCMAR was born in France in 806. He was of a noble family, 

 aud nearly related to Bernard, count of Toulouse. At a very early 

 age he was placed under the care of Hilduin, abbot of St. Denis, in 

 which monastery he soon acquired a high reputation for learning and 

 strict observation of monastic discipline. His talents and high birth 

 brought him under the notice of the Emperor Lewis the Meek, at 

 whose court he became a frequent attendant. It was there that, con- 

 jointly with the emperor aud Hilduin, he formed a plan, which was 

 sanctioned by the council of Paris in 829, of reforming the rules of 

 the monastery of St. Denis, into which many abuses had been 

 gradually introduced. Hilduin, having fallen under the displeasure 

 of his royal master, was banished from the court, and retired to 

 Saxony, whither he was accompanied by Hincmar. On the death of 



