as a musician; 'Conceive,' said he, 'the highest you can of his abilities, and they are much beyond any thing you can conceive.' HAND FAST, n. s. Hand and fast. custody. Obsolete. Thou shalte stond by the post, As thou were honde-fast. Hold; Chaucer. The Cokes Tale. If that shepherd be not in handfast, let him fly. Shakspeare. HAND-FASTING, an ancient custom which formerly took place in various parts of Scotland every year. At a stated time it was the custom for the unmarried persons of both sexes to choose a companion with whom they were to live till that time next year. If they were pleased with each other at that time, then they continued together for life; if not, they separated, and were free to make another choice as at first. The fruit of their connexion, if there were any, was always attached to the disaffected person. A priest, whom they named Book i' bosom, because he carried in his bosom a bible or a register of the marriages, came from time to time to confirm the marriages. Mr. Brown traces this custom from the Romans. HANDFUL, n. s. As much as the hand can grasp, or contain; sometimes expressive of length, or distance, rather than quantity; also a small quantity by comparison. Being in possession of the town, they had their handful to defend themselves from firing. Raleigh. Take one vessel of silver and another of wood, each full of water, and knap the tongs together about an handful from the bottom, and the sound will be more resounding from the vessel of silve than that of wood. Bacon. He could not, with such a handful of men, and without cannon, propose reasonably to fight a battle. The covenants thou shalt teach by candle-light, When puffing smiths, and every painful trade Of handicrafts, in peaceful beds are laid. Dryden. Particular members of convents have excellent mechanical geniuses, and divert themselves with painting, sculpture, architecture, gardening, and several kinds of handicrafts. Addison. The prophaneness and ignorance of handicraftsmen, small-traders, servants, and the like, are to a degree very hard to be imagined greater. Swift. It is the landed man that maintains the merchant Id. and shop-keeper, and handicraftsmen. The nurseries for children of ordinary gentlemen and handicraftsmen are managed after the same manGulliver's Travels, ner. HAN'DIWORK, n. s. Handy and work. Work of the hand; product of labor; manufacture. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Psalms. As proper men as ever trod upon neat's-leather have gone upon my handiwork. Shakspeare. In general they are not repugnant unto the natural will of God, which wisheth to the works of his own hands, in that they are his own handiwork, all happiness; although, perhaps, for some special cause in our own particular, a contrary determination have seemed more convenient. Hooker. He parted with the greatest blessing of human nature for the handiwork of a taylor. L'Estrange. HANDKERCHIEF, n. s. Hand and kerchief. A piece of silk or linen used to wipe the face, or cover the neck. He was torn to pieces with a bear: this avouches the shepherd's son, who has not only his innocence, but a handkerchief and rings of his, that Paulina knows. Shakspeare. She found her sitting in a chair, in one hand holding a letter, in the other her handkerchief, which had lately drunk up the tears of her eyes. Sidney. Confederate in the cheat, they draw the throng, And cambric handkerchiefs reward the song. Gay. The Romans did not make use of handkerchiefs, but of the lacinia or border of the garment, to wipe their face. Arbuthnot. HAN'DLE, v. a. & n. s. Belg. handelen; Swe. handla; Dan. handle. To touch, or feel, with the hand to manage; to make familiar with: conversation; to deal with, or practise upon: figuratively, to treat; to mention in writing or handle, that part by which any thing is held; and hence, figuratively, that of which use is made. They that handle the law know me not. Jerem. ii. 8. Leaving to the author the exact handling of every particular, and labouring to follow the rules of abridg2 Mac. ment. Fortune turneth the handle of the bottle, which is easy to be taken hold of; and after the belly, which is hard to grasp. Bacon. Of a number of other like instances we shall speak more, when we handle the communication of sounds. Id. There is nothing but hath a double handle, or at least we have two hands to apprehend it. Taylor. By Guidas Ubaldus, in his treatise, for the expli cation of this instrument, the subtilties of it are largely and excellently handled. Wilkins's Dædalus. They were well enough pleased to be rid of an Clarendon. enemy that had handled them so ill. A carpenter that had got the iron work of an axe, begged only so much wood as would make a handle L'Estrange. to it. An incurable shyness is the general vice of the Irish horses, and is hardly ever seen in Flanders, because the hardness of the winters forces the breeders there to house and handle their colts six months every year. Temple. My buckler cut through and through, and my sword hacked like a handsaw. Shakspeare. To perform this work, it is necessary to be provided with a strong knife and a small handsaw. Mortimer. HANDSEL, n. s. & v. a. Dutch, hansel, a first gift. The first act of using any thing; the first act of sale. It is now not used, except in the dialect of trade. The apostles term it the pledge of our inheritance, and the handsel or earnest of that which is to come. Hooker. Thou art joy's handsel; heaven lies flat in thee, How HANDSOME, adj. & v. a. dexterous. Dryden. Gothic, handsum; Dut. hand Ssaem, ready, These words denote a species of corporeal beauty, and is a general assemblage of whatever is agreeable in person or figure: in manner, it signifies dignity; grace; elegance; in act, convenience; liberality; generosity. A carpenter, after he hath sawn down a tree, hath wrought it handsomely, and made a vessel thereof. Persons of the fairer sex like that handsomeness for which they find themselves to be the most liked. Bogle. A great man entered by force into a peasant's house, and, finding his wife very handsome, turned the good man out of his dwelling. Addison. I am finding out a convenient place for an alınshouse, which I intend to endow very handsomely for a dozen superannuated husbandmen. Id. That easiness and handsome address in writing is hardest to be attained by persons bred in a meaner Felton. way. HAND-VICE, n. s. Hand and vice. A vice to hold small work in.-Moxon. HAND'-WRITING, n. s. Hand and writing. A cast or form of writing peculiar to each hand. That you beat me at the mart, I have your hand to show; If the skin were parchment, and the blows you gave me ink, Your own handwriting would tell you what I think. Shakspeare. To no other cause than the wise providence of God can be referred the diversity of handwritings. Cockburn. To fix in such a manner as in some directions to be moveable. The gates and the chambers they renewed, and hanged doors upon them. 1 Mac. iv. 57. To cover or charge by any thing suspended. Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night! Shakspeare. The pavement ever foul with human gore; HA'NDY-DANDY, n. s. A play in which Heads and their mangled members hung the door. children change hands and places. See how yond justice rails upon yond simple thief! Hark in thine ear: change places; and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief? Shakspeare, Neither cross and pile, nor ducks and drakes, are quite so ancient as handy-dandy. Arbuthnot and Pope. HANG, v. a. Preter. and part. pass. hanged or hung, anciently hong. Sax. pangan. All the northern dialects have this word. To suspend; to fasten in such a manner as to be sustained, not below, but above. Strangely visited people he cures ; Hanging a golden stamp about their necks; Put on with holy prayers. Shakspeare. His great army is utterly ruined, he himself slain in it, and his head and right hand cut off, and hung up before Jerusalem. To place without any solid support. South. That hungest the solid earth in fleeting air, Sandys. To choke and kill by suspending by the neck, so as that the ligature intercepts the breath and circulation. But, trewely, by day it may not be, No painter no close up the piece and see Thieves at home must hang; but he that puts Shakspeare. Dryden. To furnish with ornaments or draperies fastened to the wall. Musick is better in chambers wainscotted than hanged. Bacon. If e'er my pious father for my sake Dryden. Sir Roger has hung several parts of his house with the trophies of his labours. Addison. Thus o'er the dying lamp the unsteady flame, Hangs quivering on the point, leaps off by fits And falls again as loth to quit its hold. HANG, v. n. Id. To be suspended; to be supported above, not And fall these sayings from that gentle tongue, Where civil speech and soft persuasion hung? Prior. To be supported by something raised above the ground. Whatever is placed on the head may be said to hang; as we call hanging gardens such as are planted Addison. on the top of the house. To rest upon by embracing. She hung about my neck, and kiss on kiss Shakspeare. HANG'ER, n. s.` Derivatives of hang. Hanger HANG'ER-ON, is that by which any thing HANG'ING, n. s. hangs in a depending poHANG'MAN, n. s. sition; a short broad sword. Hanger-on, a dependent; one who eats and drinks without payment. Hanging, drapery hung against the walls by way of ornament; foreboding death by the halter. Hangman, a public executioner; a term of reproach. Beforen his triumphe walketh she, With gilte chaines on hire necke honging. Chaucer. The Monkes Tale. One cried, God bless us! and Amen! the other; As they had seen me with these hangman's hands: Listening their fear, I could not say Amen, When they did say God bless us. Shakspeare. In so ill case, that God hath with his hand Being informed that his breakfast was ready, he drew towards the door, where the hangings were held up. Clarendon. If the wife or children were absent, their rooms were supplied by the umbræ, or hangers-on. Browne. This monster sat like a hangman upon a pair of gallows; in his right hand he was painted holding a crown of laurel, and in his left hand a purse of money. Sidney. Her eyes with scalding rheum were galled and red, Cold palsy shook her head, her hands seemed withered, And on her crooked shoulders she had wrapped Now purple hangings cloath the palace walls, And sumptuous feasts are made in splendid halls. Dryden. Lucas Van Leyden has infected all Europe with his designs for tapestry, which, by the ignorant, are called ancient hangings. Id. What Ethiops lips he has wards able to obtain a higher rank than that of major of the British legion of cavalry. In 1789 he published An Address to the Army, in reply to strictures by Roderic Mackenzie, on Tarleton's History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781, 8vo. He was a very eccentric but amusing companion. On the death of his elder brother he succeeded, in 1814, to his title, which, however, he refused to assume; and when addressed by it he was not at all pleased. He died at his house near the Regent's park in 1824, aged seventy-three, leaving a considerable number of publications, the most interesting and amusing of which is his Life, Adventures, and Opinions, 1801, 2 vols. 8vo. In one of his books he introduced a portrait of himself suspended a la lanterne. HANG-TCHEOU-FOU, the metropolis of the province of Tche-Kiang, in China. It is, according to the Chinese, the paradise of the earth; and may be considered as one of the richest, best situated, and largest cities of the empire. It is twelve miles in circumference, exclusive of its suburbs; and the number of its inhabitants amounts to more than 1,000,000. It is computed that there are 10,000 workmen within its walls employed in manufacturing silk. A small lake, called Si-hou, washes the bottom of its walls on the west side; its water is pure, and its banks are covered with flowers. Halls and open galleries, supported by pillars, and paved with large flag-stones, are erected on piles upon its banks for the convenience of walking; causeways, cased with cut stone, intersect the lake in different directions; and the openings which are left in them at intervals, for the passage of boats, are covered by handsome bridges. In the middle of the lake are two islands, in which a temple and several pleasurehouses have been built. The emperor has a small palace in the neighbourhood. The city has a garrison of 3000 Chinese, under the command of the viceroy; and 3000 Tartars, commanded by a general of the same nation. It has under its jurisdiction seven cities of the second and third class. HANIFAH, or HANFA (Aba), surnamed Al Nooma, the most celebrated doctor of the orthodox Mussulmans. He was the son of Thabet, and was born at Coufah in the eightieth year of the Hegira. He founded the sect of the Hanifites, which continues to be the most popular of the four principal sects among the Mussulmans. Like other teachers of new opinions, he suffered persecution during his life, being imprisoned at Bagdad till he died, by the caliph Almansor, for refusing to subscribe to the doctrine of absolute predestination. But his opinions were afterwards brought into such credit by Abou Joseph, a sovereign judge under the caliph Hadi, that to be a Hanifite was reckoned synonymous with being a good Mussulman; and about 335 years after his death, which happened in the 150th year of the Hegira, Schaw Melick built a magnificent monument to his memory, and a college, which he appropriated solely to the professors of Aba Hanifah's doctrines. The most eminent of his successors were Achmed Ben Ali, Al Giaffas, and Al Razzi. A mosque in the temple of Mecca is appropriated to them. HANK, n. s. Isl. Goth. Dan. and Swed. hank, a chain or coil of rope; a skein of thread; a tye: a check; an influence. A low word. Do we think we have the hank that some gallants have on their trusting merchants, that, upon peril of losing all former scores, he must still go on to supply? Decay of Piety. HA'NKER, v. n. Dut. hunkeren. To long importunately; to have an incessant wish: it has commonly after before the thing desired. It is scarcely used but in familiar language. Hudibras. And now the saints began their reign, For which they had yearned so long in vain, And felt such bowel hankerings, To see an empire all of kings. Among women and children, care is to be taken that they get not a hankering after these juggling astrologers and fortune-tellers, L'Estrange. The shepherd would be a merchant, and the merchant hankers after something else. Id. The wife is an old coquette, that is always hankerAddison. ing after the diversions of the town. The republick that fell under the subjection of the duke of Florence, still retains many hankerings after its ancient liberty. Addison. lution. Do'st thou not hanker after a greater liberty in some things? If not, there's no better sign of a good resoCalamy. HANKIUS (Martin), professor of history at Breslau, in the seventeenth century, was born in 1633. He was author of several works of erudition; the most celebrated of which is his treatise De Romanorum rerum Scriptoribus. He died in 1709, aged seventy-six. HANMER (Jonathan), M. A., a learned English divine, born at Barnstaple about 1605, and educated at Cambridge. He was minister of Bishop's Tawton, and lecturer of Barnstaple; but ejected for nonconformity in 1662. He wrote A View of Ecclesiastical Antiquity, and a Discourse on Confirmation. He died in 1687. HANMER (Sir Thomas), an eminent English author and statesman, born in 1676, and educated at Westminster and Oxford. He was early elected M. P. for Suffolk, and in 1713 was chosen speaker, an office which he discharged with great impartiality. He published a superb edition of Shakspeare, in 6 vols. 4to., at Oxford, in 1744, with elegant engravings by Gravelot. He died at Suffolk, April the 5th 1746. HANNA, a fertile province of Moravia, circle of Olmutz, inhabited by a tribe of Sclavonians called Hannaks. Their agriculture is superior to that of their race in general, and they have considerable herds of cattle and poultry. Hanna is about 400 square miles in extent. HANNIBAL, the son of Hamilcar, the Carthaginian general, has been already noticed under the articles AMILCAR and CARTHAGE; with whose history indeed his life is so blended that we need only to take it up after his leaving that country. Having lost a sea-fight with the Rhodians, through the cowardice of Apollonius, one of the admirals of Antiochus the Great, he fied into Crete, to avoid falling into the hands of the Romans. On his arrival in this island he took sanctuary among the Gortynii; but as he |