718 



IIESPEKIDES HESSE-HOMBUUG. 



state of society and manners Inter than Hint depicted 

 in Homer, an intermediate state of transition from 

 kingly to republican government, of which distinct 

 traces are visible in his works. 



The best editions of the works of Hesiod are those 

 by Dan. Heinsius (1603, 4to); Robinson (Oxford, 

 1737, 4to); Losner (Leipsic, 1787; and Konigsberg, 

 1787). His complete works have been translated 

 into German by H. Voss (Heidelb., 1806); into Eng- 

 lish by Cooke and Elton. See treatise On the Poems 

 of Hesiod, their Origin and Connexion with the Poems 

 of Homer, by Thiersch (Munich, 1813, 4to). 



HESPERIDES. Hesiod, in his Theogony, calls 

 them the children of night, and describes them as 

 living beyond the ocean, and guarding golden apples, 

 and trees bearing golden fruit. According to others, 

 they were the daughters of Atlas, or of Jupiter and 

 Themis, or of Ceto and Phorcys. They were assisted 

 in the charge of their garden by a dragon, which 

 Hesiod calls Ladon. According to Apollonius, the 

 names of the Hesperides were Hespera, Erytheis 

 and JEgle ; according to Apollodorus, Erytheia, 

 ^Egle, and Hestia Arethusa; according to Lutatius, 

 JEe\e, Arethusa, and Hesperis. The golden apples 

 under their care were given by the Earth to Juno on 

 her marriage, and afterwards adorned the gardens of 

 the goddess. Hesiod places these gardens in an 

 island of the ocean, to the west, and Pherecydes at 

 the foot of the Hyperborean Atlas. It was the 

 eleventh labour of Hercules (q. v.) to bring the 

 golden apples of the Hesperides to Eurystheus. 

 The hero killed the hundred-headed dragon, and the 

 virgins fled ; or, according to some, Atlas went to 

 them, and procured the apples. The apples were 

 carried to Eurystheus, who gave them to Hercules, 

 and he afterwards gave them to Minerva. By this 

 divinity they were restored to their former situation. 



HESPERUS; the son or brother of Atlas, and a 

 passionate lover of astronomy. He was persecuted 

 by Atlas, and fled to Italy; whence the ancients 

 called this country Hesperia. The nation paid him 

 divine honours, and called the most beautiful star in 

 the western sky, the evening star, or planet Venus, 

 by his name. (See Planets.) Others say he was 

 the son of Venus and Cephalus, and, on account of 

 his beauty, received the name of his mother. 



HESSE-C ASSEL, or KURHESSEN; an electorate, 

 member of the Germanic confederacy, in which it 

 has the eighth place, and three votes in the general 

 assembly. (See Hessia.) It contains 4430 square 

 miles, with 602,700 inhabitants, in 62 cities and 

 towns, thirty-three market-places, 1062 villages, &c.; 

 491,750 Protestants, mostly Calvinists, 100,000 

 Catholics, 8000 Jews, and 250 Menonnites. The 

 electorate lies between 50 7' and 52 2Gf lat. N., 

 and 8 31' and 11 O 7 Ion. E. The surface is hilly, 

 and in some parts mountainous ; the soil not gene- 

 rally very fertile, except in the province of Hanau, 

 where it is rich, and the climate kindly. The pro- 

 ductions are grain, potatoes, some hemp, flax, 

 tobacco, and vines. The pasturage is generally 

 good, and wood abundant. The minerals are cop- 

 per, silver, cobalt, iron, salt, vitriol, .alum, pit coal, 

 marble, and basalt. The principal rivers are the 

 Werra, Fulda, Diemel, Maine, Edder, Kinzig, 

 Schwalm, and Lahn. The university is at Mar- 

 burg, and had 347 students in 1829. The electorate 

 has five gymnasia, three seminaries for the education 

 of schoolmasters, &c. Revenue, 4,500,000 guilders ; 

 public debt, 1,950,000. The form of government 

 was absolute after the dissolution of the former anti- 

 quated estates.* The title of the monarch is, elec- 



In 1830. the elector found himself constrained, by popular 

 aturbauces, soon after those in Brunswick, to make conces- 

 sions, and to give the pledge of a constitution. 



tor, sovereign landgrave of Hessia, grand duke of 

 Fulda, fyc. The present elector, William 11., was 

 born July 28, 1777, and succeeded his father in 1821. 

 He is married to Augusta, sister to the reigning 

 king of Prussia. He may be styled one of the worst 

 rulers of the present age, and has carried his cruelty 

 even to brutality. His son, a few years ago, was 

 obliged to fly to the king of Prussia, because he 

 would not allow the mistress of his father public 

 honours at court. The father of the present elector 

 was driven from his country by Napoleon, in 180(i. 

 Hesse then formed the main part of the kingdom of 

 Westphalia. He lived in England, was reinstated in 

 1813, when he disowned all which had taken place 

 from the time of his dethronement, and again intro- 

 duced caning into the army, &c. His arbitrary 

 refusal to acknowledge the sale of the domains dur- 

 ing his absence, and his non-compliance with the 

 decisions of the Germanic diet, and the admonitions 

 of Austria and Prussia, respecting this subject, form 

 an interesting subject in the modern history of Ger- 

 many. Hesse-Cassel was created an electorate with 

 Baden, Wurtemberg, and Salzburg, in 1802. (See 

 Electorate) It is the only electorate now existing ; 

 and, as there, is no longer a German emperor, the 

 title has no meaning as far as regards his election. 

 The commerce of Hesse-Cassel is not unimportant. 

 The peasant is poor, oppressed, and in a backward 

 state. For Cassel, the capital, see Cassel. 



HESSE-DARMSTADT (see Hessia), GRAND 

 DUCHY OF ; a member of the Germanic confederacy, 

 containing 3900 square miles, with 781,900 inha- 

 bitants, of whom 393,000 are Lutherans, 120,000 

 Catholics, 170,000 Calvinists, 16,000 Jews, 1000 

 Menonites. It lies between 49 22' and 51 4' lat. 

 N., and 8" Q and 10 0', Ion. E. Standing army, 

 8421 , of whom, however, more than half are on fur- 

 lough. The university is at Giessen, and had, in 

 1829, 548 students. The revenue was, in 1827, 

 5,878,641 guilders; expenditure the same; debt, 

 13,973,625 guilders. The surface is generally hilly 

 or mountainous ; the soil in many parts poor, but in 

 the valleys fertile, and pasturage generally good. 

 The principal productions are grain, potatoes, flax, 

 tobacco, fruits, and vegetables ; and vines along the 

 banks of the Rhine and Maine. It produces con- 

 siderable iron, copper, lead, and salt. The climate 

 is generally healthy, and the situation on the Rhine 

 and Maine favourable to trade. In 1806, the land- 

 grave of Hesse-Cassel became a member of the con- 

 federation of the Rhine, and, August 13 of the same 

 year, he adopted the title of grand Juke. In 1806, 

 the old estates were abolished in Hesse-Darmstadt. 

 May 18, 1820, a constitution was promulgated in 

 compliance with article 13 of the act of the German 

 confederacy. But the estates would not accept it, 

 and, December 17, 1820, a new constitution was 

 promulgated, providing for two chambers, which 

 have this singularity in their constitution, that if a 

 proposition made by the executive is adopted by one 

 chamber and rejected by the other, the votes of both 

 chambers can be counted together, and the majority 

 of both decides. The chambers have the right to 

 complain of officers, make proposals to government, 

 and to grant taxes. Their sessions are triennial. 

 The peasant is much oppressed by heavy taxes, and 

 disturbances have several times arisen. The present 

 grand duke, Louis II., succeeded his father, Louis I. 

 (as landgrave, Louis X.), April 6, 1830, and was 

 born December 26, 1777. The capital is Darmstadt. 

 HESSE-HOMBURG ; landgraviate and member 

 of the German confederacy, containing 164 square 

 miles, with 21,564 inhabitants, mostly Lutherans. 

 It consists of two parts, the lordship of Homburg, 

 situated N. N. W. of Frankfort, and the lordship of 



