H E L 
3)7 
H E L 
Rhine, The town is iituated ten miles fouth-eaft from 
Btifac. 
HEX, a river of England, in the county of Cornwall, 
which runs into the fea about four miles fouth of Fall 
mouth. 
HE'LA, [Hebrew.] The name of a woman. 
HE'LAM, the name of a place mentioned 2 Sam. x. 16. 
probably the fame with Elam, which fee. 
HE'LAN, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Leit- 
meritz : five miles fouth of Leitmeritz. 
HEL'BAH, a city of Paleftine, belonging to the tribe 
of A (her. Judges, i. 31. 
HEL'BIGSDORF, a town of Germany, in Upper 
Saxony, and circle of Erzgeburg: feven miles fouth 
of Frey berg. 
HEL'BON, the name of a place celebrated for its 
wine. Ezek. xxvii. i3. 
HELCHE'SAISTS, a fe6t of heretics, who had one 
Helchefau for their ringleader, who held it was no fin to 
deny Jefus Chrift in time of perfecution. They alfoj 
ftrongly oppofed celibacy, and held it a duty of religion 
to marry. , 
HEL'COMA, f. [from eXv.o?, Gr. an ulcer.] With 
furgeons, the helcofis, an ulceration. 
HEL'COS, f. [Greek.] An ulcer. 
HEL'COSIS, f. [Greek.] An ulceration, the ftate 
ef a wound turning to an ulcer. 
HELCYD'RIA,/ Small ulcers in,the (kinof the head. 
HELCYS'MA,/ [Greek.] The drofs of filver, the 
drofs of any metal ; an helcoina, an ulceration. 
HELCYS'TER, [from tyx.a, Gr. to draw.] An in- 
ffrument for extraifting the foetus. 
HELD, the preterite and >part. pa(T. of hold .—A rich 
man beginning to fall, is held up of friends. EccleJ. — If 
Minerva had not appSarfd' ttfid held his hand, he had ex¬ 
ecuted his defign. Drydcn. 
HELDAZOO', a-firfatl ifland of Scotland, near the 
fouth coaft of Shetland. Lat. 60. 13. N. Ion. 1. 30. E. 
Edinburgh. 
HELD'BURG, a town of Germany, inUpperSaxony, 
and principality of Coburg: eight miles weft of Coburg. 
HELD'OI, f. [Heb. the world.] The name of a 
place. Zech. 6. 
To IIELE, v. a. [htelan, Sax.] To cover. Ray’s Suf- 
fex Words. 
HE'LEB, and HE'LED, [Hebrew.] -Names of men. 
HE'LEK, [Hebrew.] A man’s name. 
HEL'EKITE, /. A defcendant of Helek. 
HE'LEM, [Hebrew.] A man’s name. 
HE'LKN, or Helena, the name of a woman. 
HEL'EN’s Head, [Co called from St. Helen, the mo¬ 
ther of Conftantine the Great, who built achurch there.] 
A place in Ireland. 
HEL'ENA, the mod beautiful woman of her age, fa¬ 
bled to have fprung from one of the eggs which Leda, 
the wife of king. Tyndarus, brought forth after her 
-amour with Jupiter metamorphofed into a fwan. See 
the article Leda. According to fome authors, Helen 
was daughter of Nemefis by Jupiter, and Leda was only 
her nurfe; and to reconcile this variety of opinions, 
fome imagine that Nemefis and Leda are the fame per- 
fons. Her beauty was fo univerfally admired even in 
her infancy, that Thefeus, with his friend Pirithous, 
carried her away before the had attained her tenth year, 
and concealed her at Aphidnae, under the care of his 
mother ZEthra. Her brothers, Caltor and Pollux, reco¬ 
vered her by force of arms, and .fhe returned fafe and un¬ 
polluted to Sparta, her native couutry. There exifted, 
however, a tradition recorded by Paufanias, that Helen 
was of nubile- years when carried away by Thefeus, and 
that (lie had a daughter by her raviiher, who was en- 
trufted to the care of Clytemneftra. This violence of-, 
fered to her virtue did not in the leaft diminifh, but ra¬ 
ther.augmented, her fame, and her hand was eagerly fo- 
licited by the young princes o£ Greece. The mod cele- 
Vol. IX. No-. 58,7. ■ 
brated of her fuitors were, Ulyffes fon of Laertes, Aa- 
tilochus fon of Neftor, Sthenelus fon of Capaiieus, Dio- 
medcs fon of Tydeus, Amphilochus fon of Cteatus, Me- 
ges fon of Phileus, Agapenor fon of Ancreus, Thafpius 
fon of Eurytus, Mneftheus fon of Petens, Schedius fon 
of Epiffrophtis, Polyxenus, fon of AgafthenCS, Amphi- 
’ lochus fon of Amphiaraus, Afcalaphus and lahfius fobs 
of the god Mars, Ajax fon of Oilcus, Eurnehis foil of 
Admetus, Polypcetes fon of Pirithous, Elphenbr fon of 
Chalcodon, Podalyrus and Machaon Tons df JE fcuh.-piiisy 
Leonteus fon of Coronus, Philoftetes fon of Paean, Pro- 
tefilaus fon of Iphiclus, Eurypilus fon of E»emon, Ajax 
and Teucer Lons of Telamon, Patroclus foil of Mence- 
tius, Menelaus fon of Atrens, Thoas, Idomeneus, and 
Merion. Tyndarus; was rather alarmed than pleafed at 
the fight of'■ fiich a number of illuftrions princes who ea¬ 
gerly folicited each to become hisTon-in-law. He knew 
that he could not prefer one without difpleafing al‘l the 
reft, and from this perplexity he was at laft.drawn by 
the artifice of Ulyffes, who began to be already known 
in.Greece by his prudence and fagacity. This prince, 
who clearly fa-w that his pretenfions to Helen would not 
probably meet with fuecefs in oppofition t?o fo many ri¬ 
vals, propofed to extricate Tyndarus from all his diffi¬ 
culties if lie would promife him his niece Penelope, in 
marriage. Tyndarus eonfented, and Uly(lies advifed the 
king to bind, by a folemn oath, all the fuitors that 1 they 
would approve of the uninfluenced choice which Helen 
ffionld make of one among them ; and engage to unite 
together to defend her perfon and character if ever any 
attempts were made to raviffi her from the anus of her 
hufband. The advice of Ulyffes was followed, the princes 
eonfented, and Helen fixed her choice 1 upon Menelaus, 
and married him. Hermione was the early fruit 1 of this 
union, which continued:forthreeyears with mutual hap- 
pinefs. After this, Paris, fon of Priam king of Troy, 
came to Lacedasm° n on pretence of facrificing to Apollo. 
He was kindly received by Menelaus^ but fliamefully 
abufed his favours, and in his abfence in Crete he cor¬ 
rupted the fidelity of his wife Helen, and : perfuaded her 
to follow'him to Troy, in the year before Chrift 1193. 
At his return, Menelaus, highly fenfible of the injury he 
had received, aflembled the Grecian princes, and re¬ 
minded them of their folemn promifes. They refolVed 
to make war againft the Trojans ; but they previoufly 
fentl ambaffadors to Priam to demand the reftitution of 
Helen. The influence of Paris at his father’s court pre¬ 
vented the reftoration, and the Greeks returned home 
without receiving the fatisfa£tion they required. Soon 
after their return, their combined forces aflembled, and 
failed for the coaft of Afia. The behaviour of Helen 
during the Trojan war is not clearly known. Some af- 
fert that (he had willingly followed Paris, and that (lie 
warmly fupported the caufe of the Trojans; while 
others believe that (lie always fighed after her hufband, 
and curfed the day in which fire had proved faithlefs to 
his bed. Homer reprefents her as in the laft inftance, 
and fome have added that (lie often betrayed the fchemes 
and refolutions of the Trojans, and fecretly favoured 
the caufe of Greece. When Paris v/as killed in the ninth 
year of the war, (he voluntary married Deiphobus, ano¬ 
ther of Priam’s fons, and when Troy was taken (he made 
no fcruple to betray him, and to introduce the Greeks 
into his chamber, to ingratiate herfelf with Menelaus. 
She returned to Sparta, and the love of Menelaus for¬ 
gave the errors which fire-had committed. Some how¬ 
ever fay that fhe obtained her life even with difficulty 
from her hufband, whofe refentment fhe had kindled by 
her infidelity. After fhe had lived forLome years at Spar¬ 
ta, Menelaus died, and fhe was driven from Peloponne- 
fus by Megapenthes and Nicoftratus, the illegitimate 
ions of her hufband : fhe then retired to Rhodes, where 
at that time Polyxo, a native of Argos, reigned over 
the country. Polyxo remembered that her widowhood 
originated in Helen, and that her hufbandTlepolemushad 
4 M been 
