HARLE1AN 



3844 



HARLOW 



and is famous for its ruined castle 

 overlooking the sea. There was a 

 fortress here in Roman times, but 

 the present building dates from the 

 reign of Edward 1. In 1468 the 

 castle was taken by the Yorkists 

 after a long siege, this incident 

 having, it is said, given rise to the 

 Welsh song of The March of the 

 Men of Harlech. It was dismantled 

 after the Civil War, when it was 

 one of the last places to hold out 

 for Charles I. The town has de- 

 clined in importance. It was made 

 a borough by Edward I, and was 

 long the county town of Merioneth- 

 shire. There is a golf course on 

 the sands. Pop. 1,800. 



Harleian Manuscripts. Coj 

 lection made by Robert Harley, 

 1st earl of Oxford (1661-1724), and 

 his son Edward (1689-1741). It 

 contained 7,639 volumes of MSS 

 and 14,336 rolls and other deeds. 

 In 1753 it was purchased for 

 10,000 by the Government and 

 placed in the British Museum. See 

 British Museum ; Manuscripts. 



Harlem. Alternative spelling of 

 the city in the Netherlands better 

 known as Haarlem (q.v.). 



Harlemmer Meer OR HAARLEM 

 LAKE. Commune of Holland, in the 

 prov. of N. Holland. Lying to the 

 S. of Haarlem, this district is 

 among the largest of the Dutch 

 polders, or reclaimed lakes or 

 morasses. It was formed by pump- 

 ing away the water of a large lake 

 formerly covering the area, the 

 work being carried out by the state 

 between 1840 and 1853, the greater 

 part of the cost being met by the 

 sale of the reclaimed land. The 

 district thus saved covers about 

 72 sq. m., and is fertile and we'll 

 tilled, with an estimated pop. of 

 20,000. The chief villages in- 

 clude Nieuw Vennep and Abennes, 

 and the railway runs along the 

 western edge. 



Harlequin (Ital. arlecchino). 

 Stock character in pantomime. The 

 origin of the name is uncertain. 

 According to one explanation, it is 

 a corruption of II Lecchino, the 

 licker of plates, Harlequin having 

 been originally a gluttonous eating- 

 house menial," who abandoned that 

 profession and became first a sol- 

 dier, then comedian, tumbler 

 dancer, merry-andrew, and mounte- 

 bank at one and the same time. 



Disguised as the marquis ol 

 Sbruffadeli, he goes to Court and 

 makes love to the Court ladies and 

 to their waiting- maids. Columbine 

 (q.v.) is sometimes his mistress, 

 sometimes his wife. "Harlequin. . . 

 with his black mask, his many- 

 coloured lozenges, his shower ol 

 spangles, represents* love, wit, 

 mobility, audacity, all the showy 

 and vicious qualities " (T. Gautier). 



Another suggested derivation is 

 from old Fr. hellequin, demon ; cf 

 A.S. hella cynn, people of hell. The 

 harlequin of English pantomime is 

 a mischievous character who plays 

 tricks on the clown and the panta- 

 loon, to whom he is supposed to be 

 invisible, and who engages in 

 acrobatic dances with the colum- 

 bine. See Pantomime ; consult 

 also History of the Harlequinade, 

 Maurice Sand, 1915. 



Harlequin Duck (Anas hislri- 

 onica). Species of wild duck, plen- 

 tiful in the Arctic regions and 

 occasionally visiting Great Britain. 

 It is a handsome bird, the male 



Harlequin Duck. Specimens of male 



and female birds 



having lead-coloured plumage,wrth 

 purple bars on the wings and white 

 markings on the head, neck, and 

 breast. It spends the summer in- 

 land, and is found in winter about 

 rocky coasts. 



Harlequins. Rugby football 

 club. It was established in 1871, 

 and soon ranked as one of the chief 

 of those playing around London. 

 Its first ground was at Wands- 

 worth Common. Under A. D. 

 Stoop, the club was very success- 

 ful, and in 1908 its headquarters 

 were removed to the large new 

 ground at Twickenham, opened by 

 the English Rugby Union. 



Harlequin. George Grossmith dressed 

 as this character of pantomime 



Lafayette 



Harlesden. District of Middle- 

 sex, England. In the urban 

 district of Willesden, it lies between 

 Kensal Green and Stonebridge 

 Park, on the Harrow Road. It is 

 served by the L. & N.W. and 

 Bakerloo (Tube) rlys. and has a 

 wharf on the Paddington branch 

 of the Grand Junction Canal. Once 

 known as Harlesden Green, a ham- 

 let of Willesden, it is now closely 

 built over The church of All Souls 

 dates from 1879. 



Harley Street. London tho- 

 roughfare connecting Marylebone 

 Road and Cavendish Square, W. 

 Named after Edward Harley, 2nd 

 earl of Oxford, its notable residents 

 have included Sir Philip Francis, 

 William Beckford, W. E. Glad- 

 stone, Sir C. Lyell, A. A. Procter, 

 B. W. Procter, Allan Ramsay, and 

 J. M. W Turner. Many of the 

 leading medical specialists and phy- 

 sicians have consulting-rooms here. 



Harlingen. Town and seaport 

 of Holland. In the province of 

 Friesland, it stands on the Zuyder 

 Zee, 16 m. from Leeuwarden. It 

 has a large modern harbour built in 

 1870-71 and enlarged in the 20th 

 century, and from it are exported 

 butter, cheese, cattle, potatoes, and 

 other products of Friesland ; while 

 timber, coal, cotton, and jute are 

 imported. There is regular steam- 

 ship communication with London, 

 Amsterdam, and other ports. With 

 the interior it is connected by rail- 

 way and canal, while it has a 

 service of tramways. The town 

 hall and an old church are the 

 chief buildings. Pop. 10,500. 



Harlington. Parish and village 

 of Middlesex, England. It is N.W. 

 of Hounslow, and 1 m. S. of Hayes 

 station on the G.W.R. Formerly 

 called Herdintone and Hardington, 

 it gave its name, short of the first 

 letter, which was omitted by an 

 oversight in the patent, to Henry 

 Bennet, 1st earl of Arlington (q.v.). 

 The church of S. Peter and S. Paul, 

 restored 1867, with N. aisle added 

 in 1881. contains brasses, effigies, 

 and other monuments of the Ben- 

 net, Ossulton, Tankerville, and De 

 Salis families. See Hayes. 



Harlow, GEORGE HENRY (1787- 

 1819). British painter. Born in 

 London, June 10, 1787, he studied 

 under Sir Thomas Lawrence and 

 others, and painted history and 

 portraits. His Trial Scene, 1817, 

 from Shakespeare's Henry VIII, 

 with a portrait of Mrs. Siddons as 

 Queen Catherine, attracted much 

 attention. In 1818 he visited Italy 

 to improve his defective technical 

 powers, and died in London, Feb. 4, 

 1819. Although a follower of Law- 

 rence, he possessed an artistic 

 originality which earned him a 

 high reputation. 



