122 



IIEYNE HICKORY. 



by his indefatigable participation in the (lottiii n 

 Literary Gazette (Gottinger Gelekrte Anzi-iuot}, 

 which, especially under his inanarin'iit, from 1770, 

 luul Uie merit of acquainting Germany with the most 

 important ami rare works ot the English and French; 

 finally, and above all, by the direction of the philo- 

 logical seminary of Gottingen, which, under his 

 guidance, was a nursery of genuine philology, and 

 lias given to the institutions of instruction of Ger- 

 many, a vast number of good teachers ; by all this, 

 together with his editions and commentaries on classic 

 authors, Ileyne lias deserved the reputation of being 

 one of the most distinguished teachers and scholars 

 of Germany ; nay, we may even say, of the literary 

 world. But the centre of his activity was the poetic 

 department of classical literature, which he espoused 

 for itself alone, and from love of poetry, free from the 

 narrow views which had been and were then preva- 

 lent among philologists. His particular merit consists 

 in having raised the knowledge of antiquity and clas- 

 sical literature from the dust of the schools, and 

 introduced it into the circle of the polished world. 

 He esteemed the study of the languages, of grammar 

 and metre, as the foundation of the further study of 

 classic literature, but by no means as themselves the 

 ultimate object This is shown by his editions of the 

 poets, which gained him the most extensive reputa- 

 tion, of Tibullus, and especially of Virgil. For the 

 most difficult, also, of the ancient poets, and the one 

 who had the fewest commentators, for Pindar, he has 

 done much to make him intelligible, and first brought 

 him into the course of instruction. But his principal 

 work, which employed him for eighteen years, was 

 his great though unfortunately unfinished edition of 

 Homer. Proceeding from the poets, he entered the 

 territory of mythology, on which he shed much light, 

 by his edition of Apollodorus, &c. Archaeology 

 gained equally by his antiquarian essays. Connected 

 with these archaeological and antiquarian investiga- 

 tions, were his historical labours, viz., the treatment 

 of Greek and Roman antiquities, and his extensive 

 knowledge of the internal history, constitutions, and 

 legislation of the states of antiquity, which he knew 

 how to apply happily to the events of his own time. 

 Even as a man of business and the world, Heyne was 

 worthy of respect; on which account he was intrusted, 

 from all quarters, with honourable employments, and 

 his advice was not unfrequently asked by the curators 

 of the university. He brought the library of Gottin- 

 gen to its present state of excellence, so that it is j 

 regarded, by competent judges of the subject, as the 

 first in Europe, because all the departments are me- 

 thodically filled. In the same flourishing condition 

 did he leave the other institutions which were intrust- 

 ed to his supervision. Not merely the fame of his 

 great learning, but the weight of his character, and 

 the propriety and delicacy of his conduct, procured 

 him the acquaintance of the most accomplished and 

 eminent men of his time. George Forster, Huber 

 and Heeren became his sons-in-law. The centre of 

 his activity always was the university, which he loved 

 with filial fidelity and disinterested affection. In 

 dangerous times, the influence which he had acquired, 

 and his approved uprightness and wisdom, were of 

 great service to that literary institution. By his 

 efforts, the university and city of Gottingen were 

 spared the necessity of affording quarters to the 

 soldiery, while the French had possession of Han- 

 over, from 1804 to 1805. At this time, his occupa- 

 tions were much multiplied, and he was himself 

 appointed a member of the committee of the estates. 

 When the kingdom of Westphalia was erected, he 

 was no less active, and had, moreover, the pleasure 

 of seeing his efforts successful and his services ac- 

 knowledged. After giving a final revision to his 



works, nn attack of apoplexy terminated his well- 

 spent life, July 14, 1812, in the eighty-third year of 

 his age. See Heeren's Life of Heyne, Gottingeii,1813. 



HIACOOMES, the Lrst Indian in New England 

 who was converted to Christianity, lived upon the 

 island of Martha's Vineyard, when a few English 

 families first settled there, in 1642. He was in- 

 structed in the truths of Christianity by the reverend 

 Thomas Mayhew, and, in 1645, began his apostolic 

 labours among his red brethren. In August, 1780, 

 an Indian church was established on Martha's Vine- 

 yard, and Hiacoomes and Jackanash, another Indian, 

 were regularly constituted its pastor and teacher. 

 Hiacoomes survived his colleague, and lived to the 

 advanced age of nearly eighty. His death occurr 

 about the year 1 690. He performed all his minister 

 duties with the greatest propriety and regularity; 

 was slow of speech, of great gravity of manner, and 

 led a blameless life. 



HIATUS (Latin; opening) usually signifies a 

 break; in prosody, for example, if one word ends 

 with a vowel, and the next word begins with a 

 vowel, an opening of the lips similar to that in 

 yawning, is produced in pronouncing them. Na- 

 ture herself appears to have taught men to avoid the 

 hiatus, since there is, perhaps, no language, in which 

 euphonic letters are not found, the sole use of which 

 is to prevent the hiatus. (See Euphony.) In Greek, 

 this hiatus was avoided by the addition of the > Ipa- 

 xuffTixov, or, in some cases, of a c or a x. to the first 

 word, or by an elision of its final vowel. The doctrine 

 of the digamma (q. v.), in the criticism of the text of 

 Homer, is founded on the observation, that, with the 

 exception of a certain number of words beginning 

 with a vowel, which have a hiatus often before them, 

 the hiatus becomes very rare in Homer, and, in most 

 cases, has some particular justification. These words 

 are also rarely preceded by an apostrophe, and, 

 preceding long vowels and diphthongs, are seldom 

 shortened before them. These facts are explained 

 by the assumption of the existence of the digamma. 

 A chasm in MSS., occasioned by a part of a manu- 

 script being lost, or by erasures, is often denoted in 

 copies by the phrase hiatus valde deflendus, i. e., an 

 unfortunate chasm. 



HIBERNIA; the ancient name of Ireland, so called 

 first by Julius Cassar. Pomponius Mela calls it 

 Juverna ; Ptolemy, Juvernia ; others, Overnia, Her- 

 nia, Iris. Aristotle mentions this island by the 

 name of lerna, and, at the same time, speaks of 

 Albion. In the Argonautica. which go under the 

 name of Orpheus, the island of lernis is mentioned. 

 The inhabitants of Britain told Caesar, that Hibernia 

 lay west of their island, and was only half as large. 

 Ptolemy, who received more correct accounts from 

 merchants who had been there, makes but few mis- 

 takes in his account of its size, form, and situation ; 

 and by means of their information, he was enabled to 

 form a chart of Hibernia, and to give tolerably ac- 

 curate accounts of its coasts, rivers, promontories, 

 and inhabitants. Agricola made preparations for 

 conquering the country, but his design was not exe- 

 cuted. Hibernia, therefore, was never reduced to 

 subjection by the Romans. See Britain, and Ireland. 



HIBRIDA, HYBRIDA, or IBRIDA (Latin; from 

 the Greek i/fyn , a mongrel), meaning of double origin; 

 for instance, if the father was a Roman and the mother 

 a foreign woman, or the former a freedman and the 

 latter a slave. Hibrida corresponds to the modern 

 mulatto. If the parents had not received the jus 

 connubii from the senate, the hibridas were little 

 better than slaves. Hence vox hibrida, a compound 

 of two different languages, as monoculus, archi-dux. 



HICKORY. This term is applied, in America, to 

 several species of walnut, which, however, form a 





