H I T 
HOL 
what share, chance, or rashness, or prudence, 
had in the issue; that he should give the 
characters of the leading men their weight 
and influence, their passions, their principles, 
and their conduct through life. In addition 
to these, Tacitus gives another rule : “ Prae- 
cipuum munus annalium reor, ne virtutes 
sileantur, utque pravis dictisfactisque ex pos- 
I teritate et infamia metus sit:” that it is in- 
I cumbent on the writer to rejudge the actions 
of men, to the end that the good and worthy 
may meet with the reward due to eminent 
virtue, and that pernicious citizens may be 
I deterred by the condemnation that waits on 
I evil deeds at the tribunal of posterity. In 
;i this consists the chief part of the historian’s 
duty. 
Let it be remembered that in this coun- 
try, it is an indispensable duty of every man 
, of liberal birth, to be acquainted in a certain 
I degree with the science of politics. History 
I is the school of politics: it unfolds to us the 
springs of human affairs ; the causes of the 
| rise, grandeur, revolutions, and fail of em- 
pires. It points out tiie reciprocal influence 
of government and of national manners : it 
dissipates prejudices, nourishes the love of 
our country, and directs to the best means 
of improvement. It illustrates equally the 
blessings of political uuion and the miseries 
of faction. 
As to the events that stand recorded in 
history, says lord Bolingbroke, we see them 
all, we see them as they followed one an- 
: other, or as they produced one another, 
r causes or effects, immediate or remote. We 
are cast back, as it were, into former ages ; 
we live with the men who lived before us, 
and we inhabit countries that we never saw. 
Place L enlarged, and time prolonged in this 
maimer ; so that the man who applies himself 
earlv to the study of history may acquire in 
| a few years) and before he sets his foot abroad 
i in the world, not only a more extended 
knowledge of mankind, but the experience 
1 of more centuries than any of the patriarchs 
1 saw. The events we are witnesses of in the 
i course of the longest life, appear to us very 
i often original, unprepared, simple, and un- 
relative; they appear such very often, are 
called accidents, and looked upon as the 
effects of chance: experience can carry us 
no farther, for experience can go a very 
little way back in discovering causes; and 
effects are not the objects of experience till 
they happen. Hence many errors in judg- 
ment, and by consequence in conduct, ne- 
cessarily arise ; and here too lies the differ- 
ence we are speaking of between history 
and experience: the advantage on the side 
of the former is double. In ancient history 
the examples are complete, which are in- 
complete in the course of experience; ex- 
perience is doubly defective; we are born 
too late to see the beginning, and we die too 
late to see the end of many things. History 
supplies both those defects. Modern history 
shews the causes when experience presents 
the effects alone ; and antient history enables 
us to guess at the effects when experience 
presents the causes alone. 
HITCH, in the sea-language, is to catch 
hold of any thing with a hook or rope, and 
by this means to hold it fast: thus when 
a "boat is to be hoisted in, the sailors say, 
hitch the tackles into the ring-bolts of the 
boat; and when they are about to weigh 
VOL, I. 
H O L 
anchor, hitch the fish-hook to the flu&e of 
the anchor. 
HIVE, in country affairs, a convenient 
receptacle for bees. See Apis. 
HOARSENESS. See Medicine. 
HODMAN, an appellation given to a 
young student admitted into Christ’s College, 
Oxford, from Westminster-school. 
HOE, a husbandman’s tool, somewhat like 
a cooper’s adze to cut up weeds in gardens, 
fields, &c. This instrument is of great use, 
and ought to be much more employed than 
it is in hacking and clearing the several cor- 
ners and patches of land in spare times of the 
year, which would be no small advantage to 
it. 
HOEING, in the new husbandry, is the 
breaking or dividing the soil by tillage while 
the corn or other plants are growing thereon. 
It differs from common tillage (which is al- 
ways performed before the corn or plants 
are sown or planted) in the time of perform- 
ing it; and it is much more beneficial to the 
crops than any other tillage. I his sort of 
tillage is performed various ways, and by 
means of different instruments. 
HOG. See Sus. 
Hog, on board of a ship, is a sort of flat 
scrubbing broom, formed by inclosing a num- 
ber of short twigs of birch or such wood be- 
tween two pieces of plank fastened together, 
and cutting off the ends of the twigs. It is 
used to scrape the filth from a ship’s bottom 
under water, particularly in the act of boot- 
topping. For this purpose they fit to this 
broom a long staff with two ropes ; one of 
which is used to thrust the hog under the 
ship’s bottom, and the other to guide and 
pull it up again close to the planks. 
HOGSHEAD, in commerce, a measure 
of capacity, containing sixty-three gallons. 
IiOLCUS, Indian millet or com; a genus 
of the monooecia order, in the polygamia 
class of plants ; and in the natural 'method 
ranking under the 4th order, gramina. I he 
calvx of the hermaphrodite is an uniflorous 
or "biflorous glume; the corolla is a glume 
with an awn ; there are three stamina, two 
styles, and one seed. The male calyx is a 
bivalved glume ; there is no corolla, but 
three stamina. 
Of this genus there are fifteen species, two 
of which are natives of Britain. The most 
remarkable of these is the lanatus, or creeping 
soft-grass of Hudson. The most remarkable 
of the foreign species is the sorghum, or Gui- 
nea-corn. The stalks are large, compact, 
and full eight feet high. In Senegal the 
fields are entirely covered with it. 1 he 
negroes, who call it guiarnot, cover the ears 
when ripe with its own leaves to shelter it 
from the sparrows, which are very mischiev- 
ous in that country. The grain made into 
bread, or otherwise used, is esteemed very 
wholesome. With this the slaves in the West 
Indies are generally fed, each being allowed 
from a pint to a quart every day. T he juice 
of the stalks is so agreeably luscious, that, 
if prepared as the sugar-canes, they would 
afford an excellent sugar. 
HOLOCENTRUS. Holocentrus, a ge- 
nus of the order thoracici ; the generic cha- 
racter is, habit of the genus perca; gill-covers 
scaly, serrated, and aculeated ; scales in 
most species, hard and rough. There are 
35 species, the principal of which are : 
1. Holocentrus so go, a highly beautiful! 
6 A 
921 
species: general length about a foot; habit 
somewhat resembling that of a carp, but ot a 
squarer form, growing suddenly slender near 
the tail ; eyes very large and gold-coloured ; 
scales large and denticulated at the edges : 
tail very much forked. Native ol the Medi- 
terranean, Indian, and American seas, and 
considered as an excellent fish for the table. 
2. Holocentrus scliraetzer: length about 
ten inches; shape somewhat lengthened; 
head destitute of scales, for which reason this 
species is by Dr. Bloch arranged under a 
distinct genus by the name of gymnocepha- 
lus : scales rather small than large ; tail 
slightly divided; lowest of the longitudinal 
lines composed of a row of spots ; dorsal fin 
spotted with black; native of the Danube 
and its tributary streams; in considerable 
esteem as an article of food. 
3. Holocentrus decussates, decussated 
holocentrus: length about twelve inches; 
back dusky brown ; sides marked by two 
longitudinal brown stripes from the gills to 
the tail, and by seven transverse ones, each 
continued to some little distance into the 
dorsal fin, which is white or pale; scales 
middle-sized; eyes blue; tail brown, and 
slightly lunated. 
4. Holocentrus calcarifer, spur-gilled 
holocentrus: length about a foot; habit 
that of a carp, but rather more length- 
ened in proportion ; body marked by dusky 
lines along each row of scales; anterior 
gill-covers furnished with four strong sharp 
spines, so placed as to bear some resem- 
blance to the rowel of a spur ; posterior 
gill-covers armed with a single spine: fins 
and tail marked across the rays by brown 
spotted streaks ; native of Japan. 
5. Holocentrus surinamensis, SurinamTio- 
locentrus: length twelve inches; habit of a 
carp; general colour brown, with several 
large, roundish, obscurely-yellovv patches on 
each side ; head and gill-covers red ; mouth 
small ; dorsal fin scaly at the base of the 
back-part; tail crossed near the base by a 
browm bar : native of Surinam, where it is 
highly esteemed for the table, being consider- 
ed as one of the best fishes which the coun- 
try produces. 
*6. Holocentrus afer, African holocentrus; 
length twelve inches ; outline of the body, 
exclusive of the fins, somewhat resembling 
that of a sole ; thickness considerable ; scales 
very small, but those on the posterior gill- 
covers considerably larger than the rest ; 
dorsal fin covered with small scales, and fur- 
nished on the fore-part with extremely thick 
or strong spines ; back part and anal fin 
rounded, and reaching to wfithin a little dis- 
tance of the tail, which is remarkably small 
for the size of the fish, and of a round shape ; 
pectoral fins, whitish ; ventral, pale red ; na- 
tive of the coasts of Guinea, feeding on ma- 
rine insects, &c. and in considerable esti- 
mation as a food. 
HOLLY. See Ilex. 
HOLLAND, in commerce, a fine an$ 
close kind of linen, so called from its being 
first manufactured in Holland. 
IiOLOSTEUM, a genus of the trigynia 
order, in the triandria class of plants) and in 
the natural method ranking under the 22d 
order, caryophyllei. The calyx is penta- 
phyllous ; the petals five; the capsule, uni- 
locular, and nearly cylindrical, opening at 
top. There are five species. 
