Bacon.

Milton.

His mighty camp, and, when the day returned, The country wasted and the hamlets burned. Dryden. HAMLET, a prince of Denmark whose history has been rendered interesting, by being the subject of one of the noblest tragedies of Shakspeare. which Adjoining to a royal palace, stands about half a mile from Cronburg in Elsineur, is a garden, which, Mr. Coxe informs us, is called Hamlet's Garden, and is said to be the spot where his father was murdered. The house is of modern date, and is situated at the foot of a sandy ridge near the sea. The garden occupies the side of the hill, and is laid out in terraces rising above each other. The original history, from which the poet derived the principal incidents of his play, is founded upon facts, but so deeply buried in remote antiquity that it is difficult to discriminate truth from fable. Saxo Grammaticus, who flourished in the twelfth century, is the earliest historian of Denmark who relates the adventures of Hamlet. His account is much altered by Belleforest, a French author, a translation of whose romance was published under the title of The Hystorye of Hamblet, from which Shakspeare is supposed to have formed the ground-work of his play.

HAM'MER, n. s. & v. n.
HAM'MERER, n. s.
HAMMERHARD, n. s.

Saxon, þamen; Danish, hammer. The instrument, consisting of a long handle and heavy head, with which any thing is forged or driven. Figuratively any thing destructive or powerful: to beat; to forge; to contrive by dint of intellectual labor; to work; or to be busy; in these senses generally spoken contemptuously sometimes to be greatly agitated.

Lamekes sone Tubal,

That found out firste the arte of song;
For as his brother's hamers ronge
Upon his anvelt up and downe,
Therof, he toke the firste sowne.

Chaucer. Boke of the Duchesse.
The armureres also

With file and hammer pricking to and fro.

Id. The Knightes Tale. His bones the hammered steel in strength surpass. Sandys. Nor needest thou much importune me to that, Whereon this month I have been hammering.

Wilt thou still be hammering treachery,

To humble down thy husband and thyself? Id. He was nobody that could not hammer out of his name an invention by this witchcraft, and picture it accordingly. Camden.

Some spirits, by whom they were stirred and guided in the name of the people, hammered up the articles. Hayward. That renowned pillar of truth and hammer of here. sies, St. Augustine. Hakewill on Providence. the hammered cuirass,

Chalybean tempered steel, and frock of mail Adamantean proof. Milton. Samson Agonistes. It is broken not without many blows, and will break the best hammers of iron. Browne.

The smith prepares his hammer for the stroke.

Dryden's Juvenal. Some hammer helmets for the fighting field. Dryden.

Drudged like a smith, and on the anvil beat, "Till he had hammered out a vast estate.

Id.

Id.

I must pay with hammered money instead of milled. Hammerhard is when you harden iron or steel with much hammering on it. Moxon. Every morning he rises fresh to his hammer and his anvil. South.

There beings deathless as their haughty lord Are hammered to the galling oar for life, And plow the winter's wave and reap despair. Young's Night Thoughts. The first an hammer called, whose out-grown sides Lie on the drum. Fletcher's Purple Island. A HAMMER has an iron head, fixed crosswise upon a handle of wood. There are several sorts of hammers used by blacksmiths; as, 1. The hand-hammer, which is of such weight that it may be wielded with one hand at the anvil. 2. The up-hand sledge hammer, used with both hands, and seldom lifted above the head. 3. The about-sledge hammer, which is the biggest of all, and held by both hands at the farthest end of the handle; and being swung at arm's length over the head, is made to fall upon the work with as heavy a blow as possible. smallest hammer used by smiths is called a rivetting hammer, but is seldom used at the forge unless upon small work. These and a great variety of other hammers of different sizes are used by goldsmiths and jewellers. Watchmakers, saddlers, carpenters, and joiners, have likewise hammers accommodated to their several purposes.

The

HAMMERMEN, in the royal boroughs of Scotland, the name of an incorporation, which comprehends most of those artizans who make use of hammers; such as goldsmiths, jewellers, watch-makers, coppersmiths, braziers, blacksmiths, tin-plate-workers, cutlers, gun-smiths, founders, saddlers, &c. In Edinburgh, however, the goldsmiths, by the set of the burgh, form a distiuct incorporation, which ranks second in order, next to the surgeons; while the other artizans above mentioned form the fifth incorporation, under the title of hammermen.

HAMMOCK, n. s. Sax. pamaca. A swinging bed.

Prince Maurice of Nassau, who had been accustomed to hammocks, used them all his life. Temple.

HAMMOCKS, or HAMACS, are suspended between two trees, posts, hooks, or the like, and are much used throughout the West Indies, as well as on board of ships. The Indians hang their hammocks to trees, to secure themselves from wild beasts and insects. It consists of a large strong coverlet or sheet of coarse cotton, about six feet square; on two opposite sides are loops of the same stuff, through which a string is run, and thereof other loops are formed, all of which are tied together with a cord; and thus the whole is fastened to two neighbouring trees in the field, or two hooks in houses. This kind of couch serves at the same time for bed, quilts, sheets, pillow, &c. The hammock used on board of ships is made of a piece of canvas, six feet long, and three wide, drawn together at the ends. There are usually from fourteen to twenty inches in breadth allowed between decks for every hammock in a ship of war; but this space must in some measure depend on the number of the crew, &c. In time of battle the hammocks and bedding are firmly corded and fixed in the nettings on the quarter deck, to preserve the men from the fire of the enemy.

HAMMOND (Henry), D. D., one of the most learned English divines in the seventeenth century, was born in 1605. He studied at Oxford, and in 1629 entered into holy orders. In 1633 he was made rector of Penshurst in Kent; in 1643 archdeacon of Chichester; and in 1645 a canon of Christ Church, Oxford, and chaplain to king Charles I. He was also chosen public orator of the university. In 1647 he attended the king in his confinement at Wooburn, Cavesham, Hampton-Court, and the Isle of Wight. On his return to Oxford he was chosen sub-dean; and continued there till the parliament visitors ejected and imprisoned him. During this confinement he began his Annotations on the New Testament. On the 4th of April 1660 he was seized by a fit of the stone, of which he died on the 25th of that month, aged fifty-five. He wrote many other works, which have been published together in 4 vols. folio.

HAMMOND (Anthony), esq., an ingenious English poet, descended from a good family of Somersham-Place in Huntingdonshire, was born in 1668. After a liberal education at St. John's

College, Cambridge, he was chosen M.P. for Truro, and soon distinguished himself as a speaker. He became a commissioner of the royal navy, which place he quitted in 1712. He published a Miscellany of Poems by the most eminent hands; in which he himself had a considerable share. He wrote the life of his friend Walter Moyle, esq., prefixed to his works; and died about 1726.

HAMOAZE, a creek in the British Channel, which forms a harbour for the royal navy, capable of containing 100 vessels, in three tiers, at from thirteen to fifteen fathoms water. It is the west branch of the Tamar, which falls into Plymouth Sounds.

HAMPDEN (John) esq., of Hampden, a celebrated patriot, descended of an ancient family in Buckinghamshire, was born at London in 1594. He was cousin german to Oliver Cromwell, and in 1609 was sent to Magdalen College, Oxford,

whence he went to the inns of court, where he made a considerable progress in the law. He was elected a member of the parliament which sat at Westminster, February 5th, 1626; and served in all the succeeding parliaments in the reign of Charles I. In 1636 he became universally known, by his refusal to pay ship-money, as being an illegal tax; upon which he was prosecuted; and his conduct throughout this transaction gained him great celebrity. On January the 3rd, 1644, the king ordered articles of high treason and other misdemeanors to be prepared against lord Kimbolton, Mr. Hampden, and four other members of the House of Commons, and went to that house to seize them: but they had retired. Mr. Hampden afterwards made a speech to the house to clear himself of the charge laid against him. In the beginning of the civil war he commanded a regiment of foot, and was of great service to the parliament at the battle of Edge-hill. He received a mortal wound in the shoulder in an engagement with prince Rupert, on the 18th of June 1643, at Chalgravefield in Oxfordshire; and died on the 24th. Of this celebrated patriot Clarendon says, he was an enemy not to be wished where he might have been made a friend, and as much to be apprehended where he was so, as any man could deserve to be. And, therefore, his death was no less pleasing to the one party, than it was condoled by the other. In a word, what was said of Cinna might well be applied to him;'He had a head to contrive, and a tongue to persuade, and a hand to execute any mischief!' HA'MPER, n. s.

Contracted, according to Minsheu, from hand pannier; but hanaperium appears to have been a word long in use, whence hanapar, hampar. Johnson. A large basket for

HAMPER, v. a. The original of this word, in its present meaning, is uncertain: Junius observes that hamplyns in Teutonic is a quarrel: others imagine that hamper or hanapar, being the treasury to which fines are paid, to hamper, which is commonly applied to the law, means originally to fine. To shackle, entangle, ensnare, or inveigle, as with chains or nets; figuratively to perplex, complicate. or embarrass by troubles,

or to catch with allurements.

And if the priest wol him refuse,
I am full redy him to accuse,
And him punish and hamper so
That he his churche shal forgo.

Chaucer. Romaunt of the Rose. She'll hamper thee, and dandle thee like a baby. Shakspeare.

O loose this frame, this knot of man untie! That my free soul may use her wing,

What was it but a lion hampered in a net! L'Estrange. Engendering heats, these one by one unbind, Stretched their small tubes, and hampered nerves unwind. Blackmore.

HAMPSHIRE, a maritime and most picturesque county of England, situate on the southern extremity of the coast of the kingdom. It is bounded on the north by Berkshire; on the east by Sussex and Surrey; on the south by the English Channel and the Sound, which separate it from that part of the county comprised within the Isle of Wight; and on the west by Dorsetshire and Wiltshire. It extends in length, from north to south, about fifty-five miles; in breadth, from east to west, about forty: its circumference is about 150 miles. Its superficial contents are calculated, from Faden's large map of the county, at 94,000 acres. Exclusive of the ISLE of WIGHT, of which an account will be found under its own name, Hampshire contained, in 1811, 38,887 inhabited houses, and 220,960 inhabitants. It is divided into thirty-nine hundreds and liberties, containing, according to Mr. Driver's Agricultural Survey, 253 parishes; and, according to Mr. Vancouver's Agricultural Survey, 356 parishes, precincts, hamlets, &c. This latter author says, the hundreds are fifty-two. There is one city, Winchester, twenty market-towns, and about 1000 villages. The whole county, including the isles of Wight, Jersey, Guernsey, Sark, and Alderney, is comprehended within the diocese of Winchester, and is included in the western circuit. The town of Southampton is a county of itself, and is the county town, though the quarter sessions are held at the city of Winchester.

Before the Roman invasion this county belonged to the Regni, a tribe of ancient Britons, and the Belgæ, who emigrated from Germany and settled here. They are said to have been the first of the inhabitants who submitted to the Roman yoke. Prior to these Belgic invaders, who drove out the aborigines, little or nothing is known of its history. The Segontiaci inhabited the northern extremity of the county, and the adjoining parts of Berkshire, bordering on the river Ken

net.

The Romans included this district in the province named Britannia Prima. Under the Saxon domination, it formed the central portion of the kingdom of the West Saxons. The original name of the county was Gwent, or Y Went, a term descriptive of its open downs. The Saxons changed its name to Hantunscyre, whence comes its present name of Hants or Hampshire.

sea are not so pernicious as in other counties.The surface of the county is beautifully varied with gently rising hills and fruitful valleys, adorned with numerous seats and villages, and interspersed with extensive woodlands. The soils are extremely numerous, but by far the greatest portion tending to chalk. According to Mr. Vancouver's map of the soil and substrata of this county, it appears that the district embracing the woodlands and the wastes of Bagshot, on the Berkshire and Surrey borders, consists of clay, sand, gravel, and peat. The district occupying the entire centre of the county, and extending east and west from the borders of Sussex and Surrey into Wiltshire, is a strong flinty loam and hazel-colored mould on chalk, occasionally veined with gravel, with more or less peat in the valleys. There is, however, a small third district on the eastern border, next the counties of Sussex and Surrey, including Woolmer and Alice Holt Forests, consisting of marl, sand, gravelly loam, clay, and peat; the latter being found chiefly upon the wastes. Light sand and gravelly loams, intermixed with clay and brick-earth on substrata of argillaceous and calcareous marl, are found in the district of the New Forest, in which, as also in the forest of Bere and Waltham Chase, there is much peat and turf moor on the heath and low grounds. This district has been very ably described by Percival Lewis, esq., F.A.S., in his Historical Enquiries concerning Forests and Forest Laws, with Topographical Remarks upon the Ancient and Modern State of the New Forest, which Mr. Lewis says contains about 92,365 acres, giving as his authority the Fifth Report of the Commissioners of the Land Revenue, founded on the actual survey which took place under their sanction in 1780. The quantity of forest lands in 1809 amounted to 63,845 acres and 2 perches, of which 1192 acres 3 roods and 33 perches were enclosed. The fifth district consists of the chalk of Portsdown and the islands of Portsea and Haling; a strong, flinty, and a tender hazelcolored loam prevailing in the islands and low grounds.

The principal rivers are the Avon, the Teste, and the Itchin. The Avon rises in Wiltshire, and enters this county near Fordingbridge, whence it passes through Ringwood, after which it unites with the river Stone in the harbour of Christchurch. The Teste rises in the north part of the county, and, running southward, forms several islands at Stockbridge; thence it passes through Romsey, and enters the Southampton inlet at Redbridge. The Itchin, also called the Abra, has its source at Chilton Candover, near Alresford, whence it pursues a southwardly course through the city of Winchester; thence again southwardly, to its junction with the Southampton Water. This river was made navigable from Southampton to Winchester as early as the reign of William the Conqueror. The bathing and other places of general resort on the shores of this county, during the summer season, are Christchurch, Muddiford, Lymington, and Southampton; with Yarmouth, Cowes, Hithe, Brading, and Shanklin, in the Isle of Wight.The principal canals are the Basingstoke, the

Redbridge, the Andover, the Winchester, and the Southampton.-Corn and hops are among the chief of the agricultural produce of this county. Fuller reckoned in his time honey, wax, and hogs, among its produce. Its sheep and hogs have attained considerable repute: for the later it is proverbially famous; and this breed is of the largest kind, the farmers encouraging it as the most profitable.

New Forest was at one time exceedingly well stocked with red deer, and there are several still

bred in it. The number which this forest was capable of supplying, in the year 1789, was seventy-nine brace and a half; a return which is said to have exceeded any former one which had been made for the preceding forty years. The annual supply, says Mr. Lewis, required by the lord Warden (under whose immediate superintendance they are placed) is sixty-four brace, twenty-three of which ought to be given to his majesty and the Cofferer's Office. Besides these sixty-four brace, several are annually killed by the proprietors of the purlieus, whose right so to do is not, in all instances, confined to the purlieu itself. The timber of this forest has been long rapidly declining, and that, says Mr. Lewis, to an alarming extent. In the year 1608 there were 123,927 trees fit for the navy; making 197,405 loads, besides 118,072 loads of dotard and decayed trees. In 1783 there were 12,447 trees fit for the navy, and 596 decayed oaks; making altogether 20,830 loads of timber. The average annual supply to the navy for the last twenty years, up to the year 1811, has been about 885 loads of oak, and 270 of beech. From 3000 to 4000 beech trees are annually marked and cut by the officers of this forest, as assignments of fuel as they are commonly called. The mineralogy of this county presents but few materials to the geologist. There is a little ironstone, and considerable quantities of potters' clay in various parts, besides some stone for building and other purposes.

This county sends twenty members to parliament, exclusive of the Isle of Wight: viz. two for the county; two for Winchester; two for Southampton; two for Christchurch; two for Portsmouth; two for Petersfield; two for Stockbridge; two for Lymington; two for Whitechurch; and two for Andover. It is said, perhaps invidiously, that the Treasury are the proprietors or patrons of this county. Among its eminent natives, may be mentioned Dr. Thomas Bilson, a learned prelate; born at Winchester, 1536; died 1616. Dr. W. Coward, a physician who wrote on materialism; born at Winchester, about 1657; died about 1725. William Curtis, the botanist; born at Alton, about 1746; died 1799. Jonas Hanway; born at Portsmouth, 1712; died 1786. Giles Jacob, author of the Law Dictionary; born at Romsey, 1690; died 1744. William Lily, the grammarian; born at Odiham, about 1466; died 1522. Dr. Robert Lowth, the learned grammarian and prelate; born at Winchester, 1710; died 1787. Sir William Petty, a learned and ingenious projector and writer; born at Romsey, 1623; died 1687. Thomas Sternhold, who assisted Hopkins in turning the Psalms into metre; died

1549. William Warham, an eminent prelate and statesman; born at Okeley; died 1532. Thomas Warton, biographer, antiquary, and poet; born at Basingstoke, 1728; died 1790. Also at the same place his brother, Dr. Joseph Warton, a learned divine, critic, and poet; born about 1722; died 1800. Dr. Isaac Watts, the divine and poet; born at Southampton, 1674; died 1741. William of Wykeham, a learned prelate, statesman, and architect; born 1324; died 1404. Rev. Dr. Edward Young, the poet; born at Upham, 1681; died 1707. The city of Winchester is a bishop's see, and gives the title of marquis to the Poulet family. There are no manufactures of consequence in this county. The few there are consist chiefly of shalloons and coarse woollens. Malt is made in pretty large quantities at Andover.

HAMPSHIRE, an extensive county of Massachusetts, United States; bounded north by the states of New Hampshire and Vermont, south by the state of Connecticut, east by Worcester county, and west by Berkshire. Its principal towns lie on both sides of Connecticut River. These are Springfield the chief town, West Springfield, Northampton, Haddley, Hatfield, Deerfield, and Northfield. It is generally fertile and produces the necessaries of life, and some of its luxuries, in great plenty. It contains fiftyfour townships.

HAMPSHIRE, a county of Virginia, bounded north and north-west by the Potomack River, which divides it from the state of Maryland. It is about sixty miles long and fifty broad. It is well watered by the Potomack. Iron ore and coals have been discovered here. The chief town is Romney.

HAMPSHIRE, NEW, one of the United States of North America, bounded north by Lower Canada, east by Maine, south by Massachusetts, and west by Vermont, from which it is separated by Connecticut River. It is 160 miles long, and from nineteen to ninety broad; containing 9491 square miles. Population, in 1790, 141,885; in 1800, 183,858; and in 1810, 214,460. The number of militia, in 1817, amounted to 25,794.

The counties, number of towns, population, and Chief Towns, are exhibited in the following Table.

The seat of government is Concord; but Portsmouth is much the largest town, and the only sea-port. There are eleven banks in this

state.

There is a college at Hanover, and academies are established at Atkinson, Chesterfield, Deerfield, Exeter, Gilmanton, Hampton, Haverhill, Lancaster, Londonderry, Newmarket, New Ipswich, Plainfield, Portsmouth, and Salisbury. Some of these academies, particularly those at Exeter and Plainfield, are liberally endowed. Public schools are supported throughout the state, and afford to all the inhabitants the means of common education.

The following statement respecting the several denominations of Christians was made in the year 1817; Congregationalists, 103 ministers; Baptists, fifty-three churches; Friends, eighteen meetings; Methodists, six ministers; Presbyterians, three ministers; Episcopalians, three ministers; Universalists, three ministers; Shakers, two societies. The whole number of houses of public worship, in 1817, was 261.

The climate of New Hampshire is subject to the extremes of heat and cold, but the air is generally pure and salubrious. Morning and evening fires become necessary from about the middle of September. Cattle are housed from the beginning of November; and in the course of this month the earth and rivers generally become thoroughly frozen and covered with snow. The open country is generally cleared of snow in April, but in the woods it very often lies in the northern parts of the state till May.

The whole extent of sea coast in this state, from the southern boundary to the mouth of the Piscataqua harbour, is eighteen miles. The shore is generally a sandy beach, and bordering upon it are salt marshes, intersected by creeks. There are several coves, convenient for fishing vessels, but the entrance of the Piscataqua is the only harbour for ships. For twenty or thirty miles from the sea the country is either level, or variegated by small hills and valleys. Then commences a country the surface of which is greatly diversified by hills, valleys, and several elevated mountains, among which are the White Mountains, accounted the highest in the United States. The other most considerable summits are Moosehillock, Monadnock, Kearsarge, Sunapee, Ossipee, &c. Some of the most remarkable natural objects of curiosity are the cave in Chester, the rock in Durham, Bellows Falls in Walpole, and particularly the Notch of the White Moun

tains.

Five of the largest rivers in New England rise either wholly or in part in this state. These are the Connecticut, Merrymack, Androscoggin, Saco, and Piscataqua. The other most considerable rivers are the Upper and Lower Ammonoosuc, Sugar River, Ashuelot, Contoocook, Margallaway, and Nashua. The principal lakes are Winnipiseogee, Umbagog, Ossipee, Sunapee, Squam, and Newfound lakes.

There is a great variety of soil in this state; a considerable proportion is fertile, and it is generally better adapted to grazing than tillage. The interval lands on the large rivers are esteemed the most valuable. These produce va

rious kinds of grain in great abundance. But the uplands, of an uneven surface, and of a rocky, warm, moist soil, are accounted the best for grazing. The principal articles of produce are beef, pork, mutton, butter, cheese, wheat, rye, Indian corn, oats, barley, pulse, and flax. The number of neat cattle, in 1812, was calculated at 211,534; horses 32,161; sheep 364,892. Apples are abundant, and no good husbandman thinks his farm complete without an orchard. Other kinds of fruit are not extensively cultivated.

The manufactures of New Hampshire have of late greatly increased. There are now upwards of thirty cotton and woollen manufactories, and nine or ten paper mills. There is a glass manufactory company in Keene, incorporated in 1814; and there are establishments for the manufacture of iron in Franconia. There are also several furnaces for casting iron, hollow ware, &c. Among the towns where the most considerable manufacturing establishments are situated, are Exeter, Peterborough, Franconia, Pembroke, New Ipswich, Keene, Dover, &c. The principal articles of export are lumber, fisn, beef, pork, horses, neat cattle, sheep, flax seed, pot and pearl ashes. The total amount of the exports from Portsmouth, in 1798, was 723,241 dollars; and in 1816, 140,293 dollars.

The executive power is vested in a governor and a council of five members. The legislature is composed of a senate of twelve members, and a house of representatives. Every town containing 150 ratable polls is entitled to send one representative, and one for every additional 300 polls. All the above officers are elected annually by the people, on the second Tuesday in March. The legislature meets annually on the first Wednesday in June. New Hampshire sends six representatives to congress.

New Hampshire was discovered in 1614 by captain Smith; and the first settlements, consisting of fishermen and planters, were established in 1623. In consequence of a disunion among the settlers, they renounced the right of self-government, and placed themselves under the state of Massachusetts. About the year 1680, however, it was again established into a royal government, which was dissolved by the provincial convention of 1775. Its present constitution was adopted in 1784.

HAMPTON, a town of Middlesex, on the Thames, twelve miles W. S. W. of London, and two from Richmond and Kingston. It is chiefly famous for its royal palace, called Hampton Court, built by Cardinal Wolsey, who furnished it richly, and had 280 silk beds here for strangers. The buildings, gardens, and two parks, to which William III. made considerable additions, are about four miles in circumference, and watered on three sides by the Thames. The grand facade along the Thames extends 328 feet; the portico, colonnade, and grand entrance, are executed in a magnificent style of architecture. On a pediment in the front of the palace is a bas-relief of the triumph of Hercules over Envy, opposite to which is a large oval bason. At the entrance of the grand walk are two marble vases of exquisite workmanship, one of them by