thing peculiar in its colour, smell, or taste. It is not crude or hard, for it dissolves soap easily and perfectly. It contains no sulphurous principle, for a piece of polished silver, when immersed in it, contracted no rust nor dark colour. It contains no acid or alkali in a disengaged state, for on mixing a delicate vegetable colour with it, no change to a green or red colour was perceptible. The water does not contain any selenite, or earthy or alkaline matter, combined with vitriolic acid, for, on adding a solution of mereury in nitrous acid to it, no sediment was deposited; nor does it contain any earthy matter in combination with marine acid, nor any copper, nor zinc; for, on mixing mineral and volatile alkalies with the water, no precipitate was formed. On mixture with a decoction of galls, the water acquired a blackish tinge, which shows it to be slightly impregnated with iron. On a mixture with a solution of silver in nitrous acid, some precipitate of luna cornea was produced; this shows it to contain a very small portion of sea-salt, but not more than the common water of Trincomallee, upon which the solution of silver had the same effect, with this difference, that the precipitate from the water of the hot-wells was blackest, probably from the impregnation of iron. These experiments were made at the wells, with water from those of the highest and of the lowest temperature, on the 4th of July, 1798, when the heat of the atmosphere was at 91 degrees. They were also repeated upon the water after it was brought to Trincomallee, with the same effect. From them it would appear that the hot-wells of Cannia possess few mineral qualities, or indeed any virtue besides their heat, which is of a temperature not unfavourable for hot bathing. For many complaints also, the drinking of hot water is recommended, and for this purpose, as well as for bathing, a hot spring is preferable to water heated artificially, because it is always of a fixed degree of temperature." It is extremely probable that an analysis of the water from the huers of Iceland would produce nearly the same result, whence it may be safely concluded, that the water is suddenly heated in its passage through the fissures or caverns of the earth by its approach to volcanic fires, and that its properties are exactly the same with those of the springs which flow from the bases of hills in a perfectly cold state. HUGONIA, in botany, so named in memory of Augustus Johannes de Hugo, a genus of the Monadelphia Decandria class and order. Natural order of Columniferæ. Malvacea, Jussieu. Essential character: five-styled; corolla five-petalled; drupe with a striated nut. There is but one species; viz. H. mystax, a native of the East Indies. HUGUENOTS, a term of contempt, first given to the French protestants in is much involved in obscurity; and various the year 1560. The origin of this term attempts have been made to account for it, and for its application to the friends of the reformed church in France. Some suppose the appellation of Huguenots was derived from Huguon, a word used in Tourain, signifying persons that walk during the night season in the streets, and that it was applied to the French Protestants in consequence of their making choice of that season, in order to avoid persecution, in which to perform public worship. Others, again, believe, that this term owes its origin to the name of a supposed hobgoblin, called king Hugon, that was said to wander about the streets of Tours during the night-time, and that the reformed where the disciples of this noc turnal monarch. But the most probable conjecture seems to be, that this term owes its origin to an erroneous pronunciation by the French of the German word Eidgnossen, which signifies sworn-fellows, or confederates. This had been originally the name of that part of the inhabitants of Geneva, who entered into an alliance with the Swiss cantons, in order to maintain their liberties against the tyrannical attempts of Charles III. Duke of Savoy. These valiant confederates were called Eignots, and from thence it is not at all unlikely was derived the word Hugue nots. To whatever cause this term owes its origin, it is certain that the Christians of the French Protestants churches, which it was made to designate, suffered most se. verely from the persecutions which at that time, and after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, raged with desolating fury both in France and other countries. The countenance and support of many princes of the royal blood, and of several of the nobility, could not save the Hugue. nots from suffering the most unparalleled persecution. Peace itself, which had been granted them by Henry III. in the year 1576, proved the foundation of a most terrible civil war. The profligate House of Guise, urged by the wicked and cruel suggestions of the Roman Pontiffs, did whatever lay in its power to destroy the royal family, and totally ruin the Protestant reformation; while the Huguenots, inspired with the spirit of loyalty, and a noble religious enthusiasm, fought in defence of their faith and their sovereigns with various success. The deeds of horror, which these commotions produced, are scarcely exceeded by any thing we find recorded in the annals of murder and persecution. The civil war to which we are here alluding raged nearly sixty years, during which there were destroyed, according to Puffendorf, a million of people : one hundred and fifty millions of money were spent: nine cities, four hundred villages, twenty thousand churches, two thousand monasteries, and ten thousand houses, were burnt, or laid level with the ground. These terrible devastations were at length stopped by the hand of Providence, which placed Henry IV. on the throne of France. This prince, who, though he had so many outrages to avenge, so many crimes to punish, thought only of burying all animosity in oblivion, and of healing all wounds. Then absolute power was employed only in promoting prosperity in the state, and the felicity of every individual. The Roman Catholic religion remained dominant; but the famous edict of Nantes effaced intolerance, and soothed the irritation of the conqured party, to whom liberty of conscience and a political existence were secured. lated. This was a deplorable epocha for the Huguenots. They were not only expelled the parliament, and deprived of all their civil and religious liberties, but multitudes of the most industrious families in France were reduced to beggary. They were harrased in all manner of ways. Eight hundred thousand persons (Voltaire says five hundred thousand) left the kingdom, and fled into other countries, where their descendants are still to be met with, and where they have carried prosperity, to the prejudice of their own unjust country. Such of these unfortunate people as remained in France lost all civil existence, were pursued without remission, without pity, and like wild beasts; their blood frequently streamed under the steel of the executioner or of the soldiery. This last explosion, however, at length ceased. The unfortunate Louis the XVI. whatever were his weaknesses and failings in other respects, had not been rendered inhuman by a large share of Catholicism; but laboured to heal all their wounds, when the storm arose, of which he was one of the first and the most illustrious of the victims. It ought ever to be remembered, to the honour of this unhappy monarch, that he paid no attention to the intolerant and disgraceful "Memoire de l'Assemblée generale du clergé," in 1780, against the reformed. During his reign a law was past, which gave to his non-Roman CaThe edict of Nantes confirmed to the tholic subjects,as they were denominated, Protestants all the favours that had ever all the civil advantages and privileges of been granted to them by Henry III. To their Roman Catholic brethren. From these privileges others were also added; that period the situation of the French such as a free admission to all employ. Protestants (for the obnoxious term Hu. ments of trust, honour and profit. These guenots seems to have been almost laid wise and politic regulations were per- aside) has been tolerably happy. But fectly satisfactory to good sense and equi- what seems to have given a stability and ty: they were, however, not enough for respectability to the French Protestants, fanaticism: it made several attempts on are the decrees which have been passed the saviour of France, and at length suc. in their favour by the present Emperor ceeded in assassinating him. From this of France. On Sunday the 9th of August, melancholy day (May 14, 1610) the trou- 1807, the consistory of the Protestant bles of the iHuguenots began to be re- church being admitted to an audience, newed. Alarmed at the intrigues that their president, M. Marron, addressed were perpetually working against their the Emperor in a speech of considerable rights and liberties, they again took up eloquence, in which he gratefully ac arms, but were successfully opposed by knowledged his protection and care of Richelieu. The government succeeded them as a religious body; and declared in rendering its authority absolute; and that the roofs of their temples shall ever factions and discontents agitated and dis- resound with praises for such signal faturbed the two parties in no small degree. vours as they enjoy under his auspices. These discontents continued to increase His speech was answered in the most until the reign of Louis XIV. This ambi- gracious and cordial manner. The foltious, weak, and credulous prince was lowing expressions in it are remarkable : persuaded wholly to revoke the edict of "I accept the blessing and the congratuNantes, which had been long openly violation of the consistory. You owe me no VOL. VI. Bb obligation: I wish not men to think them selves indebted to me,because I have been merely just. Conscience is not within the jurisdiction of human laws. I guarantee to you, for myself and my successors, not only the intendance, but also the perfect freedom and inviolability of your worship. The Protestants have always proved themselves to be good citizens, and faithful subjects of the law. Though I do not profess their religion, tell them that I place them in the circle of my best friends!" Thus are the once despised and persecuted Huguenots raised from situations of suffering and wretchedness, to that rank in society, which is the unalienable right of every honest man, be his religious principles what they may. HULK, in sea language, a name given to any old vessel laid by as unfit for service. In the royal ports they are used for the accommodation of a ship's company, while their own vessel is in dock under repair. HULL, in the sea language,is the main body of a ship, without either masts, yards, sails, or rigging. Thus, to strike a hull in a storm is to take in her sails, and to lash the helm on the lee side of the ship; and to hull, or lie a hull, is said of a ship whose sails are thus taken in, and helm lashed a-lee. HUMANITIES, in the plural, signify grammar, rhetoric, and poetry, known by the name of literæ humaniores; for teaching of which there are professors in the universities of Scotland, called humanists. HUMERUS, in anatomy, the upper part of the arm, between the scapula and elbow. See ANATOMY. HUMIDITY. See HYGROMETER. HUMMING bird. See TROCHILUS. HUMULUS, hops, in botany, a genus of the Dioecia Pentandria class and order. Natural order of Scabrida. Urtica, Jussieu. Essentisl character: male, calyx five-leaved; corolla none: female, calyx one-leafed, spreading obliquely, entire ; corolla none; styles two; seed one, within a leafed calyx. There is but one species, viz. H. lupulus, Hors, which see. HURA, in botany, a genus of the Monoecia Monadelphia class and order. Natural order of Tricocca. Euphorbia, Jussieu. Essential character: male, ament imbricated; perianth truncated; corolla none; filaments cylindrical, peltate at the tip, surrounded by very many anthers in pairs: female, calyx and corolla none; style funnel-form; stigma twelve cleft; capsule twelve-celled; seed one. There is but one species, viz. H. crepitans, sand-box tree. This grows naturally in the Spanish West Indies, from whence it has been introduced into the British colonies of America, where some of the plants are preserved by way of curiosity. It is about twenty-four feet in height, dividing into many branches, which abound with a milky juice. The fruit is very curious in its structure, and the tree, when it grows well, is spreading, and sometimes casts a shade forty feet in diameter; from the quickness of its vegetation, its parts are of so loose a texture, that a loud clap of thunder, or a sudden gust of wind, frequently causes the largest boughs to snap asunder; the trunk is of little use, except for fire-wood. HURDLES, in fortification, twigs of willows or osiers interwoven close together, sustained by long stakes, and usually laden with earth. Hurdles, called also clays, are made in the figure of a long square; the length being five or six feet, and the breadth three, or three and a half: the closer they are woven, the bet ter. They serve to render batteries firm, or to consolidate the passage over muddy ditches or to cover traverses and lodg ments, for the defence of the workmen, against the fire-works or the stones that may be thrown against them. : HURDLES, in husbandry, certain frames, made either of split timber, or of hazelrods wattled together, to serve for gatesin inclosures, or to make sheep-folds. &c. HURRICANE, a furious storm of wind, owing to a contrariety of winds. See article WIND and WHIRLWIND, Hurricanes are frequent in the West Indies, where they make terrible ravages, by rooting up trees, destroying houses and shipping, and the like. The natives, it is said, can foretell hurricanes by the following prognostics: 1. All hurricanes happen either on the day of the full, change, or quarter of the moon. 2. From the unusual redness of the sun, the great stillness, and at the same time, turbulence of the skies, swelling of the sea, and the like,happening at the change of the moon, they conclude there will be a hurricane next full-moon; and if the same signs be observed on the full moon, they may expect one next new moon. As to the cause of hurricanes, they undoubtedly arise from the violent struggle of two opposite winds. Now as the wind betwixt the tropics is generally easterly, and upon the sun's going back from the northern HUSBAND AND WIFE. tropic the western winds pour down with violence upon those parts, the opposition of these contrary winds cannot fail to produce a hurricane. Hurricanes shift not through all the points of the compass, but begin always with a north wind, veer to the east, and then cease; and their shifting between these two points is so sudden and violent, that it is impossible for any ship to veer with it; whence it happens that the sails are carried away, yards and all, and sometimes the masts themselves wreathed round like an osier. HUSBAND and WIFE, usually termed baron and feme, are one person in law; that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage; or, at least, is incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband, under whose wing, protection, and cover, she performs every thing; she is therefore, called, in our law (French,) a feme covert, that is, under the protection and influence of her husband, her baron, or lord; and her condition during her marriage is called her coverture. A man cannot grant lands to his wife during the coverture, nor any estate or interest to her, nor enter into covenant with her; but he may, by his deed, covenant with others for her use, as for her jointure, or the like; and he may give to her, by devise or will, because the devise or will does not take effect till after his death. All deeds executed by the wife, and acts done by her during her coverture, are void; except a fine, or the like matter of record, in which case she must be solely and secretly examined, that it may be known whether or not her act be voluntary. A wife is so much favoured, in respect of that power and authority which her husband has over her, that she shall not suffer any punishment for committing a bare theft, in company with, or by coercion of, her husband; but if she commit a theft of her own voluntary act, or by the bare command of her husband, or be guilty of treason, murder, or robbery, in company with or by coercion of her husband, she is punishable as much as if she were sole; because of the odiousness and dangerous consequence of these crimes. By marriage, the husband hath power over his wife's person; and the courts of law still permit a husband to restrain a wife of her liberty, in case of any gross misbehaviour: but if he threaten to kill her, &c. she may make him find surety of the peace, by suing a writ of supplicavit out of Chancery, or by preferring articles of the peace against him in the court of the King's Bench, or she may apply to the spiritual court for a divorce on account of cruelty. The husband, by marriage, obtains a freehold in right of his wife, if he takes a woman to wife that is seized of a freehold; and he may make a lease thereof for twenty-one years, or three lives, if it be made according to the statute, 32 Henry VIII. c. 28. The husband also gains a chattel real, as a term for years, to dispose of, if he please, by grant or lease in her life-time, or by surviving her: otherwise it remains with the wife; and upon execution for the husband's debt, the sheriff may sell the term during the life of the wife. The husband also, by marriage, hath an absolute gift of all chattels personal, in possession of the wife in her own right, whether he survives her or not. But if these chattles personal are choses in action, that is, things to be sued for by action, as debts by obligation, contract, or the like, the husband shall not have them, unless he and his wife recover them. By custom in London a wife may carry on a separate trade; and, as such, is liable to the statutes of bankruptcy, with respect to the goods in such separate trade, with which the husband cannot intermeddle. If the wife is indebted before marriage, the husband is bound afterwards to pay the debt, living with the wife; for he has adopted her and her circumstances together; but if the wife die, the husband shall not be charged for the debt of his wife after her death, if the creditor of the wife do not get judg. ment during the coverture. The husband is bound to provide his wife necessaries, and if she contract for them, he is obliged to pay for them; but for any thing besides necessaries, he is not chargeable: and also, if a wife elope, and live with another man, the husband is not chargeable even for necessaries; at least if the persons who furnish them be sufficiently apprised of her elope. ment. A man having issue by his wife, born alive, shall be tenant by the courtesy of all the lands in fee simple, or fee-tail general, of which she shall die seized; and after her death, he shall have all chattles real; as the term of the wife, or a lease for years of the wife, and all other chattles in possession; and also all such as are of a mixed nature (partly in possession and partly in action), as rents in arrear, incurred before the mar riage or after; but things merely in ac tion, as of a bond or obligation to the wife, he can only claim them as administrator to his wife, if he survive her. If the wife survive the husband, she shall have for her dower the third part of all his freehold lands: so she shall have her term for years again, if he have not altered the property during his life so also she shall have again all other chattels real and mixed; and so things in action, as debts, shall remain to her, if they were not received during the mar riage but if she elope from her hus band, and go away with her adulterer, she shall lose her dower; unless her husband had willingly, without coercion ecclesiastical, been reconciled to her, and permitted her to cohabit with him. HUSBAND ship's, the owner who takes the direction and management of a ship's concerns upon himself, the other owners paying him a commission for his trouble. HUSBANDRY. See AGRICULTURE. HUSTINGS. This court is held before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London. Error or attaint lies there, of a judgment or false verdict in the Sheriff's court. Other cities and towns, as York, Lincoln, &c. also have had a court of the tained is various parts of the continent of Europe. It will take a fine polish, and when very pure is highly esteemed. HYACINTHUS, in botany, Hyacinth or Harebells, a genus of the Hexandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Lilia Roy, or Liliaceæ. Asphodeli, Jussieu. Essential character: corolla bell shaped, with three honied pores by the germ. There are seventeen species. HYADES, in astronomy, seven stars in the bull's head, famous among the poets for the bringing of rain. The principal of them is in the left eye, called by the Arabs, Aldebaran. See ALDEBARAN and ASTRONOMY. HYALITE, in mineralogy, a species of the flint genus. Colour yellow and greyish white: it occurs in thin crusts on other minerals, and has much resemblance to gum, and is nearly allied to opal. HYBERNACULUM, in botany, that part of the plant which defends the embryo-herb from injuries during the severities of winter, hence the name, hybernaculum, or winter-quarters. HYBLEA. See PHALENA. HYDNUN, in botany, a genus of the Cryptogamia Fungi. Generic character: a horozontal fungus, echinated beneath with awl-shaped fibres. Linnæus has six species of this fungus, five with stems, and one without; these chiefly grow on decaying wood. HYDRA, in astronomy, a southern constellation, imagined to represent a waterserpent. The number of stars in this constellation in Ptolemy's catalogue is twenty-five, and in the Britannic catalogue, sixty-eight. HYDRA, polypes, in natural history, a genus of the Vermes Zoophyta class and order. Animal fixing itself by the base, linear, gelatinous, naked, contractile, and furnished with setaceous tentacula or feelers; inhabiting fresh waters, and producing its deciduous offspring or eggs from the sides. There are five species. H. gelatinosa, minute, gelatinous, milkwhite, cylindrical, with twelve tentacula shorter than the body: it inhabits Denmark in clusters on the under side of Fuci. But on the viridis, the fusca, and the grisca, the greater number of experiments have been made by naturalists, to ascertain their true nature and very wonderful habits. They are generally found in ditches. Whoever has carefully exexamined these when the sun is very pow erful, will find many little transparent lumps, of the appearance of jelly, and |