HAMPTON ROADS 



3820 



HANCOCK 



views as to certain changes in the 

 prayer book and upon ceremonies 

 and vestments. The proposals of 

 the petitioners were rejected, and 

 James administered a scolding to 

 their representatives. See Puritans. 



Hampton Roads. Channel at 

 the lower end of the James river, 

 Virginia, U.S.A. It carries the 

 waters of the James and two other 

 rivers into Chesapeake Bay, and is 

 a strongly defended naval station. 

 Along its shores are several good 

 harbours, including Norfolk, which 

 make it a commercial highway of 

 great importance. 



Hampton Roads, BATTLE OF. 

 Naval engagement during the 

 American Civil War, March 8-9, 

 1862. On March 8 three Confederate 

 ships, the largest of which was the 

 ironclad Virginia, formerly the 

 U.S. Merrimac, entered Hampton 

 Roads, set fire to the Federal 

 frigate Congress, and sank the 

 sloop Cumberland. The Con- 

 federates got away with little 

 damage, but the same evening the 

 Federal ironclad Monitor, which 

 had been launched earlier in the 

 year, steamed into the Roads, and 

 the following morning put out to 

 give battle to the Merrimac. The 

 latter vessel was already crippled, 

 and the action of the Monitor during 

 the engagement and her superiority 

 over the Merrimac were a signal suc- 

 cess for her designer, Ericsson (q v. ). 

 This was the first encounter be- 

 tween armoured warships. See 

 American Civil War. 



Hampton Wick. Parish and 

 village of Middlesex, England. It 

 is situated on the Thames opposite 

 Kingston, with which it is con- 

 nected by a bridge, and is 2J m. E. 

 of Hampton on the L. & S.W.R. 

 The church of S. John Baptist was 

 enlarged 1887. The due de Ne- 

 mours lived at Bushey House. 

 Steele lived at Hampton Wick for 

 a time, and Timothy Bennet, who 

 secured the public way through 

 Bushey Park, was a native. Pop. 

 2,417. 



Hamrin Hills OB JEBEL HAM- 

 RIN. Range of hills in Mesopotamia. 

 It came into prominence during the 

 Great War in the course of the 

 British operationsagainsttheTurks, 

 who were defeated here in April, 

 1917. It runs N.W. from the Diala, 

 an eastern tributary of the Tigris, to 

 the Tigris about the village of Fat- 

 hah, and is traversed from N. to S. 

 by the Shat el Adhaim, another of 

 the affl uents of the great river. The 

 average height is from 2,000 ft. to 

 3,000ft. See Mesopotamia, Con- 

 quest of. 



Hamster (Cricetusfrumentarius). 

 Small rodent, common in Asia and 

 northern Europe, especially in 

 some parts of Germany. It i# 



Hamster, a North 

 European rodent 



about a foot 

 long, and has 

 about 2 ins. of 

 tail. The thick 

 fur is yellow- 

 ish brown in 

 colour and 

 very glossy, 

 and h as a 

 modest value 

 in the trade 

 for lining gar- 

 ments. It lives 

 in burrows, 

 rather elaborately constructed, 

 consisting of a dwelling chamber 

 and a granary connected by galleries 

 and provided with separate tunnels 

 for entrance and exit. 



Sometimes four or five granaries 

 will be found in a single burrow. 

 These are used for storing corn 

 for consumption in winter, during 

 which season the hamster keeps 

 below ground and spends most of 

 its time in profound sleep. Separate 

 burrows of a simple kind are con- 

 structed for the summer, in which 

 the young are reared. Two 

 families, ranging in number from 

 six to eighteen, are reared every 

 season, hence the hamster often 

 becomes a most destructive pest 

 to crops. Its flesh is eaten by the 

 country people. 



Hamsun, KNUT (D. 1859). Nor- 

 wegian author. Brought up as a 

 cobbler in the Lofoten Isles, his 

 literary talent 

 showed itself 

 at an early age. 

 After an un 

 successful at- 

 tempt to 

 graduate at 

 Christiania 

 University, and 

 an equally 

 futile en- 

 deavour to 

 make his way in 

 America, he obtained employment 

 in the Newfoundland fisheries. In 

 1888, however, his Suit, a novel, 

 was published in a Danish maga- 

 zine, and immediately brought him 

 fame. His output thenceforward 

 was considerable and his novels 

 have been translated into many 

 languages. Hunger (Suit), 1899, 

 and Growth of the Soil, 1914, are 

 the best known in Enclish trans- 

 lations. They were followed in 

 1921 by Konerne ved Vandposten 

 (The Women at the Well). In 1920 

 he was awarded the Nobel prize 

 for literature. 



Han. River of China. It takes 

 its rise in the Ta-pa-ling mts. of 

 Shensi, and flows E. and S. across 

 the provs. of Shensi and Hupeh, to 

 effect a junction with the Yang- 

 tse-Kiang at Hankow. Floods are 

 common, but the river is navigable 



Knut Hamsun, 

 Norwegian author 



by small craft to Sim pu wan, a 

 distance of 1,260 m., and for large 

 junks to Fancheng, 450 m. Much 

 traffic is carried on the river, which 

 is 1,300 m. in length, and passes 

 several important towns. The river 

 lias several times changed its course. 

 Hanaper (late Lat. hanaperium, 

 hamper). Name given to a wicker 

 basket in which documents were 

 kept in the English chancery, and 

 so to a department of that court of 

 law. Controlled by the clerk of 

 the hanaper, it received the fees 

 for sealing charters, patents, and 

 writs under the great seal. Abo I 

 ished in England, the office sur 

 vives in Ireland, where the clerk 

 of the crown and hanaper issues 

 writs for parliamentary elections. 



Hanau. Town of Germany, in 

 Hesse-Nassau. Situated in fertile 

 country near the junction of the 

 Kinzig and the Main, 14 m. by 

 rly. E. of Frankfort, it is a busy 

 industrial centre, still famous for 

 its jewelry, especially diamond - 

 cutting, and gold and silver goods, 

 the manufacture of which was 

 introduced by refugees from the 

 Low Countries in the 1 7th century. 

 Other manufactures include car- 

 pets, leather, porcelain, tobacco, etc. 

 There is a monument to the brothers 

 Grimm (q.v.), who were natives. In 

 the neighbourhood is the former 

 electoral palace of Philippsruhe, 

 famous for its orangeries, and the 

 mineral springs of the Wilhelmsbad. 

 To the N.E. is the battlefield where 

 on Oct. 30-31, 1813, Napoleon de- 

 feated the allied force which was 

 attempting to follow up the victory 

 of Leipzig. Pop. 37,500. 



Hancock, WINFIELD SCOTT (1824 

 -8G). American soldier. Born at 

 Montgomery Square, Pennsylvania, 

 Feb. 14, 1824, 

 lie was edu- 

 cated at the 

 military acad- 

 emy of West 

 Point. On the 

 outbreak of the 

 Civil War he 

 was appointed 

 brigadier -gene- 

 Winfield S. Hancock, ra ] of volun- 

 American soldier teerg> and by 



1864 he held the same rank in 

 the regular army. He was present 

 at Williamsburg, at Fredericks- 

 burg, at Chancellorsville, where 

 his skilful handling of his troops 

 saved the Federals from complete 

 rout, and at Gettysburg, where he 

 again displayed great powers of 

 leadership. He also did good service 

 in the Wilderness campaign. In 1880 

 he stood for the presidency as a 

 Democrat, but he was defeated by 

 James A. Garfield. He died near 

 New York, Feb. 9, 1886. See Life, 

 F. A. Walker, 1894. 



