HOLY OFFICE HOLY WATER. 



779 



president Monroe (1825), in which he declared, that 

 any attempt, on the part of the European powers, to 

 extend the system of national interference to any 

 portion of this hemisphere, would be considered as 

 dangerous to the peace and safety of the United 

 States ; and that any interposition, by any European 

 power, for die purpose of controlling, in any manner 

 the governments of America which had established 

 their independence, would be considered as the ma- 

 nifestation of an unfriendly disposition towards the 

 United States. 



The constant violation of the promises to provide 

 for civil liberty in Germany and Italy ; the suspen- 

 sion of the constitution of Poland ; the benumbing 

 oppression extended all over the European continent; 

 the arrogant proscription of all forms of government 

 not agreeing with its views ; the assertion of divine 

 right and legitimacy, in direct opposition to the spirit 

 of the age; many persecutions and sufferings to which 

 virtuous citizens have been subjected, is the sum of 

 what has been done by this league. It is highly 

 probable too, that the French government under 

 Charles X. had received promises of support from 

 the allies before issuing its fatal ordinances. The 

 readiness of the members to acknowledge the inde- 

 pendence of Belgium, is a proof that the holy alliance 

 has been compelled to abandon its principles of 

 " legitimate stability." Sir James Mackintosh says 

 of the doctrine of legitimacy, in the sense in which 

 it is used by the holy alliance, " sophistry lent her 

 colours to the most extravagant pretensions of tyran- 

 ny," and, in case of the success of these pretensions 

 (which may God avert), tyranny would lend the most 

 formidable weapons in its arsenal to sophistry. We 

 may observe, in conclusion, that in proportion as the 

 monarchs have united to keep down the people, 

 liberty has become the common cause of all nations. 



HOLY OFFICE. See Inquisition. 



HOLYHEAD ; a seaport town of Wales, situated 

 (278 miles north-west of London), near the point of 

 the peninsula or island, which projects from the 

 western coast of the isle of Anglesey, and now a 

 place of considerable importance, since it has become 

 the great port of communication to the Irish capital, 

 and the rendezvous of the mail packets. A pier has 

 been constructed, to allow vessels to land or sail at 

 all times of the tide. A light-house is erected on 

 the island of South Stack. The light is of the re- 

 volving kind, and being elevated 200 feet above the 

 level of the sea, is visible at a great distance, and all 

 over Caernarvon Bay. The town of Holyhead 

 consists principally of a long street, with detached 

 buildings. Population, in 1831, 4282. 



HOLYOKE, EDWARD AUGUSTUS, M. D., an 

 American physician, was born August 1, 1728, old 

 style, in the county of Essex, Massachusetts. He 

 was graduated at Harvard, in 1746, and commenced 

 the study of medicine the following year. In 1749, 

 he began to practise his profession in Salem. He 

 never was as far as fifty miles from the spot on which 

 he was born. He was twice married, and had a 

 numerous offspring. He died March 31, 1829, being 

 then above one hundred years of age. Doctor 

 Holyoke was always deemed an acute and learned 

 physician, and a good anatomist and surgeon. He 

 was one of the founders, and the first president, of 

 the medical society of Massachusetts. He published 

 various scientific disquisitions. He was versed in 

 natural philosophy and astronomy. He seldom passed 

 a day, for the first sixty years of his practice, without 

 noting down some fact or observation, forming an 

 increase of his professional knowledge. His meteo- 

 rological observations were recorded daily for eighty 

 years. When he was ninety-two years old, he per- 

 formed the operation of paracentesis. Several of the 



most distinguished physicians of New England were 

 educated under his tuition. He corresponded with 

 eminent philosophers abroad. In a letter written by 

 him, so late as October, in the year 1828, he men- 

 tions, that he was blessed with an excellent constitu- 

 tion ; that he maintained his health by constant 

 exercise, having, between the ages of thirty and 

 eighty, always walked in the practice of his profes- 

 sion ; that he was not particular in his diet, but 

 temperate as to quantity, and that he had a good set 

 of teeth, but lost them all, through their gradual 

 decay, by his eightieth year. His temper was cheer- 

 ful ; he kept his passions under due restraint. He 

 ascribed his longevity, in part, to " his always having 

 taken care to have a full proportion of sleep." He 

 ate very freely of all kinds of fruit. His hearing and 

 memory were impaired for the last thirty years of his 

 life, but even after he had attained his hundredth 

 year, he took interest in the investigation of medical 

 subjects, and wrote letters which show that he still 

 possessed clearness and strength of understanding. 

 When he was forty-five years old, he required for his 

 sight the aid of convex glasses. These he employed 

 for forty years, when his eyes gradually improved, and, 

 at the time of his death, he was able to read the 

 finest print without the help of spectacles. His 

 medical brethren of Salem and Boston united in 

 giving him a public dinner on his one hundredth birth 

 day. An interesting memoir of his life and character 

 has been published at the request of the Essex medi- 

 cal society. 



HOLY ROOD, PALACE AND ABBEY OF, in 

 Edinburgh, at the eastern extremity of the Old 

 Town. The abbey was founded in 1128, by David 

 I., and was used as the royal cemetery. It is now 

 entirely in ruins. The palace is a large quadrangu- 

 lar building of hewn stone, with a court within, sur- 

 rounded by a piazza. It contains a gallery 150 feet 

 long, in which are portraits of all the Scottish kings, 

 most of them imaginary. It is now used at the 

 election of the sixteen peers of Scotland, to represent 

 their order in parliament. In the north-west tower, 

 the bed-chamber of the unfortunate Mary, with the 

 remains of her crimson damask bed, is still to be seen, 

 and an adjoining cabinet, from which Rizzio was 

 dragged and murdered in her presence. A large por- 

 tion of it was repaired for the Bourbon princes, who 

 resided here after the French revolution. It has 

 since been occupied by the duke of Hamilton, here- 

 ditary keeper of the palace, and other noblemen and 

 persons with interest enough to procure admission, 

 and again became the residence of the Bourbons, 

 after they were compelled to leave France by the 

 revolution of 1830. 



HOLY WATER, in the Greek and Roman Ca- 

 tholic church, water which has been consecrated by 

 prayers, exorcism, and other ceremonies, to sprinkle 

 the faithful and things used for the church. " By 

 this benediction," says the Dictionnaire de Theologie 

 (Toulouse, 1817 a Catholic work), "the church 

 implores God to purify those who use it, from sin, to 

 avert the temptations of the enemy of salvation aiui 

 the snares of this world. In the apostolic constitu- 

 tions, the holy water is called a means of expiating 

 sins, and putting the evil spirit to flight." It is con- 

 tained in a particular kind of vases, probably in 

 imitation of the brazen sea of the Jews, at the doors 

 of churches, and also within them at certain places, 

 from which the Catholics sprinkle themselves before 

 prayer. Holy water is also often found in the 

 chambers of the Catholics, and is used before prayer, 

 particularly before going to bed. The Roman Ca- 

 tholic church seems to consider holy water not only 

 symbolical of the purity of the soul, but, in certain 

 cases as effectual in exorcism. In Rome, in.in uls 



