HOBBEMA 



2804 



HOBSON 



HOBBEMA, hob'emah, MEINDERT (1638- 

 1709), an artist whose quiet subjects of Dutch 

 cottage and woodland scenery, place him along 

 with Ruysdael at the head of the landscape- 

 painters of Holland. His compositions are 

 subdued in tone and excellent in composition 

 and lighting. The place of his birth and most 

 of his life's story are unknown. He spent most 

 of his time in Amsterdam, where he died in 

 poverty. After his death his works received 

 proper recognition, and many are now among 

 the prized collections in the leading galleries 

 of America and Europe. Over 140 of his paint- 

 ings are accounted for at the present time, and 

 they bring large prices, some of the smaller 

 landscapes having been sold for $25,000 to 

 $50,000. 



HOBBES, hobz, JOHN OLIVER. See CRAIGIE, 

 PEARL RICHARDS. 



HOBBES, THOMAS (1588-1679), one of the 

 foremost of English moral and political phi- 

 losophers. He was the first great English 

 writer who dealt with the science of govern- 

 ment from the standpoint of tradition rather 

 than reason. His most famous work, the 

 Leviathan, or the Matter, Form and Power of 

 a Commonwealth, engaged him in almost 

 perpetual controversies, because of its ration- 

 alistic criticism and its uncompromising reduc- 

 tion of religion to a department of state. It 

 was condemned by Parliament in 1666, and 

 "Hobbism" became the popular synonym for 

 irreligion and immorality. Although Hobbes 

 was not again permitted to print anything on 

 subjects relating to human conduct, his politi- 

 cal theories have influenced all later politics. 

 A collected edition of his Latin works was 

 brought out in Amsterdam in 1668. At the age 

 of eighty-seven he completed an autobiography 

 in Latin verse and a verse translation of the 

 Iliad and the Odyssey. 



HO'BOKEN, N. J., a city in Hudson County, 

 immediately north of Jersey City, and on the 

 left bank of the Hudson River, opposite New 

 York City, with which it is connected by fer- 

 ries and tunnels. It is the terminus of the 

 Hamburg-American, North German Lloyd, 

 Holland-American and Scandinavian-American 

 steamship lines, the Wilson and Clyde freight 

 lines, and of the Delaware, Lackawanna & 

 Western Railroad. The Shore Road connects 

 the city with the Central of New Jersey; the 

 Erie; the West Shore; the New York, Ontario 

 & Western ; the Pennsylvania ; the Lehigh Val- 

 ley, and the Baltimore & Ohio railroads. An 

 electric trolley service, with connections, ex- 



tends throughout several counties. About one- 

 third of the population, which was 70,324 in 

 1910 and 67,611 in 1916, is foreign born, and 

 includes nearly every European nationality, 

 Germans and Italians predominating. 



This "mile square city" lies near the foot of 

 the Palisades of the Hudson River (which see), 

 Castle Point, a hill 100 feet high in the north- 

 east part of the city, is the site of Stevens 

 Institute of Technology. In addition to the 

 public school system, the city maintains a 

 teachers' training school; there is also the 

 German Academy and Industrial School. 



Among the prominent buildings are the 

 Federal building; the city hall, a fine structure 

 occupying an entire square; the public library, 

 Saint Mary's Hospital, a number of club and 

 bank buildings, the buildings and piers of the 

 Hamburg-American and North German Lloyd 

 Steamship companies, and the Delaware, 

 Lackawanna & Western Railroad terminal, 

 The parks include Hudson Square, Hudson 

 County and Elysian parks. 



A large per cent of the coal consumed in 

 New York City is shipped through Hoboken. 

 Among nearly a hundred varied industries the 

 most important are manufactures of foundry 

 and machine-shop products, marine engines, 

 motor fire engines, automobile equipment, ele- 

 vator accessories, furniture, leather, drawing 

 and surveying materials, inks, chemicals, wall 

 paper, silk and buttons. 



The site of Hoboken in 1630 was called 

 Hobocan Hackingh (the land of the tobacco 

 pipe), with reference to the pipes carved from 

 native stone by the Indians. Although there 

 were a few previous settlers, the history of the 

 city really began in 1804, when John Stevens, 

 an inventor, bought the land and laid out a 

 town. It was incorporated in 1849 and became 

 a city in 1855. The commission form of gov- 

 ernment was adopted in 1915. 



HOBSON, RICHMOND PEARSON (1870- 

 an American naval constructor, political leader 

 and advocate of prohibition of the liquor 

 traffic. He became a popular hero in the 

 Spanish-American War. During the blockade 

 of the Spanish fleet in the harbor of Santiago, 

 Lieutenant Hobson, then in service under 

 Admiral Sampson, conceived the plan of "bot- 

 tling up" Cervera's fleet and preventing its 

 escape. Accordingly, early on the morning of 

 June 3, 1898, he and seven companions sank 

 the collier Merrimac in the entrance of the 

 harbor. Fire from the enemy's guns shot away 

 the gear of the stem anchors and the ship was 



