HERMES 



such as slaying the hundred-eyed 

 Argus and carrying the infant 

 Bacchus to the nymphs at Nysa. 



He became the god of eloquence 

 and the god of good fortune, and 

 the patron of merchants, travellers, 

 and also of thieves. One of his chief 

 duties was to conduct the souls of 

 the dead to the nether world. The 

 invention of the lyre was attri- 

 buted to Hermes. In art Hermes 

 is represented as a handsome and 

 finely proportioned youth, as in 

 the famous statue by Praxiteles at 

 Olympia. He wears the petasus or 

 broad- brimmed hat, bears the 

 caduceus or staff, which he got 

 from Apollo in exchange for the 

 lyre he invented, and has the 

 winged sandals which enabled him 

 to speed swiftly through the air. 

 The Romans identified Hermes 

 with Mercury (q.v.). Pron. Her- 

 meez. 



Hermes. British cruiser em- 

 ployed as a seaplane carrier. On 

 Oct. 31, 1914, she was sunk by a 

 German submarine in the Strait 

 of Dover as she was returning from 

 Dunkirk to England. 



The Hermes, a British aircraft 

 carrier built 1918-20, has a dis- 

 placement of 10,400 tons, with a 

 speed of 25 knots. The whole of 

 her flying deck is available for air- 

 craft to rise and land, and by a 

 special arrangement for the emis- 

 sion of smoke there are no funnels 

 or other obstructions. 



Hermesianax. Greek elegiac 

 poet. A native of Colophon in 

 Asia Minor, he flourished during 

 the reign of Alexander the Great. 

 One of the chief representatives of 

 the Alexandrian school, he was the 

 author of three books of elegiacs, 

 named Leontion after his mistress, 

 containing some pretty love-stories, 

 mythological and historical. They 

 show considerable facility of inven- 

 tion, but the language is frequently 

 artificial and affected. 



Hermetic Books. Certain 

 writings attributed to Hermes 

 Trismegistus (Hermes thrice-great- 

 est), the name by which the Egyp- 

 tian god Thoth was known to the 

 Greeks. He was considered the in- 

 ventor of all the arts and sciences, 

 especially the occult. The her- 

 metic books, according to Clement 

 of Alexandria 42 in number, were 

 of a philosophical or scientific 

 character, most of them probably 

 the work of certain Alexandrian 

 Platonists belonging to the 2nd 

 century A.D. 



There is a complete translation 

 of the extant works and fragments 

 by L. Menard, 1866, and of the 

 Poimander by J. D, Chambers, 

 1882. Trismegistus was supposed 

 to possess great skill in shutting up 



3962 



vessels with a magic seal, hence the 

 modern expression " hermetically 

 sealed " applied to closing a vessel 

 or tube in such a manner that it is 

 absolutely airtight. 



Hermies. Village of France, in 

 the dept. of Pas-de-Calais. It is 17 

 m. S.E. of Arras, and 10 m. S.W. 

 of Cambrai. Stormed by the 

 British, April, 191 7, it was gallantly 

 defended by the 17th division on 

 March 22, 1918, the second day of 

 the great German offensive towards 

 Amiens. Later, it was yielded up 

 in the British retreat, but recovered 

 in the autumn of 1918. After 

 the Great War the village was 

 " adopted " by Huddersfield. See 

 Arras, Third battle of; Cambrai, 

 Battles of. 



Hermione. Leading female 

 character in Shakespeare's tragi- 

 comedy, The Winter's Tale. Ac- 

 cused by her husband, the madly 

 jealous Leontes, king of Sicilia, of 

 having committed adultery with 

 Polixenes, king of Bohemia, and 

 pronounced innocent of the offence 

 by Apollo's oracle, she falls into a 

 faint, which is reported to the king 

 as fatal, and is only reunited to 

 him and to her daughter, Perdita, 

 after a lapse of 16 years. See 

 Anderson, Mary. 



Hermione. Ancient city of 

 Greece, in the prov. of Argolis and 

 Corinthia. Standing on the main- 

 land N.W. of Hydhra, it was a pro- 

 minent port with a double harbour, 

 but the only remains extant are the 

 scanty ruins of its once famous tem- 



g'e of Poseidon. Founded by the 

 ryopes, it figured for a time as an 

 independent state, but became sub- 

 ject to Argos. 

 Pron. Her-mi- f 

 onee. 



Hermit OR 

 EREMITE (Gr. 

 eremos, solitary). 

 Term applied to 

 those who live in 

 monastic com- 

 munities, but es- 

 pecially to one 

 living a solitary 

 life in a cave or 

 hut of his own 

 construction, who 

 has a b a n doned 

 the world and its 

 ways, and prac- 

 tises the severest 

 austerities. Paul 

 of Thebes, according to tradition three picture galleries. As recon 

 the first hermit, is said to have fled structed in 1840-52, the Hermitage 



HERMITAGE 



of the West, C. F. R. de Montalem- 

 bert, new ed. 1896 ; Wisdom of the 

 Desert, J. 0. Hanney, 1904. 



Hermit. Small group of islands 

 in the western portion of the former 

 German territory known as the 

 Bismarck Archipelago, in the 

 Pacific. They lie off the E. coast of 

 New Guinea. A British naval force 

 annexed the islands in Nov., 1914. 

 See Bismarck Archipelago. 



Hermitage. Retreat, cell, or 

 habitation of a hermit or recluse. 

 In modern usage the name is often 

 applied to buildings that have 

 nothing in common with the 

 original meaning, e.g. to a palace of 

 Catherine II in Petrograd ; to 

 a fashionable garden resort in 

 Moscow ; and to a palace near 

 Baireuth, Bavaria, once occupied 

 by Frederick the Great. There was 

 a Hermitage, in the old sense of the 

 term, at Warkworth, Northumber- 

 land, one on S. Herbert's Island, 

 Derwentwater, and a retreat of S. 

 Francis, near the convent of S. 

 Francisco, Assisi, Italy. A 13th 

 century stronghold of the Douglas 

 family, near Castleton, on the 

 Scottish border, was known as the 

 Hermitage. 



Hermitage, THE. Museum and 

 picture gallery attached to the 

 Winter Palace, Petrograd, Russia. 

 The original building was erected 

 for Catherine II in 1765, enlarged 

 in 1775 and 1778-87, and recon- 

 structed in 1840-52 for Nicholas I. 

 The first building, known also as 

 the Small Winter Palace and the 

 Pavilion Hermitage, was connected 

 by a flying bridge with the em- 

 press's apartments, and contained 



Hermitage, Petrograd. The south entrance of the 

 museum and picture gallery 



to the desert during the persecution 

 of Decius and to have lived in a 

 grotto for 90 years. Anthony, 

 Hilarion, Arsenius, and Simeon 

 Stylites are among other famous 

 hermits of history or legend. See 

 Anchorite ; Asceticism ; Laura ; 

 Monasticism ; consult also Monks 



formed a rectangle 170 yds. long and 

 124 yds. wide, with three courts 

 planned to contain the imperial art 

 collections. 



The older part, devoted to silver 

 and porcelain collections, the Ro- 

 manoff Gallery, Marble Hall, and 

 Winter Garden were entered from 



