HOLT HOLY ALLIANCE. 



777 



the grand prince, afterwards emperor Paul I. of 

 Russia, ceding his claims on Holstein to the king of 

 Denmark, in exchange for the counties of Oldenburg 

 and Delmenhorst, which, in 1777, were erected into 

 the duchy of Holstein-Oldenburg, and conferred by 

 Paul I. on the younger line of Gottorp. When the 

 constitution of the German empire was abolished by 

 the confederation of the Rhine, the king of Denmark 

 united (9th Sept., 1806) the whole duchy of Holstein 

 with the kingdom of Denmark, and took away its ex- 

 isting constitution. In the great European crisis of 

 1813, the war was carried into Holstein. The coun- 

 try was occupied by the combined Swedish and Rus- 

 sian armies, and, after a short armistice, a peace was 

 concluded at Kiel, Jan. 14, 1814. In 1815, the 

 king of Denmark, as sovereign of Holstein, was 

 admitted into the Germanic confederation. Holstein 

 was, therefore, once more connected with Germany, 

 and it became necessary to establish a constitution 

 in which the estates should be represented, accord- 

 ing to the decree of the confederation. The prelates 

 and nobility of the duchy of Holstein have made ap- 

 plication, in consequence, to the diet. 



HOLT, SIR JOHN ; an English judge, celebrated 

 for firmness, integrity, and knowledge of constitution- 

 al law, was born in 1642, and was entered as gen- 

 tleman commoner at Oriel college, Oxford. Being 

 designed for the profession of the law, he became a 

 member of the society of Gray's Inn in 1658, was 

 called to the bar in due course, and soon distinguish- 

 ed himself as a sound lawyer and an able advocate. 

 His professional eminence having procured him the 

 post of recorder to the city of London, he filled that 

 responsible office with much ability for about a year 

 and a half, when, the court determining on the aboli- 

 tion of the test act, his uncompromising opposition to 

 that unpopular measure lost him his situation. He 

 continued in disgrace with James till 1686, when he 

 was made serjeant-at-law ; and, becoming a member 

 of the lower house, on the arrival of the prince of 

 Orange, he distinguished himself so much by his 

 talents and exertions in what is called the convention 

 parliament, that William, soon after his own establish- 

 ment on the throne, elevated him to the dignity of 

 lord-chief-justice of the king's bench, with a seat at 

 the council board. In this situation he continued 

 during the remainder of his life, declining the chan- 

 cellorship, which was offered him on the removal of 

 lord Somers in 1700, and discharging the duties of 

 his high office with a degree of resolute uprightness, 

 which, however distasteful, on more occasions than 

 one, to both the houses of lords and commons, gain- 

 ed him popularity with his contemporaries, and has 

 secured him the veneration of posterity. The only 

 professional remains of this able magistrate are his 

 edition of Sir John Kelyng's Reports of Cases in 

 Pleas of the Crown, in the reign of Charles II., with 

 Noies, printed in 1708, folio. Sir John Holt died in 

 the spring of 1709. 



HOLTY, LEWIS HENRY CHRISTOPHER, a German 

 lyric poet, who excelled particularly in the elegy 

 and idyl, was born at Mariensee, in Hanover (1748). 

 He was the son of a clergyman, was, when a boy, 

 lively and desirous of knowledge, affectionate and 

 pleasing ; but the loss of his mother, and his suf- 

 ferings from the small-pox, which attacked him in his 

 ninth year, deprived him of his gaiety. His severe 

 studies, which he often pursued until late at night, 

 also contributed to this effect. His inclination for 

 strong emotion, and his poetical talent, were early 

 developed. In 1765, his father sent him to a school 

 at Celle, and, 1769, to Gottingen. He studied theo- 

 logy faithfully, but without neglecting the ancient and 

 modern poets, and without ceasing to exercise his 

 own poetical talents. As early as 1769 he had 



gained the reputation of a young man of genius, and 

 Kastner admitted him into his German society. He 

 subsequently became acquainted witli Burger and 

 Miller, and afterwards with Voss, Boje, count Stol- 

 berg, and the other members of the society of poets 

 at Gottingen at that period, where the young mem- 

 bers met once a week, to assist each other in their 

 labours. The best of Holly's poems, even in the 

 department peculiar to him, were written at this 

 period, when he was much excited by the influence 

 of this association. To enable himself to remain at 

 Gottingen, he applied for a place in the philological 

 seminary, and endeavoured to earn something by 

 translations and by giving instruction. Love also 

 contributed to bind him to this city. Like Petrarch, 

 he became acquainted with a Laura, but never made 

 known to her his affection. His health was under- 

 mined by severe study, and his father's death (1775), 

 which affected him deeply, increased his debility. 

 Conscious of the near approach of death, he wrote 

 many touching elegies, and was occupied with a 

 collection of his poems, when he breathed his last, 

 Sept. 1, 1776. In tender elegiac or idylic poetry, he 

 is peculiarly successful. An edition of his poems 

 was edited by Voss and Stolberg (1783), finally cor- 

 rected and increased by Voss (1804). 



HOLY ALLIANCE. Suffering turns the eyes 

 of nations, as well as of individuals, to Him who con- 

 soles when all other hope is gone. This was the 

 case with the Germans in the time of Napoleon, when, 

 for a long series of years, they endured all the horrors 

 of invasion and war. They took refuge in religion, 

 more particularly as their sufferings were considered 

 the direct consequences of the French revolution, 

 which they looked upon as a work of impiety. The 

 emperor Alexander, as is well known, had also, at 

 least as early as the war with Napoleon, acquir- 

 ed a religious turn of mind, which seemed to 

 increase during the campaign in Germany and 

 France. All the allies, in short, as well as their 

 people, participated more or less in this deep religious 

 feeling, whilst Napoleon was held up as the repre- 

 sentative or incarnation of evil. After the fall of 

 Napoleon, this religious feeling still remained strong 

 in the minds of the people of Europe, and blended 

 with their notions of politics and government, which, 

 in the case of the great mass, were, of course, crude 

 and superficial. They were induced to believe, that 

 religion might be made the basis of international 

 politics. Availing themselves of this feeling, the 

 sovereigns were enabled to form the league denomi- 

 nated the Holy Alliance, which was proposed by the 

 emperor Alexander of Russia. Participating in the 

 spirit above mentioned, and desirous to become the 

 pacificator of Europe (an idea which appears to have 

 flattered Napoleon's ambition in the first years of his 

 government), and perhaps instigated by madame 

 Krudener, he proposed this union, Sept. 26, 1815, 

 after the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo had cleared 

 the way for the execution of his desire of establishing 

 a settled peace in Europe. Alexander, Francis of 

 Austria, and Frederic William of Prussia, signed with 

 their own hands, and without the countersign of a 

 minister, the act establishing this alliance, which is 

 said to have been sent to the two latter in the hand- 

 writing of the first. Alexander published the act in 

 1816, and at a later period the two other monarchs 

 followed this example. It consisted of a declaration, 

 that, in accordance with the precepts of the gospel of 

 Jesus Christ, the principles of justice, charity, and 

 peace should be the basis of their internal administra- 

 tion, and of their international relations, and that the 

 happiness tfnd religious welfare of their subjects should 

 be their great object. It was also stipulated, that 

 the three sovereigns should invite others to become 



