HOV 



HOtJ 





ornament, and of luxury, has been allow- 

 ed its due notice. 



HOTTONIA, in botany, water-violet, so 

 named in honour of Peter Hotton, pro- 

 fessor of botany at Leyden, a genus of the 

 Pentandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Natural order of Palmx. Lysimachiae, 

 Jussieu. Essential character : corolla sal- 

 ver shaped ; stamina placed on the tube 

 of the corolla ; capsule one-celled. There 

 are four species. 



HOVENIA, in botany, so named in ho- 

 nour of M. Hoven, a genus of the Pen- 

 tandria Monogynia class and order. Natu- 

 ral order of Dumosae. Rhamni, Jussieu. 

 Essential character : petals five, convolut- 

 ed ; stigma trifid; capsule three-celled, 

 three-valved. There is but one species, 

 .viz. H. dulcis, a native of Japan, near Na- 

 gasaki. 



HOVERING, in law : ships of fifty tons, 

 laden with customable or prohibited 

 goods, hovering on the coasts of this 

 kingdom, within the limits of any port 

 (and not proceeding from foreign parts) 

 may be entered by officers of the cus- 

 toms, who are to take an account of the 

 lading, and to demand and take a securi- 

 ty from the master, by his bond to his ma- 

 jesty, in such sums of money as shall be 

 treble the value of such foreign goods 

 then OH board, that such ship shall pro- 

 ceed, as soon as wind and weather, and 

 the condition of the ship, will permit, on 

 her voyage to foreign parts, and shall 

 land the goods in some foreign port ; the 

 master refusing to enter into such bond 

 or demand, or who, having given bond, 

 shall not proceed on such voyage (unless 

 otherwise suffered to make a longer stay, 

 by the collector or other principal officer 

 of such port where the vessel shall be, 

 not exceeding twenty days ;) in either 

 of the said cases, all the foreign goods on 

 board may be taken out by the custom- 

 house officers, by direction of the collec- 

 tor, and properly secured ; and if they 

 are customable, the duties shall be paid, 

 and if prohibited, they shall be forfeited. 

 The officers of the customs may prose- 

 cute the same, as also the ship, if liable to 

 condemnation, 3 Geo. III. c. 21. Com- 

 manders of me of war, and custom-house 

 efficers, may compel ships of fifty tons, 

 or under, hovering within two leagues of 

 shore, to come into port. 6 Geo. I. c. 21. 

 If any ship or vessel shall be found at an- 

 chor, or hovering within eight leagues of 

 the coast, (except between the North 

 Foreland and Beachy Head) unless by 

 distress of weather, having on board fo- 

 jeign spirits, in any vessel or cask which 

 shall not contain sixty gallons at least, or 



any wine in casks (provided such vessel 

 have wine on board) shall not exceed six- 

 ty tons burthen, or six pounds weight of 

 tea, or twenty pounds weight of coffee, 

 or any goods whatever liable to forfeiture 

 upon importation, that such goods, with 

 the ship and furniture, shall be forfeited ; 

 spirits for the use of seamen, not exceed- 

 ing two gallons per, man, excepted. 42 

 Geo. III. c. 82. 



HOUND, a hunting dog, of which there 

 are several sorts, as the grey-hound, 

 gaze-hound, &c. See CANIS. 



HOUNDS^ in naval language, a name 

 given to those parts of a mast-head, which 

 gradually project on the right and left 

 side beyond the cylindrical or conical 

 surface, which it preserves from the part- 

 ners upwards. 



HOUR, hera, in chronology, an aliquot 

 part of a natural day, usually a twenty- 

 fourth, sometimes a twelfth. But the word 

 hour has not always been of the same 

 signification ; for in ancient times an hour 

 did indefinitely express a short space of 

 time. It is thought too, that anciently the 

 four seasons of the year, wherein the sun 

 finishes its annual course, had the name 

 of hours, because Horus instituted a cer- 

 tain year, consisting of three months ; and 

 for this reason the ancients called spring, 

 summer, autumn, and winter, hours, and 

 the year itself hours : of which some foot- 

 steps appear in this, that the Greeks call- 

 ed their annals Hart ; and the writers of 

 them horographi. However it be, the di- 

 vision of the day into hours is very an- 

 cient, though the most ancient hour is 

 that of the twelfth part of the day. 



An hour, with us, is a measure or quan- 

 tity of time, equal to a twenty -fourth part 

 of the natural day, or nychthemeron ; or 

 it is the duration of the twenty-fourth 

 part of the earth's diurnal rotation. Fif- 

 teen degrees of the equator answer to an 

 hour ; though not precisely, yet near 

 enough for common use. 



The hour is divided into sixty minutes; 

 the minute into sixty seconds ; the se- 

 conds into sixty thirds, &c. 



There are divers kinds of hours, used 

 by chronologers, astronomers, dialists, 

 8cc. Sometimes hours are divided into 

 equal and unequal. Equal hours are the 

 twenty-fourth part of a day and night pre- 

 cisely ; that is, the time wherein fifteen 

 degrees of the equator mount above the 

 horizon. These are also called equinoc- 

 tial hours, because they are measured on 

 the equinoctial: and astronomical, be- 

 cause used by astronomers. They are 

 also differently denominated, according 

 to the manner of accounting them in dif- 



