HOLCROFT HOLIBUT. 



77S 



standing his straitened circumstances, he went first to 

 Amsterdam, then to England, Germany, France, and 

 Italy. He then resided at Copenhagen two years, 

 as a teacher of languages. In 17 18, ne received the 

 chair of metaphysics ; 1720, he became assessor of 

 the consistory and professor of eloquence. Holberg 

 had hitherto devoted himself to the study of juris- 

 prudence, history, and the languages ; and, until his 

 thirtieth year, he had written no poetry. At that 

 time, he attempted a satire, in which he took Juvenal 

 as his model. This attempt was successful, and he 

 now wrote his great comic-heroic poem, in iambics, 

 the Peder Paars. Holberg laid the foundation of- 

 his fame by this national satire. It has been tran- 

 slated into several languages. An accident having 

 induced him to write for the stage, he here found a 

 proper field for his talents. He wrote with much 

 ease, and in quick succession, twenty-four comedies, 

 all of which were received with great favour, and 

 which constitute him the founder of the comic theatre 

 of Denmark. The strong, lively wit, the native 

 humour, and the original characters in his comedies, 

 secure to him an elevated place among the small 

 number of genuine comic writers among the moderns. 

 Their genuine comic character has induced Baggesen, 

 one of the poets of Denmark, to undertake to adapt 

 the language to the present state of the Danish 

 tongue. His satirical and humorous romance, 

 Nicholas Klimm's Subterraneous Travels, in the Latin 

 language, translated into seven languages shortly 

 after it appeared, and into Danish by Baggesen 

 (1789), has also contributed to his fame. His Epistles, 

 Fables, and Epigrams are highly valued ; not less so 

 are his historical works, which he wrote under Chris- 

 tian VI., who was not very favourable to poetry. 

 Still Holberg acquired fame and riches, and was ele- 

 vated by the king to the rank of baron (1747). He 

 died 1754, and left the greatest part of his property 

 to the seminary of young noblemen at Soroe. Hol- 

 berg was lively and refined in his wit. He was ex- 

 tremely temperate, and dressed with much care. He 

 was fond of the society of women, bat was never 

 married ; he considered their conversation more 

 striking and natural than that of men. His comedies, 

 translated into German by (Ehlenschlager, appeared 

 at Leipsic in 1822. Professor Rahbeck has edited an 

 edition of Holberg's Miscellaneous Writings, in 

 twenty-one volumes, and also the latest edition of 

 Holberg's Comedies, in six volumes (Copenhagen, 

 1826). 



HOLCROFT, THOMAS, a dramatist, novelist, and 

 miscellaneous writer, born in 1744. His father was 

 a shoemaker, and the son followed the same occupa- 

 tion, which he relinquished when young, to try his 

 fortune on the stage. His scheme did not succeed, 

 and he then turned his attention to dramatic compo- 

 sition, and produced several pieces, of which the 

 popular is the Road to Ruin (1792), still frequently 

 performed. On the occurrence of the French revo- 

 lution, Holcroft displayed much zeal in the cause of 

 liberty ; and his conduct, with that of other indivi- 

 duals, having excited the alarm of government, he 

 was included in the famous prosecution for treason, 

 instituted against Hardy, Home Tooke, Thelwall, 

 and others, in 1794. The persons just mentioned 

 having been acquitted, Holcroft and the rest were 

 discharged without being brought to trial. He con- 

 tinued to write for the stage with great assiduity, and 

 published a multitude of works, original and tran- 

 slated, among the former of which were some clever 

 novels. His last publication was a Tour in Germany 

 and France (2 vols. 4to). He died in 1809. Holcroft 

 is stated to have been the first who introduced on the 

 English stage those since popular entertainments 

 termed melodramas. He possessed strong natural 



abilities, and, considering that he was self-taught, his 

 attainments were very considerable. His translations 

 are from the French and German languages. 



HOLD ; the whole interior cavity or belly of a 

 ship, or all that part of her inside which is compre- 

 hended between the floor and the lower deck, through- 

 out her length. This capacious apartment usually 

 contains the ballast, provisions, and stores of a ship 

 of war, and the principal part of the cargo in a 

 merchantman; in the former, it is divided into seve- 

 ral apartments (by bulk-heads), which are denomi- 

 nated according to the articles which they contain, 

 as the fish-room, the spirit room, the magazine, the 

 bread-room, &c. 



The after hold is that which lies abaft the main- 

 mast, and is usually set apart for the stowage of the 

 provisions in ships of war. 



The fore hold denotes that part of the hold which 

 is situated in the fore part of the ship, or about the 

 fore hatchway. It is usually in continuation with 

 the main hold, and serves the same purposes. 



The main hold ; that part which is just before the 

 main-mast, and which generally contains the fresh 

 water and beer, for the use of the ship's company. 



HOLE, BLACK, at Calcutta, denotes a place of 

 confinement, eighteen feet by eighteen feet, con. 

 taining 324 square feet, in which 146 persons were 

 shut up, when fort William was taken, in 1756, by 

 Surajah Dowla, nabob of Bengal. The room 

 afforded for each person a space of twenty-six and a 

 half inches by twelve inches, which was just enough 

 to hold them, without pressing violently upon each 

 other. To this dungeon there was only one small 

 grated window, and, the weather being very sultry, 

 the air within could neither circulate nor be changed. 

 In less than an hour, many of the unhappy people 

 were seized with extreme difficulty of breathing, 

 several were delirious, and the place was filled with 

 incoherent ravings and exclamations of distress, in 

 which the cry for water was predominant. This 

 was handed to them by the sentinels, but had no 

 effect to allay their thirst. In less than four hours, 

 many were suffocated, or died in violent deliriums. 

 In an hour more, the survivors, except those at the 

 grate, were, in the highest degree, frantic and out- 

 rageous. At length those at the grate became 

 insensible, so that we have no account of what 

 happened till they were released at six o'clock in 

 the morning, having been confined from seven at 

 night. Such were the effects of animal effluvia, in a 

 close and unventilated place, in the space of eleven 

 hours, that out of 146 persons, not more than twenty- 

 three came out alive, and those in a high putrid 

 fever, from which, however, by fresh air and proper 

 attention, they gradually recovered. Mr Holwell, 

 who commanded in fort William at the time when it 

 was taken, and was one of the sufferers in the black 

 hole, published an interesting Narrative of the suffer- 

 ings endured in the Black Hole of Calcutta. 



HOLIBUT (pleuronectes hippoglossus}. This 

 large and excellent fish is sometimes upwards of 

 300 pounds in weight. The colour above is of an 

 obscure green, bordering upon black ; that of the 

 belly, a pure white. The scales are small, and the 

 body free from spines : even the edges of the fins 

 have no asperity from the projection of the rays. 

 The eyes arc on the right side of the animal. It is 

 brought to the markets of the United States very 

 plentifully in the spring. From its large size, it is 

 usually cut up and sold piece-meal. The head, fins, 

 and flap, are considered as the most savoury parts. 

 It usually makes its appearance with the shad am 1 

 herring, or about the end of March and beginning of 

 April. It is taken on the Nantncket shoals, and 

 sometimes as far south as Sandy Hook, before the 



