HENSCHEL 



2775 



HERALD 



to Brazil, where, later, gold and diamond mines 

 were developed which brought great wealth to 

 Portugal, for that country thenceforth claimed 

 the vast eastern section of South America (see 

 DEMARCATION, LINE OF). The Madeira Islands 

 were reached by him in 1420 and the Azores in 

 1448, and for the next fifty years the commerce 

 and colonial possessions of the Portuguese were 

 steadily developed in Brazil and India, due to 

 the impulse he imparted. He also founded a 

 school for navigation at Sagres, and built an 

 observatory near Cape Saint Vincent. 



HENSCHEL, hen'shel, GEORG (1850- ), 

 musical composer, singer and director, who 

 established the famous London Symphony 

 Concerts and was the first conductor of the 

 Boston Symphony Orchestra. He made his 

 first public appearance as a pianist when twelve 

 years of age at Breslau, his native city, later 

 studying at Leipzig and Berlin. His fine bari- 

 tone voice soon gained him recognition, and 

 he entered the field of grand opera. In 1877 

 he began a successful career in England as a 

 teacher, singing also at leading concerts. In 

 1881 he married an American soprano, Miss 

 Lillian Bailey. He composed several songs, 

 operas, and orchestral pieces, of which the 

 most important is the Stabat Mater. Both in 

 England and in America Henschel has exerted 

 a strong influence in musical circles. 



HENTY, hen'ti, GEORGE ALFRED (1832-1902), 

 an English author of scores of books for boys. 

 These have no especial literary merit, but this 

 fact does not disturb their juvenile readers. 

 Something happens on every page; the heroes, 

 many of them boys themselves, have to face 

 tremendous obstacles, but they always come 

 out successful; and in the background are stir- 

 ring historical scenes. Libraries often find it 

 difficult to supply the demand for "Henty 

 books." As the stories are clean, as they exalt 

 physical* and moral courage, and always have 

 a high moral tone, parents need not object to 

 their great popularity. 



Henty, who was born at Trumpington, in 

 Cambridgeshire, was not always a writer of 

 boys' books. After his graduation from Caius 

 College, Cambridge, he served for a time in 

 the army, and in 1866 became a war corre- 

 spondent, reporting for. a London paper the 

 Austro-Italian and Franco-German wars, as 

 well as expeditions to the interior of Africa. 

 He was a man of middle age before he wrote 

 his first juvenile story, but from that time 

 the boys did not permit him to lay down his 

 pen. 



HEPATICA, hepat'ika, a sturdy but dainty 

 flower of the woodlands in nearly all countries 

 of the northern hemisphere. The word comes 

 from the Greek term for liver, suggested by 

 the shape of the leaves. This flower is there- 

 fore often called liverleaf, or liverwort. There 

 are two species, those with leaf lobes rounded, 

 more common in Eastern America, and those 

 with pointed leaf lobes, common in the West. 



If the ill-smelling skunk cabbage be ex- 

 cepted, the hepatica is the first flower to 

 appear in spring from ' Canada to Northern 

 Florida. When snow is still on the ground 

 hepaticas of white, pink, blue or lavender may 

 be seen nodding in warm, sheltered places, each 

 on a slender, hairy stem. The blossoms have 

 six sepals, and are shaped like buttercups. 

 They appear before the new green leaves rise 

 above the leaves of last year, which are three- 

 lobed, dark-colored and leathery. 



HEPPLEWHITE, GEORGE. See FURNITURE, 

 subhead English Development. 



HEPTARCHY, hep' tar ki, from the Greek 

 words, hepta, meaning seven, arche, or king- 

 dom, was the name formerly given to the seven 

 divisions of England established by the Angles 

 and Saxons. These kingdoms were Kent, Sus- 

 sex, Wessex, Essex, Northumberland, East An- 

 glia and Mercia. They were founded at differ- 

 ent times and were for years constantly at war 

 with one another. In 827 Wessex, under Eg- 

 bert, achieved supremacy and virtually ab- 

 sorbed the others, their consolidation marking 

 the beginning of the modern Kingdom of Eng- 

 land and the British Empire. Egbert is thus 

 considered to have been the first king of Eng- 

 land. 



HE'RA. See JUNO. 



HERALD, in the days when there were no 

 newspapers, telegraph or telephone, a ruler 

 made known his orders and his requests 

 through officers known as heralds. In ancient 

 Greece and Rome the heralds appeared in the 

 public squares and summoned the assemblies or 

 announced some exciting piece of news, such as 

 the approach of a hostile army. In medieval 

 times the duties of heralds multiplied, and their 

 importance increased in comparison. Their 

 costumes were gorgeous in the extreme, and 

 their journeys from one court to another were 

 attended with all sorts of elaborate ceremonials. 

 As the direct representatives of the king, they 

 were regarded as possessing in some measure 

 the sacredness of royalty, and it was a crime to 

 interfere in any way with a herald's perform- 

 ance of his duties. 



