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attention. They are, however, the best, the kindest, and the most hospitable, of people. Whoever travels among them may be assured of finding food and lodging; and though they will receive presents, yet they never ask for any thing. If the traveller has a long journey to accomplish, and if they learn from the information he requires, that there are no hopes of bis soon meeting with other hordes, that which he is going to quit supplies him with provisions,

soon

as far as their circumstances will allow, and with every thing else necessary for his continuing his journey, and reaching the place of his destination. Before the arrival of the Europeans at the Cape, the Hottentots were not acquainted with commerce, and, perhaps, they had no idea even of barter; but on the appearance of tobacco and toys, they were initiated into a part of the mercantile mysteries. These objects, which at first were only agreeable novelties, by length of time have become wants. When these articles grow scarce among them, they are supplied by the Hottentots of the colonies; for it is proper to observe, that however enger they may be to get such trifles into their possession, they do not take the trouble to go

one

step in search of them themselves, but choose rather to do without them.-The Hottentots are represented as a miserable and poor nation, superstitious, ferocious, indolent, and excessively dirty; in a word they are vilified in every possible manner. That they besmear themselves with grease is a fact; but then it must be considered that all these savages, without exception, are excellent swimmers, and perhaps the best divers in the world; and the practice of bathing, which they use several times a day, can leave little power to ointments, or even to dust, to speil and

corrode the skin. The continual care and attention bestowed by the Gonaquas in particular, on their dress, sufficiently prove that they are fond of cleanliness: all, therefore that can be said is, that it is ill understood; and even before we proceed so far it might be necessary to enquire whether they are not obliged to grease themselves in this manner, either on account of the temperature of the climate, or from a want of those resources which nature has not pointed out to them. Their clothes, indeed, are only the spoils taken from savage animals; but they do not neglect, as some have pretended, to clean and prepare these before they employ them for making dresses. A Hottentot is neither poor nor miserable; because, his desires never exceeding his knowledge, which is very limited, he never feels the spur of necessity. The language, notwithstanding its singularity, and the difficulty of pronouncing it, is, however, to be acquired by an European: according to M. Vaillant, it is more difficult to a Frenchman than to a Dutchman or

German.-There is a species of Hottentots, who have got the name of Boshies-men, from dwelling in woody or mountainous places. These, particularly such as live towards the north-east, are They subsist by hunting and plunder, and never keep any animal alive for the space of one night. By these means they render themselves odious to the planters, and are pursued and exterminated like

direct enemies to the pastoral life.

wild beasts; or taken alive, and made slaves of The animals of this country are nearly similar to those of the other parts of Africa. Among the quadrupeds are the lion, elephant, hippopotamus, buffalo, the double-horned rhinoceros,

panther, giraffe, or camelopardalis, elk, antelope. spring beak, and gazel.

HOTTO'NIA. Feather-foil. In botany a genus of the class pentandria, order monogynia Corol salver-shaped; stamens inserted in the throat, opposite the lobes; capsule one-celled; stigma globular; calyx five-parted. Four species: three, natives of India; one, H. palustris, with peduncled flowers in whorls, common to the marshes of our own country.

HOUBRAKEN (Arnold), a Dutch painter, born at Dort, in 1660. He also applied to literature, particularly to poetry, convinced of the advantage which he should thereby ac quire in the line of his profession. He wrote the Lives of the Flemish Painters, printed in 1754, in 3 vols. folio.

HOUDAIN, a town of France, in the department of the Straits of Calais. Lat. 50, 39 N. Long. 2. 34 E.

HOVE, the preterit of heave.

HOVEDON (Roger de), an English historian in the time of Henry II. He was a native of York, and was at the same time an ecclesiastic and a lawyer, two professions then commonly united in the same person. His Annals of English History commence at 731, and end with the third year of John. They were printed at London in 1595, and at Frankfort in 1601.

HO'VEL. s. (diminutive of hore, house, Saxon.) 1. A shed open on the sides and covered over head (Tusser). 2. A mean habitation; a cottage (Ray).

To HO'VEL. v. a. (from the noun.) To shelter in a hovel (Shakspeare).

HOVELLING, in architecture, is a method of working up the sides of a chimney, and covering the top with tiles or bricks, set up in a pyramidical form, so that the smoke may escape below the current, when the wind makes over the chimney, or against any one side of it.

HOVEN, part. pass. (from heave.) Raised ; swelled; tumefied (Tusser).

HOVENIA, in botany, a genus of the class pentandria, order monogynia. Calyx fiveparted; corol five petalled; stigmas three; capsule three-celled, three-valved; the cells one-seeded. One species; a Japan tree with coymbed, terminal, axillary flowers, and thick, fleshy, sweet peduncles, which are eaten by the Japanese.

To HO'VER, v. n. (hovio, to hang over, Welsh.) 1. To hang in the hair overhead, without flying off one way or other (Prior). 2. To stand in suspense or expectation (Sp.). 3. To wander about one place (Addison).

HOUGH, s. (hog, Saxon.) 1. The lower part of the thigh (Esdras). 2. (huë, French). An adz; a hoe (Stilling.).

To HOUGH, v. a. (from the noun.) 1. To hamstring; to disable by cutting the sinews of the ham (Joshua). 2. To cut up with a hough or hoe.

HOUGH (John), an excellent English bishop,

was born in Middlesex, in 1650. After going through his school-education, he was removed to Magdalen college, Oxford, of which, in 1675, he was elected fellow. In 161, he accompanied the duke of Ormond to Ireland, from whence he returned to England the year following, and in 1685 was made prebend of Worcester. In 1687, he was chosen by the fellows president of Magdalen college; from which he was removed by the ecclesiastical commissioners, and Parker, bishop of Oxford, put in his place. At the Revolution, however, the college recovered its rights, and Hough his presidentship. In 1690, he was made bishop of Oxford, from whence, in 1699, he was translated to Litchfield and Coventry. On the death of Dr. Tenison he was offered the primacy, but declined it. However, in 1717, he accepted the see of Worcester, which he held to his death in 1743. He was a very munificent prelate, and expended on his episcopal palaces at least 70001.

HOUGH, BONY, among farriers, a term formerly used to signify an enlargement of the cap of a horse's hock; whether it were only a thickening of the integument, generally termed a callosity, or an ossification just below it. The phrase, however, is now become obsolete; and is expressed by blood spavin, bone spavin, or curb, as the case may happen to be.

HOULET. &. The vulgar name for an

owl.

HOULSWORTHY. See HOLDSWORTHY. HOULT. 8. (holt, Saxon.) A small wood. HOUND. See CANIS, and HUNTING. HOUNDS for the chase, among sports. men, are of four descriptions; Stag-hounds, Fox-hounds, Harriers, and Beagles: much concerning which will be found under these articles separately, so far as relates to separate training or design. What we shall here chiefly observe will relate to them generally, and embrace the whole. There are necessary points then in the shape of a hound, of whatever description, which ought always to be attended to; for if he be not of a perfect symmetry, he will neither run fast, nor bear much work: he has much to undergo, and should have strength proportioned to it. Let his legs be as straight as arrows; his feet round, and not too large; his shoulders back; his breast rather wide than narrow; his chest deep; his back broad; his head small; broad; his neck thin; his tail thick and brushy; and if he carry it well, so much the better.

Next to the consideration of individual symmetry, should follow a corresponding uniformity of the whole. A pack, to be handsome, should vary little or not at all in height, and have a pleasing affinity to each other in colour: to be good, they should run well together; and the pitch of their tongues should be in unison, without a single note of discord. When sufficient time Las been employed in forming a pack of

hounds, they can never be considered in a state of excellence, unless they go as if they were in harness; that is, when they are running breast-high, unless they run nearly all abreast; or, in other words, when clear of covert, and crossing a country, unless the whole pack might nearly be covered with a sheet.

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Nothing is a greater disgrace to the master, the huntsman, or the pack, than to a parcel of straggling tail hounds, labouring in vain; except to behold a poor tortured leading hound loaded with a leaden necklace, to restrain his speed, and depress the instinctive impulse of his nature in order to bring him upon a level with those who are not his equals. This is a truly unsportsman-like stretch of authority, very closely bordering upon cruelty. Hounds of either description had better be parted with, than suffered to encounter such a mortification; and both evils will be the less likely to hap pen, the more moderate the number admitted to the field. The taking out too many hounds is a frequent error, always produc tive of trouble, and sometimes of a most vexatious diminution of sport, as well as of incessant worry to the exhausted whipperin.

Hounds differ much in their properties, according to the crosses in their blood. The delight of the old southern hound is to dwell upon the scent; the extatic eagerness of the harrier or north-country beagle is to press it before him. When hounds of the former breed come to a fault, and can carry the scent no farther, they stick their noses to the ground as close together as a swarm of bees, making few or no efforts of their own, unless lifted along by the helping hand and encou raging voice of the huntsman. The dash of the latter is instantaneous and indefatigable; they make their cast in different directions, without a moment's pause, and each becomes a rival of every other.

Opposite as these two kinds of chases must necessarily be, each has its votaries. The sedate, the aged, and infirm, give a constant preference to the southern hound; but to those in the health and pride of manhood, who enjoy the obstacles and surmount the difficulties, of crossing a country, fleet hounds will always offer a superior attraction. Yet the mischief is, that we have carried the point of speed too far of late years, not merely in harriers but even in fox-hounds. Hence, in the earlier part of the season, half the hares found are run up to on the first view; and even after Christmas, when they are supposed to get strong, average chases do not exceed from twenty minutes to half an hour; while the fox chase itself is contracted in proportion.

The spring months are the best in which puppies can be produced; they have then the whole summer to grow in. Antecedently to copulation, much attention should be paid to the shape, size, colour, disposition, and

qualification, of both the dog and bitch intended to breed from. The sportsman should on no account breed from a dog that is not stout, that is not tender-nosed, or that is either a babbler or a skirter. It is the judicious cross, however, that makes the pack complete. The faults and imperfections in one breed may be rectified in another; and if this be properly attended to, no reason can be suggested, why the breeding of hounds may not improve, till improvement can go no fur

ther.

The dog and bitch employed should be strong and healthy: old dogs should never be put to old bitches; and good whelps should never be put to bad walks: stinted in their earliest growth, by a want of proper nutriment, the frame becomes im poverished, the loins weak, and they are the less able to encounter that terrible foe, the distemper, whenever it may make its attack. Various are the opinions respecting the number of hounds it may be necessary to keep in kennel during the hunting season; this, however, should seem to be best regulated by the kind of country they have to hunt, as one sort of soil may tire or lame bounds much more than another: slippery, marly clay, will do the one; the rolling flints of Surrey, Oxfordshire, or Hampshire, never fail to do the other. Those who are prudent, will never take more than from twenty to five and twenty couple to the field; to exceed which would not only be rather unfair, but probably do more harm than good. The number necessary to be taken, however, is not so material a matter of consideration, as the conjunctive qualifications of the hounds when in the field; thirty-five couple of settled, steady, seasoned hounds, will admit of hunting three (occasionally four) days a

week.

Every kennel should have a proper anDual supply of young hounds; if this be neglected for two or three seasons, the pack will soon be overloaded with old hounds, and fall into an irretrievable decay. Industrious, hard-working hounds, seldom continue in full vigour and speed longer than five or six seasons; though there are not wanting instances of their having led the pack for eight or nine years. From eight to twelve couple of young hounds, bred annually, will sufficiently supply an establishment not exceeding forty couple; but it is always best to have a reserve of a few couple more than are wanted, in case of accident.

The chief diseases to which hounds are subject are madness, distemper, and mange: for which see the articles MANGE, DISTEMPER, RABIES, and HYDROPHOBIA.

HOUND-FISH, in ichthyology. See SQUALUS. HOUND'S-TONGUE, in botany. See CYNO

GLOSS.

To HOUND. v. a. (from the noun.) 1. To set on the chase (Bramhall). 2. To hunt; to pursue (L'Estrange).

HOUNSLOW, a town in Middlesex, with a market on Thursdays. It is situated on the edge of a heath of the same name, on which are some powder-mills, on a branch of the river Coln. Hounslow is ten miles W. by S. of London.

HOUP. s. (upupa, Lat.) The pee-wit (Ains.) HOU-QUANG, a province of China, occupying nearly the centre of the empire: the river Yang-tsekiang traverses it from west to east; and divides it into two parts, the northern and southern. This province (the greater part of which is level, and watered by lakes, canals, and rivers) is celebrated for its fertility; the Chinese call it the store-house of the empire; and it is a common saying among them, that "the abundance of Kiang-si could furnish all China with a breakfast; but the province of Hou-quang alone could supply enough to maintain all its inhabitants.' Some princes

of the race of Hong-vou formerly resided in this province; but that family was entirely destroyed by the Tartars when they conquered China.

HOUR, in chronology, an aliquot part of a natural day, usually a 24th, but sometimes a 12th. The origin of the word hora, or a, is, according to some authors, from a surname of the sun, the father of hours, whom the Egyptians call Horus. Others derive it from the Greek pay, to terminate, distinguish, &c. An hour, with us, is a measure or quantity of time, equal to a 24th part of the natural day, or nycthemeron; or the duration of the 24th part of the earth's diurnal rotation. Fifteen degrees of the equator answer to an hour; though not precisely, but near enough for common use. it is divided into 60 minutes; the minute into 60 seconds, &c. The division of the day into hours is very ancient: as is shown by Kircher, Oedip. Egypt. tom. ii, part ii. class vii. c. 8. though the passages he quotes from Scripture do not prove it. ancient hour is that of the 12th part of the day. Herodotus, lib. ii. observes that the Greeks learned from the Egyptians, among other things, the method of dividing the day into twelve parts. The astronomers of Cathaya, &c. bishop Beveridge observes, still retain this division.

The most

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HOURS, JEWISH, or ANCIENT, are twelfth parts of the artificial day, or of the night. Hence, as it is only at the time of the equinoxes that the artificial day is equal to the night, it is then only that the hours of the day are equal to those of the night, or to the 24th part of the natural day. the vernal to the autumnal equinox, the hours of the day exceed those of the night; but during the interval between the autumnal and vernal equinoxes, the hours of the night are longer than those of the day. It is, therefore, manifest, that when it is said, the third hour was about nine in the morning, and the ninth about three in the afternoon, this is not to be understood as rigorously

exact. The third hour was the middle time between sun-riging and noon; which, if the sun rose at five, was half an hour after eight; if at seven, was half an hour after nine, &c. The chief hours of prayer were the third and the ninth; at which seasons, the morning and evening sacrifices were offered, and incense burnt on the golden altar. Joseph. Antiq. Jud. lib. xiv. cap. 4. (al. 8.) § 3.

Th following Table exhibits the time of the sun-rising and setting, and the length of the Jewish hour, both of day and night; as calculated for about the middle of every Jewish month, and the latitude of Jerusalem:

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HOURS, PLANETARY, in astrology, are, like the Jewish hours, 12th parts of the artificial day or night. The astrologers pretend that a fresh planet comes to predominate every hour; and that the day takes its denomination from that which predominates the first hour thereof: as Monday, from the moon, &c.

HOUR-CIRCLES, are great circles, meeting in the poles of the globe, and crossing the equator at right angles. They are drawn through every 15th degree of the equinoc tial or equator, each answering to an hour.

HOUR-GLASS, a popular kind of chronometer or clepsydra, serving to measure time by the descent or running of sand, water, &c. out of one glass vessel into another. The best, it is said, are such as, instead of sand, have eggshells, well dried in the oven, then beaten fine and sifted.

HOUR-LINES on a dial, are lines which
ise from the intersections of the plane of the
al, with the several planes of the hour-circles
the sphere.
URLY

(from hour.) Happening or
Frequent, often repeated

HOURLY. ad. Every hour: frequently (Dryden).

HOURPLATE. 8. (hour and plate.) The dial : the plate on which the hours, pointed by the hand of a clock, are inscribed. (Locke).

HOUSE, habitation; a place built with conveniences to live in; or a building wherein to shelter a man's person and goods from the inclemencies of the weather, and the injuries of ill-disposed persons.

We say a brick house, a stone house, a house of two stories, of three stories, a manor house, a farm house, &c.

Among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans, houses were flat at top, so that persons might walk upon them; and usually had stairs on the outside, by which they might ascend and descend without coming into the house. Each honse, in fact, was so laid out, that it inclosed a quadrangular area or court. This court was exposed to the weather, and, being open to the sky, gave light to the house. This was the place where company was received, and for that purpose it was strewed with mats or carpets for their better accommodation. It was paved with marble or other materials, according to the owner's ability, and provided with an umbrella of vellum to shelter them from the heat and inclemencies of the weather. This part of their houses, called by the Romans impluvium, or cava ædium, was provided with channels to carry off the water into the common sewers. The top of the house was level, and covered with a strong pla ter by way of terrace. Hither, especially amongst the Jews, it was customary to retire for meditation, private converse, devotion, or the enjoyment of the evening breezes.

The Grecian houses were usually divided into two parts, in which the men and women had distinct mansions assigned them. That assigned to the men was towards the gate, and called Ads; the apartment of the women was the farthest part of the house, and called Tuvatxwvlus. Jews, Greeks, and Romans, supposed their houses to be polluted by dead bodies, and to stand in need of purification.

A house should not be too low-seated, since this precludes the convenience of cellars. If you cannot avoid building on low grounds, set the first floor above the ground the higher, to supply what you want to sink in your cellar in the ground; for in such low and moist grounds, it conduces much to the dryness and healthiness of the air to have cellars under the house, so that the floors be good, and cieled underneath. Houses built too high, in places obvious to the winds, and not well defended by hills or trees, require more materials to build them, and more also of reparations to maintain them; and they are not so com. modious to the inhabitants as the lowerbuilt houses, which may be erected at a

much easier rate, and also as complete and beautiful as the other.

In buildings or houses not above two stories with the ground-room, and not exceeding twenty feet to the raison-place, and upon a good foundation, the length of two bricks, or eighteen inches, for the heading course, will be sufficient for the ground work of any common structure; and six or seven courses above the earth to a water table, where the thickness of the walls is abated, or taken in, on either side, the thick ness of a brick, namely, two inches and a quarter.

For large and high houses, or building of three, four, or five stories with the garrets, the walls of such edifices ought to be from the foundation to the first water-table three heading-courses of brick, or twentyeight inches at least; and at every story a water-table, or taken in on the inside for the summers, girders, and joints, to rest upon, laid into the middle, or one quarter of the wall at least, for the better bond. But as for the innermost or partition wall, a half brick will be sufficiently thick; and for the upper stories, nine inches, or a brick length, will suffice.

There are four different rates into which the proportions of houses in town are divided or classed by the legislature. The first rate, or houses of the largest size, are such as exceed nine squares of building; those of the second rate are from five to nine squares; those of the third from three and a half to five squares; and of the fourth, not exceeding three squares and a half. Their height is regulated in like manner, and the thickness of their walls and chimneys. With such restrictions the architect must often proceed under great disadvantages, and must occasionally call forth the good quality of docility recommended by Vitru

vius.

We cannot multiply rules for the different parts of a house; since these must be modified by a variety of circumstances, in which the skill and judgment of the architect must direct: but we shall conclude this article with expressing a wish that contrivers of buildings would avail themselves more of an important modern discovery in natural history, viz. the superior levity of infectious and unwholesome air. The upper sashes in most houses are too frequently immoveable; in consequence of which, no part of the foul air above the level of the lowest rail of the other sashes' greatest rise can escape by the window; and if it escapes by the doors, it is generally for want of a vent in the highest part of the roof, merely to accumulate in the upper story of the house, and add to the infection which the great quantities of old furniture usually stored up there are of themselves too apt to create. tage to be expected

Thus the chief advanfrom lofty rooms is in a

measure lost; whereas were the upper sashes contrived so as to draw down, all the air might be easily changed, and that almost insensibly, by letting them down an inch or two. Nay, the upper sash might be often let down entirely, with less danger or inconvenience from cold, than the lower thrown up the tenth part of an inch; though the doing of the former would be infinitely the most beneficial. It is perhaps on this principle that we are to account for the good health enjoyed by the poor who live crowded in damp cellars, and often with great numbers of rabbits, poultry, and even swine, about them. These cellars are open to the street, with doors reaching from the floor to the very ceiling, but never so close at bottom or at top as to prevent a free circulation of air; in consequence of which, that all-vivifying fluid, as fast as it is spoiled by passing through the lungs of the inhabitants and their stock, or is infected by their insensible perspiration, excrements, &c. is driven out, and replaced by the fresh air.

HOUSE is used for one of the estates of the kingdom of Britain assembled in parliament. Thus we say house of lords, the house of commons, &c. See PEERS, COMMONS, &c.

HOUSE is also used for a noble family, or a race of illustrious persons issued from the same stock. In this sense we say, the house or family of the Stuarts, of the Bourbons, &c.

HOUSE, in astrology, denotes the twelfth part of the heavens. The division of the heavens into houses, is founded upon the pretended influence of the stars, when meeting in them, on all sublunary bodies. These influences are supposed to be good or bad; and to each of these houses particular virtues are assigned, on which astrologers prepare and form a judgment of their horoscopes. The horizon and meridian are two circles of celestial houses, which divide the heavens into four equal parts, each containing three houses, six of which are above the horizon and six below it; and six of these are called eastern and six western houses.

Country-HOUSE is the villa of the ancient Romans (see VILLA), the quinta of the Spaniards and Portuguese, the closerie and cassine of the French, and the vigna of the Italians. 1. It ought always to have wood and water near it; these being the principal beauties of a rural seat. The trees make a far better defence than hills; as they yield a cooling and healthy air, shade during the heat of summer, and very much break the severities of the winter season. 2. It should not be situated too low, on account of the moisture of the air; and, on the other hand, those built on places exposed to the wind are expensive to keep in repair.

To HOUSE. v. a. (from the noun.) 1. To harbour; to admit to residence (Dryden).

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