HYDE, SIR NICHOLAS. 



HVOINOS, CAIUS JULIUS. 



HYDE, SIR NICHOLAS, was appointed chief justice of the Kins'. 

 Bench in 1826. He w the uoeU and preceptor of the fir*t Earl of 

 I'Ureudon. who** mind he had great share in forming, by propping 

 daily to him kgal quwtion* for solution. He owed hi* promotion 

 to the patronage of the Duke of Buckingham, who baring employed 

 him to draw hi* sooomful answer to the impeachment of the Hou-e 

 of Common*, afterward* procured him to bo appointed chief justice, 

 when Sir Raodulph Crewe wa* removed from that post in consequence 

 of hi* lukewarumras in advancing a loan which Charles I. attempted 

 to raiM without the authority of parliament. The moat important 

 trial upon which Sir Nicholas Hyde presided afW hi* elevation to 

 the bench wai the one in which Eliot, Hollis, and Valentine were 

 indicted for forcibly holding down in bia chair the speaker of the 

 House of Commons, at tho violent close of tho parliament of 1027. 

 The court refused to allow to the prisoners their Habeas Corpus, and 

 inflicted finen upon them of considerable amount This conduct (Sir 

 Nicholas Hyde's curious apology for which may bo seen in Rush worth, 

 voL L p. 461) was afterwar<ls Toted by the long parliament a delay 

 of justice. He died at his seat (Hinton Lodge), in the parish of 

 Catberington, Hampshire, on the 26th of August 1631, aged fifty-nine. 

 Knur of his letters are extant in the Bodleian library. A beautiful 

 full-length marble effigy of him still ezuts in the obscure parish church 

 of Catl.erington. He was succeeded in his estate by his son, 



LAWREKCC HTDE, who became principally remarkable for the 

 personal share which he hud in furthering the escape of Charles II. 

 after the battle of Worcester. The king in his memorable wanderings 

 was concealed for a night at the house of one of Mr. Hyde's tenants. 

 But as this tenant was too hot-headed a royalist to be safely intrusted 

 with the secret of his guest's quality, the king was accordingly passed 

 off as a roundhead, and was in that character compelled to drink 

 what must then have appeared hopeless success to the royal cause. 

 After some difficulty Charles was withdrawn from the man's house 

 by Lord Southampton and Mr. Hyde, and by them safely conducted 

 the next day to Sboreham, where they succeeded in procuring a 

 passage for him to Fecamp. The circumstances are told in detail in 

 a manuscript written by Mr. Hyde's cousin Colouel Counter, himself 

 an actor in the events. This manuscript is now deposited in the 

 British Museum, and contains the only authentic account of the 

 cape of the king. Lawrence Hyde was M.P. for Winchester after 

 the Restoration ; he married the only daughter of Sir John Greoville, 

 the negotiator between General Monk and Charles II. for the restora- 

 tion of the king ; and died in 1632. 



HYDE, THOMAS, D.D., was born on the 29th of June 1636, at 

 Billiugsloy, near Bridgenortb, in Yorkshire. He received his first 

 instruction in the oriental languages from his father, aud afterwards 

 studied them under Wheelock, professor of Arabic in the University 

 of Cambridge. He only remained at Cambridge about a year ; aud 

 afterwards went, at the age of seventeen, to London to assist Walton 

 in editing the Polyglott Bible ; he transcribed for this work, in Persian 

 letters, the Penian translation of the Pentateuch, which bad pre- 

 viously been published at Constantinople in Hebrew characters, and 

 alto translated it into Latin ; he also assisted in the correction of the 

 Arabic and Syriac versions. In 1658 he entered Queen's College, 

 Oxford; in 1659 was appointed under-Iibroriou of the Bodleian Library, 

 and in 1665 principal librarian. In 1660 he became a prebendary of 

 Salisbury ; in 1678 archdeacon of Gloucester: and in 1682 took the 

 degree of D.D. On the death of Pococke, in 1691, Hyde was appointed 

 Lntidinn professor of Arabic, and not long afterwards liegiua professor 

 of Hebrew and canon of Christchurch. He resigned the librariausuip 

 of the Bodleian in 1701, and died on the 18th of January 1703, in his 

 sixty t ighlh y< ar. He was interpreter of oriental languages during the 

 reigns of Charl.s II., James IL, and William III. 



Hyde possessed an accurate knowledge of almost all the Asiatic 

 languages which were at tl.at time accessible to European scholars. 

 In addition to Hebrew, Syriac, Persian, Arabic, &c., he was also 

 acquainted with the Malay and Armenian languages, and was one of 

 the first Europeans who acquired a knowledge of Chinese, which he 

 learned from a young Chinaman called Chiufo-coung, who had been 

 brought to Europe by the Jesuits. His most celebrated work, entitled 

 'Vetrrum Persarum et Magorum Religionis Hiatoria,' Oxford, 1700, 

 reprinted in 1760, dUplays an extraordinary acquaintance, considering 

 the time in which he lived, with oriental languages and literature. Of 

 his other works, the mo-t important are "fabulte Stellarum Fixarum 

 ex Observatione Ulugh fceighi,' Oxf., 1665, with a learned commentary 



tire Sinensium,' published at the end of Dr. Bernard's book <De 

 Menjuri* et Ponderibu*,' Oxf., 1688; 'De Ludis Orientolibus,' Oxf., 

 1694. All the works of Hyde, with the exception of the 'Veteruin 

 Persarum et Magoruin Religionis Hi-tori*,' were republinhed by Gran- 

 ville Sharp under the title of 'Syntagma Diatertationum quas oliui 

 Hyde separatim edidit,' Oxf., 1767, 2 vols. 4 to. In this edition Sharp 

 has printed several of Hyde's works which had previously been 

 unj.ubli.hed, and has also given a list of many other works which 

 have never been published, amongst which he mentions translations 

 in Latin of Abulfeda, Atxlallntif, and the history of Tamerlane, and 

 dictionaries of the Turkish and Persian languages. 



HYDEU ALI is well known as the ablest and most formidable 

 enemy of the British power in the E i*t Indie*. He wa* a soldier of 

 fortune, who began hi* career in the service of the Raja of Mysore in 

 1749, and, a-c-mling step by step, reached in 1759 the rank of 

 commaniler-in-chief of the Mysoreau troops. The raja however was 

 but a puppet; aud after one or two turn* of fortune, Hyder not only 

 established himself firmly as prime minister, but pensioned mi IIM 

 master with thrae lacs of rupees yearly, and became in 1761 the undis- 

 puted ruler of Mysore. From this moment he applied diligently and 

 successfully to the increase of his power. His encroachment* led to 

 an offensive alliance between the Mahrattas, the Nizam of the Drcoan, 

 and the Company ; but he found means not only t > break up this 

 confederacy, but to engage the Nizam in war against hi* late friends 

 the British in 1767. This war was carried on, little to the advantage 

 of the English, for two years, when at last Hyder, by a bold and abla 

 stroke, placed himself in a condition to prescribe terms of pease. Ho 

 drew the British troops to a considerable distance from Madras, aud, 

 availing himself of his great superiority in that arm, he put himself 

 at the head of 6000 horse, aud marching 120 miles in three days, 

 suddenly appeared at the very gates of the capital. Fort St. George 

 iudeed might have defied his cavalry for ever, but the rich villas of 

 tho neighbourhood, the town aud its mercantile wealth, lay at hi* 

 mercy ; aud tbe presidency felt compelled to negociate a peace, of 

 which the chief conditions were a mutual restitution of conquests and 

 an alliance in defensive wars. 



This treaty was not very well kept by the British. In 1770 the 

 Mahrattas invaded Mysore, and reduced Hyder to great difficulty. Ho 

 earnestly besought assistance, but obtained nothing beyond neutrality; 

 and in 1772 was obliged to conclude peace on disadvantageous terms. 

 In 1774 the divisions of the Mahrattas gave him an opportunity ol' 

 recovering his losses, which he diligently improved ; and between 

 that time and 1778 he had done much to restore order, improve the 

 revenue, and increase the strength of Mysore. 



In 1777-78 fresh disturbance from the Mahrattas led him again to 

 seek help from Madras. Disgust at a second disappointment, stimu- 

 lated by the influence of tbe French, of whom he bod many in bis 

 service, and with whom, so long as they retained possessions in India, 

 he was united by mutual jealousy of the British, with other grounds 

 of discontent aud alarm, induced him in 1779 to form a second alliance 

 with tbe Nizam and the Mahrattas. Little or no preparation had beeu 

 mads by the Madras presidency, when in July 1780 Hyder burst with 

 a vast army into tbe Caruatic. The open country was ravaged almost 

 to tlic walls of Madras, and as the peasantry regarded the British as 

 oppressors, he had always minute information as to the motions of 

 the British troops; while they, on the other hand, found great difficulty 

 in gaining trustworthy intelligence. During 1780 and the following 

 year the war on the part of the British was chiefly defensive. llj.K r 

 endeavoured to avoid pitched battles, aud to surprise and cut oil' 

 detachments ; and meanwhile he succeeded in taking several of the 

 most important towns aud fortresses. His enormous superiority in 

 numbers and cavalry gave him the entire command of the country, 

 which after two campaigns was eo entirely wasted, that waut of pro- 

 visions in the autumn of 1782 reduced tbe army, the garrisoned plages, 

 and Madras itself, to great distress. Peace was offered by the new 

 governor of Madras, Lord Macartney, but Hyder declined his overtures. 

 The war therefore continued on the same footing during the following 

 year, until in the autumn Madras was reduced to a frightful state of 

 famine ; in short, the entire ruin of tbe presidency seemed at hand, 

 when tho death of Hyder, in November 1782, relieved the English 

 from a danger which his talents only had made formidable. 



Hyder's son and successor, Tippoo, inherited the resentment but 

 not the ability of his father. He found it expedient to evacuate the 

 Carnatio in 1783, and in March 1784 concluded peace ou the terms of 

 a mutual restitution of conquests. 



(Mill, lli,tary of Briluh India.) 



HYGI'JSUS, CAIUS JULIUS (written also Higinus, Hygcnus, 

 Yginus, or Iginus), a freedmau of Augustus Cicsar, a celebrated 

 grammarian, aud a friend of Ovid, was, according to some, a native 

 of Spain, but according to others, a native of Alexandria. 11<- \\ 

 placed by Augustus over the library ou tbo Palatine Hill, aud also 

 gave instruction to numerous pupils. His works, which were nume- 

 rous, are frequently quoted by tho ancients with great respect. Tho 

 principal appear to have been : 'DeUrbibus Italicis;' 'L>e Trojauis 

 Familiis ; ' Do Claris Viris ; ' ' De Proprietatibus Deorum ; ' ' l)e Diu 

 Peuatibus ; ' a Commentary on Virgil ; and a treatise on agriculture. 



The works mentioned above have all been lo-t ; those which are 

 extant, and are ascribed to Hyginua, aru more probably the writings of 

 Hygiuus Garmmaticus who lived in or shortly after the reign of Trajan. 

 These are: 1, 'Poeticon Astrouomicou,' libri iv.,' Ferrar, 1-1 75; '2, 

 ' Fabularum Liber,' Basel, 1535. Another collection of 234 fables is 

 also attributed to Hygiuus ; 3, part of a treatise, ' De Castratnetatioiie,' 

 published by Scriveriua at tbe end of his edition of Vegetius, 1607, and 

 by Scbeel together with the treatise of Polybius ' On the Kouian 

 Camp,' Auist., 1660; 4, 'Do Liiuitibus Coustitueudis,' edited by 

 Kigaltius, 1613, and by Goesius in tbe 'Kei Agrariso Auctore?,' l7i. 

 Some good critics are still inclined to ascribe the 1'oeticou Antrouo- 

 micon ' to Caius Julius Hygiuus. Tho researches of Cardinal Mai have 

 however shuwu that there were probably other writers of the same 



