Part 11

=Hawker.= From the German _hoken_, to carry on the back. A pedlar who carried his wares in a sack over his shoulder.

=Hawkeye State.= Iowa, owing to the sanguinary conflicts with the savage tribe led by the chief “Hawkeye.” Its people are called “Hawkeyes.”

=Hawthorn.= Expresses the Anglo-Saxon for “hedge thorn.”

=Haydon Square.= After the ground landlord, John Heydon, Alderman of the city of London towards the close of the sixteenth century.

=Hay Hill.= Marks the situation, together with Hill Street and Farm Street, of an old farm on the lands of John, Lord Berkeley of Stratton, _temp._ Charles I.

=Haymarket.= Where hay was sold in open market prior to January 1831.

=Hayti.= West Indian for “mountainous country.”

=Hazing.= An Americanism for a mad sport or frolic. Specifically it expresses the tricks played upon, and the ignominious treatment meted out to, an unpopular comrade in the army and the Military Schools; what in our own country is called “Ragging.” Like most other Americanisms, the word cannot be explained on etymological grounds.

=Hear, Hear.= A modern form of the ancient parliamentary exclamation “Hear him!” to enjoin silence while a Member was addressing the House.

=Hearse.= From the French _herse_ and German _hirsch_. Both these terms expressed a harrow or triangular candlestick set at the head of a coffin at a funeral service in church. At a later period they implied a sepulchral mound temporarily distinguished by a triangular stake setting forth a number or other identification mark. The modern application of the term to a vehicle specially designed for the conveyance of a body to the grave was an easy transition.

=Heart-breakers.= Artificial ringlets formerly worn by ladies to enhance their beauty. It is said that the most inveterate woman-hater was not proof against the attraction of these Heart-breakers.

=Heathen.= Literally a dweller on a heath in the open country. The Romans applied the term to those who, having no communion with the dwellers in cities, were cut off from all knowledge of their complicated system of mythology. When Rome became converted to Christianity the untutored inhabitants of the country at large were the last to receive the Gospel. A heathen nation therefore, in a religious sense, is one far removed from civilisation, which offers a fruitful field for missionary work.

=Heaven-sent Minister.= William Pitt, first Earl of Chatham, one of the most eminent statesmen that England has ever possessed. His intense love of his own country prompted him to measures which made the success of British arms pre-eminent. Had his colleagues during the later portion of his career been actuated by the same patriotism as himself, and heeded his warnings, our American colonies might never have separated from the Mother Country.

=Heavy Hill.= Holborn Hill, because the hearts of those riding in the fatal cart to the place of execution at Tyburn were heavily laden.

=“He” Bible.= The first edition of the Authorised Version, containing a typographical error in Ruth iii. 15: “And _he_ went into the city.” The subsequent edition, published in the same year, in which the passage was rectified, became known as “The ‘She’ Bible.”

=Hebrews.= Said to be descendants of Eber, the great-grandson of Shem, one of the ancestors of Abraham. The greater probability, however, is that the term has been derived from the native _ebher_, the region on the other side--_i.e._ of the Euphrates.

=Hebrides.= Expresses the “Western Isles” of the Norwegians.

=Hector.= To swagger, bully, treat with insolence, after Hector, the celebrated Trojan warrior. From the known character of this hero of antiquity it is not easy to conceive that he could ever have been a braggart. The inference is rather that this word in its accepted sense was derived from the brutal manner in which Achilles treated the body of Hector after he had slain him in single combat.

=Hedge Priest.= Specifically in Ireland an itinerant cleric unattached to any mission; one admitted to Holy Orders without having studied theology.

=Hedge School.= An open-air school in the poor rural districts of Ireland beside a hedge.

=Heel of Achilles.= When Thetis, the mother of Achilles, dipped her son in the River Styx to make him invulnerable the water laved every portion of his body save that by which she held him. It was accordingly in the heel that he received his mortal wound.

=Heir Apparent.= The rightful heir to the crown, whose succession is beyond a doubt provided he survives the reigning monarch.

=Heir-Presumptive.= The presumed heir to the crown provided no child in the direct line of succession is born to supersede his claim.

=Heligoland.= Danish for “Holy Land,” which name was bestowed upon it after the conversion of its people by St Willibrod in the seventh century. A great many conventual establishments sprang up on the soil, but the encroachments of the sea had swept them away by the seventeenth century. Prior to their conversion the _Anglii_ were wont to repair to this isle from the opposite mainland for the worship of the goddess Hertha, also known as Foseta, of whose temple it is said some ruins yet remain.

=Heliotrope.= From the Greek _helios_, sun, and _tropos_, to turn. The flowers of this plant are said always to turn towards the sun.

=Hello Girls.= A nickname popularly bestowed upon the telephone girls in the Post Office Department at St Martin’s-le-Grand.

=Hellespont.= The older name of the “Dardanelles,” where Helle in fleeing from her stepmother was drowned. This occurred at the point where Xerxes with his army had crossed the strait on a temporary bridge.

=Hell Kettles.= Three very deep pits full of water at Oxenhall, Durham. The people of the neighbourhood declare them to be bottomless. They are really disused coal pits, the water in which cannot be drained off.

=Helmuth the Taciturn.= The sobriquet of Count Von Moltke, Field Marshal of the German Empire, on account of his habitual reserve.

=Helot.= The name given by the Spartans to a slave from the Greek town of _Helos_, whose inhabitants they reduced to slavery.

=Henbane.= A plant which is poisonous to poultry.

=Henchman.= A corruption of “Haunchman,” the groom or servant who out of doors was in constant attendance upon his master at the flank or haunches of his horse. See “Flunkey.”

=Heneage Lane.= After the residence of Sir Thomas Heneage, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the sixteenth century.

=Henrietta Street.= In Covent Garden, after Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I. On the north side of Oxford Street, after Henrietta Cavendish, who, by her marriage, carried not only a goodly portion of the Cavendish estate, but also that of her father, Lord Holles, into the Harley family.

=Henry Irving.= See “Irving.”

=Heptarchy.= The Saxon division of England comprising Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Essex, East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria, each having originally its own ruler.

=Herculaneum.= The foundation of this buried city was by the Romans traditionally ascribed to Hercules.

=Hereford.= Expresses the Saxon for “army ford” over the River Wye. During the Heptarchy this was the military headquarters of Mercia.

=Heroic Verse.= That usually selected for epic poetry, since the exploits of Achilles at the siege of Troy were set forth by Homer in hexameters.

=Hertford.= Originally “Hartford,” being the ford of the River Lea crossed by harts.

=He’s a Brick.= This expression, if not quite as old as the hills, carries us back to the time of Plutarch, who in his “Lives” gives the following account of its origin:--“On a certain occasion, an ambassador from Epirus paid a visit to Argesilaus, King of Sparta, on a mission of diplomatic importance. By that monarch he was shown over the capital. But the ambassador failed to see any massive walls reared to defend the city, and openly expressed his astonishment to the King. ‘Sire!’ he said, ‘I have visited most of your principal towns, and find no walls reared for defence. Why is this?’ ‘Indeed, Sir Ambassador,’ Argesilaus replied, ‘thou canst not have looked carefully. Come with me to-morrow, and I will show thee the walls of Sparta.’ On the following morning the King conducted his guest out upon the plains, where his army was drawn up in full battle array, and, proudly pointing to the serried host, he exclaimed: ‘There, Sir Ambassador, thou beholdest the walls of Sparta--ten thousand men, and every man a brick!’”

=He’s joined the Majority.= See “Gone over to the Majority.”

=Hessel Street.= The recent change from Morgan Street to Hessel Street in Stepney is accounted for by the discovery that here a celebrated character, in the person of Phœbe Hessel, was born. For many years she served as a private soldier in the Fifth Regiment of Foot, and fought at the Battle of Fontenoy, in which engagement she was wounded. A long inscription on her tombstone in Brighton churchyard would have us believe that she was at the time of her death, 21st December 1821, no less than one hundred and eight years of age.

=Hessian.= An Americanism for a hireling, a fighter for pay, a mercenary politician. The Hessian soldiers have always been ready to enlist in a foreign service for pay.

=Hessian Fly.= An insect which has caused the utmost destruction among young wheat in North America, so called because it was said to have been introduced by the Hessian troops in their horse straw during the Revolution.

=Hetman.= The Russian title of the general or headman of the Cossacks, derived from the Tartar _Ataman_. This too supplies the origin of the German _Hauptmann_, captain, chief, or headman of a village.

=Hibernia.= See “Ireland.”

=Hickory.= See “Old Hickory.”

=Hicksite Friends.= An American offshoot of the Society of Friends or Quakers under Elias Hicks in 1827.

=Highbury.= From the _bury_ or enclosed land belonging to the Knights of St John of Jerusalem in Clerkenwell. In 1271 they built a priory here, of which the barn remained standing until modern days. Compared with the low-lying district round about, this was elevated ground.

=Highbury Barn.= Originally a cake and ale house contiguous to the ancient barn of the Clerkenwell Priory. This place of public resort developed into a theatre in 1865; subsequently it degenerated into a dancing saloon, and was finally abolished in 1875.

=Highfalutin.= A corruption of “high-flighting.” This word originated in the western states of North America.

=Highgate.= The village that sprang up around the ancient toll gate on the road from London to Barnet. The tolls levied here were for the benefit of the Bishop of London. Even in our time this elevated situation commands a good view of London. The absurd ceremony of “swearing on the horns” was formerly imposed on all travellers passing through the gate.

=High Seas.= The great ocean highways out of sight of land and common to mariners of all nations.

=High Tea.= A substantial meat tea towards the close of the day in place of the fashionable set dinner. This is the invariable custom in Germany. In English it is usual to designate such a meal as a “Knife and Fork Tea.” See “High Time.”

=High Time.= A phrase employed in the same sense as High Street, High Seas, Highway, etc.--_i.e._ great. The German word for wedding is _Hochzeit_, literally a “high time.” In America the expression for a festive occasion or a pleasurable trip is “a good time.”

=Hilary Term.= In law the sittings of the Courts from 11th to 13th January, so called from the festival of St Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, on the latter date.

=Hill Street.= See “Hay Hill.”

=Himalaya Mountains.= From the Sanskrit _hima_, snow, and _alaya_, abode.

=Hinde Street.= After James Hinde, a speculative builder, who more than a century ago laid out many of the streets now covering what was the estate of Marylebone Park.

=Hindustan.= Agreeably to the Persian _stan_, the country traversed by the Hindu or Indus; both terms are derived from the Sanskrit _Sindhu_, “great river.”

=Hippodrome.= Expresses the Greek for a race-course, from _hippos_, a horse, and _dromos_, a course.

=Hippocras.= A cordial of spiced wine, so called by the apothecaries because it was supposed to have been made from the prescription of Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine.

=His Nibs.= A corruption of “His Nobs”; used ironically for “His Highness” in reference to a parvenu or a conceited upstart.

=Hispania.= See “Spain.”

=Hoboken.= Indian for the “smoke pipe,” or pipe of peace. This was the place where the chiefs first met the white settlers, and while passing round the calumet entered into a friendly treaty.

=Hobson’s Choice.= In the seventeenth century Tobias Hobson kept a livery stable at Cambridge. When the students at the University wished to hire a horse for the day he led out the occupant of the first stall. If they demurred, he said abruptly: “It’s this one or none.” So Hobson’s choice settled the question.

=Hock.= The general name for Rhenish wines, but properly that made at Hockheim on the Maine.

=Hockey.= Expresses the diminutive of _hook_, the club used in this game being only slightly hooked at the end.

=Hocking.= See “Hock Tuesday.”

=Hockley.= Anglo-Saxon for a miry field. Clerkenwell was at one time called “Hockley-in-the-Hole,” after a bear garden dating from the Restoration period.

=Hock Tuesday.= Anciently a high festival throughout England, in commemoration for the final expulsion of the Danes, who had ravaged the eastern portions of our country for more than two centuries. This occurred on Easter Tuesday 1074. Most of the Danes were slaughtered off-hand by first hamstringing, or cutting their hams or houghs, which prevented them from making for their boats; hence the term _Hock_ for the festival. The English landlords levied what was called “Hock Money” on this day from their tenants, in return for which they treated them to a good supper. In modern times people stopped pedestrians in the streets with ropes, and declined to release them until they had parted with hock money.

=Hocus-pocus.= The gibberish of a conjurer when performing his tricks; said to have been derived from one Ochus Bochus, a celebrated wizard of Northern Europe, three centuries ago. The early conjurers were thought to use these words as an invocation to this magician. Nowadays our sleight-of-hand professors dispense with words, and fire off a pistol, doubtless to prove that they can do the trick in a crack.

=Hodge.= The generic name for a farm labourer; a corruption of _Hedger_.

=Hoist with his own Petard.= Caught in his own trap, blown up with his own engine of destruction. The petard was an ancient infernal engine filled with gunpowder; he who fired it stood in great danger of sacrificing his own life.

=Holborn.= Anciently spelt “Holeburne,” the bourn or stream in a hollow. This was the River Fleet, which had an outlet into the Thames. Further north, in Clerkenwell, it was called “the River of Wells.”

=Holborn Bars.= The western limits of the city of London.

=Hold hard.= This exclamation, when the advice really means to stop or “leave go,” sounds ridiculous. It originally meant, as it still does in the Emerald Isle, to keep a firm hold with both hands on the back rail of an Irish jaunting car lest the rider might be thrown out of it.

=Hole in the Wall.= A tavern sign, derived from the fact that this house was originally approached either through an opening made in the ancient city wall or else through another house that stood in front of it.

=Holiday.= The modern form of “Holy Day,” expressive of a great feast in the Church calendar.

=Holland.= From the Danish _ollant_, “marshy ground.” The linen cloth of the same name was first made in Holland.

=Holland Road.= From Holland House, the residence of Henry Rich, Earl of Holland, _temp._ Charles I. By his marriage with the Dowager Countess of Warwick, widow of Lord Holland, in 1710, Joseph Addison became nominally master of this noble mansion, and here he died.

=Hollands.= See “Gin.”

=Holles Street.= In the West End, after John Holles, the last Duke of Newcastle, whose only daughter by her marriage carried the entire estate hereabouts into the possession of the Harleys. In Drury Lane, the name given by Gilbert, Earl of Clare, whose house stood in what became Clare Market, in honour of his uncle, Denzil, Lord Holles, _temp._ Charles I.

=Holloway.= At one time a miry highway in a hollow between Highbury and Highgate.

=Holloway College.= Founded in 1883 for the higher education of women at Egham, Surrey, by Thomas Holloway, the pioneer of modern advertising on a lavish scale.

=Hollyhock.= A species of mallow, called by the Anglo-Saxon _hoc_, and first brought to Europe from the Holy Land. Hence _holy-hoc_.

=Holly Village.= A modern settlement at Highgate founded by the Baroness Burdett Coutts-Bartlett but a short distance removed from her rural retreat known as Holly Lodge.

=Holy Boys.= The regimental nickname of the 9th Foot, because they sacked monasteries and sold Bibles in the street during the Peninsular War.

=Holy Cross Day.= Otherwise the “Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross,” 14th September, commemorates, the restoration of the Cross of Christ to Jerusalem, A.D. 628.

=Holy Land.= Palestine, the scene of the birth, life labours, and death of the Redeemer.

=Holy Maid of Kent.= The name given to Elizabeth Barton, a poor Kentish servant girl, who, subject to trances, foretold events, and afterwards entered a convent at Canterbury. Her fame as a religious enthusiast increased, until, for pronouncing sentence against the divorce of Queen Catherine of Aragon, she, in company with five monks, was hanged at Tyburn.

=Holyrood Palace.= This residence of the ancient kings of Scotland grew out of the Abbey of the Holy Rood built by David I. as the permanent abode of the Black Rood, brought to Scotland by St Margaret in 1070. This precious relic was a piece of the true cross set in gold and ebony. It fell into the hands of the English at the battle of Neville’s Cross in 1344, after which all trace of it was lost. James II. was born at Holyrood; here too he was buried. The foundations of the new palace were laid by James IV. in 1500.

=Holywell.= From the miraculous well of St Winifred in Flintshire, the scene of her martyrdom.

=Holywell Lane.= Here, in Shoreditch, stood an ancient Priory of Nuns of St John the Baptist, in the grounds of which a “sweet, holy well” was discovered.

=Holywell Street.= This now vanished thoroughfare, east of the Strand, received its name from a Holy Well close to the Church of St Clement Danes. That in Westminster marks the site of the town house of the Grosvenors, whose rural estates lay around “Holywell” in Flintshire.

=Homely.= An Americanism for “plain,” “ugly;” applied to persons only.

=Home Office.= The official department of the Secretary for Home--_i.e._, internal, Affairs.

=Homerton.= A corruption of “Heimathton,” which expressed the town that grew out of the Saxon village styled _Heimath_, “home” or “native country.”

=Honduras.= Spanish for “deep water.”

=Honey Lane.= In this lane stood an ancient market-house or hall for the sale of honey. Owing to the dearness of sugar prior to the discovery of America and the colonisation of the West Indies, honey was in general request.

=Honeymoon.= From the custom of the Scandinavians, who drank Hydromel, or diluted honey, for thirty days after a marriage feast.

=Honiton Lace.= A superior kind of “Pillow Lace” made at Honiton in Devonshire. This industry was introduced into England by the Lollards, _temp._ Elizabeth.

=Honor Oak.= From the famous boundary oak beneath which Queen Elizabeth once dined. Prior to that event it bore the name of Gospel Oak, under whose shade, in common with all other parish boundary oaks, the Gospel was read there once a year.

=Hoodlum.= A street rough, originally a product of San Francisco, but now common in New York and most cities of the American Union. The origin of the term was thus accounted for by _The Congregationalist_, 26th September 1877: “A newspaper man in San Francisco, in attempting to coin a word to designate a gang of young street Arabs under the beck of one named ‘Muldoon,’ hit upon the idea of dubbing them _Noodlums_--that is, simply reversing the leader’s name. In writing the word the strokes of the _N_ did not correspond in height, and the compositor, taking the _N_ for an _H_, printed it _Hoodlum_. ‘Hoodlum’ it is, and probably ever will be.”

=Hoodman Blind.= The ancient form of the game of “Blind Man’s Buff.” Instead of being bandaged the Blind Man had the hood, which everyone wore, drawn over his eyes.

=Hook it.= A variant of “Sling your Hook.”

=Hook of Holland.= From the Dutch _hoek_, a cape, a corner. The same perverted designation obtained in all the early Dutch settlements of New York State, notably “Sandy Hook.”

=Hooligan.= A London rough. This term is of quite modern date, and clearly an adaptation of that which has become common all over the United States. See “Hoodlum.”

=Hooter.= A United States corruption of _iota_. The people of New York State in particular are addicted to the saying: “I don’t care a hooter whether I do or not.” “This note isn’t worth a hooter,” etc.

=Hoosier State.= Indiana, from the nickname given to its people. “Hoosier” is really a corruption of _Husher_, touching the power of a bully to silence a stranger. The Hoosiers are noted for their brusque manners. The state is also called “Hoosierdom.”

=Hopkinsians.= An American Calvinistic sect named after their founder, Samuel Hopkins of Connecticut.

=Hornbill.= A bird distinguished for a horny excrescence on its bill.

=Horn Book.= A primitive text-book for children. It was really no book at all, but a piece of paper containing the alphabet, the nine digits, and at times the Lord’s Prayer, mounted on a small flat board, over which was stretched a transparent sheet of horn; below was a handle to hold it by.

=Hornpipe.= A lively sailor’s dance, which had its origin in the west of England to the accompaniment of a Welsh musical instrument of the same name composed of a wooden pipe with a horn at each end.

=Hornsey.= A corruption of “Harringsey,” a watered meadow of hares.

=Horse Chestnut.= Some say this term is a corruption of “Coarse Chestnut,” in contradistinction to the edible chestnut; others that these chestnuts were formerly ground up and given to horses for food.

=Horseferry Road.= Where horses were conveyed across the Thames on a ferry boat in bygone times.

=Horse Latitudes.= A portion of the Atlantic distinguished for its tedious calms, where old navigators were wont to throw overboard the horses they had to transport to the West Indies in order to lighten the ship.

=Horsleydown.= A corruption of “Horsadown”; formerly a down or hilly ground used for grazing horses.