H I T 
Teipublic# quod imitare cupias, inde fadum incaptu, fa-dum 
exitu quod vi.tes." Livy. The man of letters and the phi- 
lofopher will thence difcern the progrefs of the human 
mind, its illufions and wanderings, the relation of caufes 
and effects, the origin of the arts and fciences, their vi- 
ciffitudes and their influence on fociety; and at the fame 
time the horrors which are oceaiioned by ignorance, fu- 
perilitiqn, and tyranny. Finally, it is impartial history 
which aflil'ts, far beyond the power of precept, to refcue 
us from the delufions of felf-love and ill-founded attach¬ 
ments. He who has never known any other than his na¬ 
tive country, eafily perfuades himfeif that the govern¬ 
ment, the manners, and the prevailing notions, of the 
fpot which he inhabits, are alone reafonable; and, in¬ 
dulging this prejudice, he regards with contempt all other 
nations. It is only by a connefted ftudy of genuine hif- 
tory, and by familiarizing himfeif with the inftitutions, 
ufages, and habits, of different ages and countries, that 
he will learn to efteem wifdom and virtue, and to fearch 
for merit, wherever it is to be found. We thus difcern 
that, in thole revolutions which have changed the politi¬ 
cal face of the globe, nothing new has occurred ; and we 
arm ourfelves again 11 that blind and aft'efted aftonilhment 
which is ever the lot of ignorance, and imbecility of mind. 
HIS'TORY-PIECE, f A picture reprefenting fome 
liiftorical event.—Flis works refemble a large hijlory-piece, 
where even the lefs important figures have fome conve¬ 
nient place. Pope. 
HIS'TOS, / in mechanics, an engine with a crofs beam 
and pulle}' to let down a ladder. Phillips. 
HIS'TRIO,/ [Latin.] A ftage-player, an aftor. Philips. 
HISTRION'IC, or Histrion'ical, adj. [from hijlrio, 
Lat. hift f ion, Fr.] Befitting the ftage ; luitable to a player; 
becoming a buffoon ; theatrical. 
HISTRION'IC ALLY, adv. [from hijlrionical .] The¬ 
atrically; in the manner of a buftoon. 
To HIT, v. a. [from idlus, Lat. Minjhczo ; from hitte, Da- 
jiilh; to throw at random, Junius.] Toftrike; to touch 
with a blow.—His confcience fhall hit him in the teeth, 
and tell him his fin and folly. South. —To touch the mark ; 
not to mils.—So hard it is to tremble, and not to err, and 
to hit the mark with a lhaking hand. South.' —To attain ; 
to reach ; not to fail; ufed of tentative experiments : 
Were I but twenty-one, 
Yctur father’s image is fo hit in you, 
His very air, that I flioujd call you brother. Shahcfpcarc. 
To fuit; to be conformable to : 
Hail, divined: melancholy! 
Whofe faintly viiage is too bright 
To hit the fenfe of human fight. Milton. 
To ftrike; to catch by the right bait; to touch properly. 
—There you hit him: St. Dominic loves charity exceed¬ 
ingly ; that argument never Fails with him. Dryden. 
To Hit off. To ftrike out; to fix or determine luckily. 
—What prince fioever can hit off this great fecret, need 
know no more either for his own fafety, or that of the 
people he governs. Temple. 
To Hit out. To perform by good luck.—Having the 
found of ancient poets ringing in his ears, he mought 
needs in finging hit out fome of their tunes. Spenfer. 
To HIT, v. n. To clath ; to collide.—If bodies be ex- 
Tenfion alone, how can they move and hit one againft ano¬ 
ther ? or what can make diftinft furfaces in an uniform 
•extenfion? Locke.— To chance luckily; to fucceed by ac¬ 
cident : not to mils : 
Oft expectation fails, and moft of there 
Where moft it promifes; and oft it hits 
Where hope is coldeft and defpair moft fits. Shakcfpeare. 
To fucceed; not to mifcarry: 
All human race would fain be wits. 
And millions mifs for one that hits. Swift. 
To light on.—There is a kind of conveying of effectual 
Vol.X. No, 654., 
II I T 209 
and imprinting callages amongft compliments, which is 
of lingular ule, if a man can hit upon it. Bacon. 
HIT, / A broke: 
So he the fam’d Cilician fencer prais’d 
And at each hit with wonder feem amaz’d. Dryden). 
A chance; a fortuitous event.—To fuppofe a watch, by 
the blind hits of chance, to perform diverfity of orderly 
motions, without the regulation of art, this were the more 
pardonable abfurdity. Granville. 
If cafual concourfe did the worid compofe, 
And things and hits fortuitous arofe. 
Then any thing might come from any thing; 
For how from chance can conftant order lpring ? Blackm\ 
A lucky chance.-—Have all his ventures fail’d? What, 
not one hit ? Shakcfpeare. —A portion of a game at back! 
gammon.—Three hits amount to a gammon. MaJ'on's Sup 
plenient.. ' . 
HIT, a town of Afiatic.Turkey, in the Arabian Irak. 
In the neighbourhood is found a lpring of naphtha' and 
bitumen. It is lituated on a river of the fame name, which 
foon after runs into the Euphrates: 100 miles weft of 
Bagdat, and 190 foiith of Moful. 
HI'TA, a town of Spain, in New Caftile :, thirteen miles 
north of Guadalajara. 
HITCH,/ A fea-term, a kind of knot, or noofe by 
which a rope is faftened to any thing. A faftening by 
means of a rope, a tie for a hori’e at grafs, as much ground 
as a horfe can reach when tied by the leg at grafs. A 
catch, caufed by fome impediment.—If one limps through 
lamenefs, lie is laid to have a hitch in his gait. If a tranf- 
aftion meets with a ftoppage, that is alio called a hitch. 
Mafon. 
To HITCH, v. n. [heigan, Sax. or kocher, Fr. Skinner.] 
To catch; to move by jerks: 
Whoe’er offends at fome unlucky time 
Slides in a verle, or hitches in a rhyme; 
Sacred to ridicule his whole life long, 
And the fad burthen of fome merry long. Pope. 
To HITCITEL, v. a. [See I-Iatchel.] To beat or 
comb flax or hemp. 
HITCH'EL,/! Jiechel, Germ.] The inftrument with 
which flax is beaten or combed. 
HITCHELA'GA, or Hochelaga, an Indian town of 
Lower Canada, fituated in the illand of Montreal, and at 
the foot of the mountain fo called. It is fortified after 
the Indian manner, and the inhabitants fpeak the Huron 
language. 
HITCH'ELING, / The aft of drelfmg with a hitchel. 
HITCH'IN, a large and populous town in Hertford- 
Ihire, thirty-four miles north-weft of London, pleafantly 
fituated at the foot of a riling hill, which fecures it from 
the cold eafterly winds ; the air is reckoned falubrious, 
and it has many refpeftable inhabitants. It is governed 
by a bailiff and four conftables, two for the town and 
two for the luburbs. The town was parcel of the pof- 
felfion of the Mercian kings ; it was called Hiz, from 
the name of the river which paffes through it, but was 
afterwards changed to Hitchin. The town is reckoned 
the fecond in the county for number of ftreets, houfes, 
and inhabitants. It was formerly famous for the ltaple 
commodities of the kingdom, and divers merchants of the 
ftaple of Calais refided here, fince which that trade is loft; 
yet the market, which is liejd on Tuefdays, has long been, 
and ftiil is, accounted one of the firft in the county for 
corn, but more particularly fo for the quantity and qua¬ 
lity of its wheat. Here is no manufaftory ; but the in¬ 
habitants make a great deal of malt. The fairs are on 
Eafter-Tuefday, and Whit-Tuefday, for cattle, ftieep, and 
pedlary ware. The church, which is an ancient and no¬ 
ble building, Hands nearly in the centre of the town ; it 
is 153 feet long and 67 broad, has a ring of eight bells, 
and is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It confiits of the 
nave and two aides, with two chapels or chancels. In the 
3 H- north- 
