which have since been promulgated, evince its frequency and importance. Dr. Heberden communicated some other papers to the Royal Society, which were printed in its Transactions. For several years he enjoyed the rewards of a virtuous and temperate life in a healthy and peaceful old age, cheered by domestic enjoyments, and scientific and literary pursuits. He died calmly in 1801, after completing the ninetieth year of his age, and was buried in the parish church of Windsor. HEBERT (James Rene), a chief of one of the revolutionary factions of France, was born at Alençon, in the department of the Orne, about 1755; and supported himself, previously to the revolution, as a cheque-taker at the theatre des Variétés. He was dismissed, it is said, for dishonesty; after which he lived with a physician, whom he robbed. In 1789 he commenced political demagogue, and attracted notice by a journal entitled Le Père Duchesne, which abused the court and the monarchy. On the 10th of August, 1792, he became one of the members of the municipality of Paris; and was soon after nominated deputy of the national agent of the commune: it was then that, connecting himself intimately with Chaumette and Pache, he employed all his influence in forwarding a project to establish the authority of the commune on the ruins of the national representation. The Hebertists now rejected the advances of the Orleans party, and separated from the Cordeliers, of whom they had hitherto formed a part. The Girondists, who were at that period contending against the Mountain party, had credit enough to procure the arrest of Hebert, May 24th, 1793. He was defended by Murat in the convention; the deputies of all the sections spoke in his favor at the bar on the 25th; and, on the 27th, after a tempestuous session, he was again restored to liberty. Prompted by revenge, he now assisted with all his power in the proscription of the Brissotins. Their downfall hastened his own. Danton and Robespierre suspended their mutual jealousies to accomplish his destruction; and Hebert, with the greater part of his associates, was arrested, and condemned to death, March 24th, 1794. Besides his journal, he was the author of other political pieces of a similar description: he was the author of some of the basest calumnies on the unfortunate queen of France. HEBREW BIBLE. See BIBLE. of Hebrew characters; the ancient or square, and the modern or Rabbinical characters. or the HEBREW CHARACTER, ANCIENT, SQUARE HEBREW, takes this last denomination from the figure of its characters, which stand more square, and have their angles more exact text of Holy Scripture, and the principal and than the other. This character is used in the most important writings of the Jews. When both this and the rabbinical character are used, in the same work, the former is for the text, or the fundamental part; and the latter for the accessory part, as the gloss, notes, commentaries, &c. The best and most beautiful characters of this kind are those copied from the characters in the Spanish MSS.; next, those from the Italian MSS.; then those from the French; and, lastly, those of the Germans, whose characters are much the same, with respect to the other genuine square Hebrew characters, that the Gothic or Dutch characters are with respect to the Roman. Several authors contend that the square character is not the real ancient Hebrew character, written from the beginning of the language to the time of the Babylonish captivity; but that it is the Assyrian, or Chaldee character, which the Jews assumed, and accustomed themselves to, during the captivity, and retained afterwards. They say that the Jews, during their captivity, had quite disused their ancient character; so that Ezra found it necessary to have the sacred books transcribed into the Chaldean square character. These authors add, that what we call the Samaritan character, is the genuine ancient Hebrew. of this opinion are Scaliger, Bochart, Casaubon, Vossius, Grotius, Walton, Capellus, &c., and, among the ancients, Jerome and Eusebius. On this side it is urged, that the present characters are called Assyrian by the ancient Jewish writers of the Talmud, and therefore must have been brought from Assyria; but to this argument it is replied, that there were two sorts of characters anciently in use, viz. the sacred or present square character, and the profane or civil, which we call Samaritan; and that the sacred is called Assyrian, because it first began in Assyria to come into common use. It is farther alleged, that the Chaldee letters, which the Jews now use, were unknown to the ancient Jews before the captivity, from Dan. i. 4. It is also inferred from 2 Kings xvii. 28, where it is said that a Jewish priest was sent to teach the Samaritans the worship of Jehovah; on which occasion he must have taught them the law; and yet no mention is made of his teaching them the language or character, that the law was then written in, the character which the Samaritans used. But the chief argument is taken from some ancient Jew ish shekels, with a legend on one side, The shekel of Israel, and on the other Jerusalem, the holy, both in Samaritan characters. These shekels, it is said, must have been coined before the division of the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel, or at least before the Assyrian captivity, because the Samaritans never afterwards reckoned Jerusalem holy. On the other side, or for the primitive antiquity of the square character, are the two Buxtorfs, Leusden, Calovius, Hottinger, Spanheim, Lightfoot, &c. They urge, from Matthew v. 18, that jod is really the least of the consonants in the present Hebrew, whereas it is one of the largest characters in the Samaritan alphabet: but Walton replies, that, if our Saviour here speaks of the least letter of the alphabet, we can only infer, that the Chaldee character was used in our Saviour's time, which is not denied by those who maintain the Samaritan to be the original. They also allege, that the Jews were too obstinate and superstitious to allow their sacred character to be altered; but, if this was done under the direction and authority of Ezra, the argument will be much invalidated. Farther, they say that Ezra could not alter the ancient character, because it was impossible to make the alterations in all their copies. This argument, however, is contradicted by facts; since the old English black letter is actually changed for the Roman. They say, likewise, that Ezra was not disposed to profane the sacred writings with a heathen character; but this supposes that Ezra was so superstitious as to imagine that there was some peculiar sanctity in the shape of the letters. Moreover, the advocates for this opinion appeal to ancient coins found in Judea, with a legend in the Chaldee or Assyrian character. But the genuineness of these coins is suspected. The learned Jesuit Souciet maintains, with great address, that the ancient Hebrew character is that found on the medals of Simon, and others, commonly called Samaritan medals; but which, he asserts, were really Hebrew medals, struck by the Jews, and not the Samaritans. Buxtorf endeavours to reconcile these two opinions, by producing a variety of passages, from the rabbies, to prove that both these characters were anciently used; the present square character being that in which the tables of the law, and the copy deposited in the ark, were written; and the other character being used in the copies of the law which were written for private and common use, and in civil affairs in general; and that, after the captivity, Ezra enjoined the former to be used by the Jews on all occasions, leaving the latter to the Samaritans and apostates. But it can hardly be allowed by any who consider the difference between the Chaldee and Samaritan characters, with respect to convenience and beauty, that they were ever used at the same time. After all, it is of no great moment which of these, or whether either of them, were the original characters; since it appears, that no change of the words has arisen from the manner of writing them, because the Samaritan and Jewish Pentateuch almost always agree after so many ages. It is most probable that the form of these characters has varied in different periods; this appears from the testimony of Montfauçon, in his Hexapla Origenis, vol. i. p. 22, &c., and is implied in Dr. Kenni cot's making the characters in which MSS. are written one test of their age. HEBREW CHARACTER, MODERN, or the rabbinical Hebrew, is a good neat character, formed of the square Hebrew, by rounding it, and retrenching most of the angles or corners of the letters, to make it the more easy and flowing. The letters used by the Germans are very different from the rabbinical characters used every where else, though all formed alike from the square character, but the German in a more slovenly manner than the rest. The rabbies frequently make use either of their own, or the square Hebrew character, to write the modern languages in. There are even books in the vulgar tongues printed in Hebrew characters; instances whereof are seen in the late French king's library. See Plate ALPHABET. HEBREW LANGUAGE, RABBINICAL, or the modern Hebrew, is the language used by the rabbies in their writings. The basis or body hereof is the Hebrew and Chaldee, with divers alterations in the words of these two languages, the meanings of which they have considerably enlarged and extended. Abundance of phrases they have borrowed from the Arabic: the rest is chiefly composed of words and expressions from the Greek; some from the Latin; and others from the other modern tongues; particularly that spoken in the place where each rabbi lived or wrote. The rabbinical Hebrew must be allowed to be a very copious language. M. Simon, in his Hist. Crit. du Vieux Testam. liv. iii. ch. 27, observes, that there is scarcely any art or science but the rabbies have treated thereof in it. They have translated most of the ancient philosophers, mathematicians, astronomers, and physicians; and have written themselves on most subjects; they do not want even orators and poets. HEBREWS, or EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS, a canonical book of the New Testament. Though St. Paul did not affix his name to this epistle, the concurrent testimony of the best authors ancient and modern afford such evidence of his being the author of it, that the objections to the contrary are of little or no weight. The Hebrews, to whom this epistle was written, were the believ ing Jews of Palestine; and its design was to convince them, and by their means all the Jewish converts wheresoever dispersed, of the insufficiency and abolition of the ceremonial and ritual law. HEBRIDES, ÆBUDÆ, or Western Islands, the general name of two archipelagos of islands, lying to the north-west of Scotland, and situated between 55° and 59° N. lat. : they are supposed to be about 300 in number, and to contain 50,000 inhabitants. Not above thirty of them, however, are of any consequence We shall commence our notice with those nearest the main, going from south to north. Elsa or Ailsa is a perpendicular rock of great height two miles in circuit, with only one landing place at a little beach on the north-east. It pastures some goats, abounds in rabbits, and is the resort of Soland geese, whose young and feathers, as well as the rabbit skins, pay the £33, at which it is rented from the earl of Cassilis. On the north-east side is a square tower of three vaulted stories. Ghia, two miles from the west coast of Kintyre, is six miles long and one broad, with 500 inhabitants; it produces barley, oats, and flax, and in 1772 afforded a rent of £600. Cara, south of Ghia, is three miles in circuit, and inhabited by a single family. Ilay, one of the most fertile of the islands, is twenty-eight miles long and sixteeen broad. On the north it forms the deep Loch Indal, a good harbour; it contains mines of lead and other minerals, and has several lakes. The population is 7000, and in 1772 it afforded a rent of £2300. Bowmore, the chief place, is on Loch Indal, and is a good village with a fair and market. Jura is separated from Ila by Ila Sound, one mile broad. The island is ten leagues long and one or two broad, forming two peninsulas; it is one of the most rocky and rugged of the Hebrides, rising near the south end in several conical summits, called the Paps of Jura, the highest of which, named Ben-an-oir, or the Golden Mountain, has 3000 feet elevation. Red deer are still found in the mountains, and abundance of grouse and moor game. There are two good harbours on the east side, but the whole business of the island employs only a few open boats. The population is 1200. Colonsay, a rocky island three leagues long and two broad, has 500 inhabitants. Oransay is separated from Colonsay by a channel dry at low water; it is three miles long, and the population is 300. These islands have great numbers of rabbits, but no hares. Scarba is separated from Jura by the strait of Corryvreken, noted for its whirlpool. The island is three miles long, very rugged, and mountainous. Long Island and Balnanaigh are small islands, composed entirely of slate. Suyl is separated from the main land of Argyle by a channel so narrow, that a bridge of a single arch has been thrown across it. Easdale is an entire rock of slate, from which 5,000,000 of slates are exported to England, Norway, and Canada. Kerrera, a mile from the main land of Lorn, is four miles long and two broad; it has two good harbours. Mull is separated from the peninsula of Morvern, in Argyle, by a strait one mile and a half broad. It is eight leagues long and five broad, rugged and mountainous, but with good pasture and some corn land; it has 6000 inhabitants, and is the joint property of the duke of Argyle and the M'Leans. Tobermoray, the chief place, is a village on the north-east with a good haven, where a fishing station has been founded. Ulva is a small island in Loch Tua, on the west of Mull, the property of the family of M'Quarrie. Inch Kenneth, in the same loch, is a little fertile island, with the vestiges of a chapel. Icolumkill, Iona or Hii, one of the most fertile and romantic of the Scottish islands, is two miles and a half long and one broad, with 150 inhabitants in two or three hamlets, who export some cattle and grain; it is the property of the duke of Argyle, and is celebrated for having afforded an asylum to St. Columba and other holy men, after the introduction of Christianity. The ancient cathedral of St. Mary is a beautiful structure, and contains the ashes of some Scottish, Irish, and Norwegian kings, as well as the tomb of St. Columba, and many inscriptions relative to the religious ceremonies of the primitive British Christians. Staffa, one mile long and half a mile broad, is an immense pile of basaltic columns arranged in natural colonades, and exceeding in magnificence any thing of the kind in any other part of the world. The cave of Fingal is a natural cavern, 371 feet long, fifty-three broad, and 117 high, supported by pillars of this substance. A single family inhabit this island. The Threshanish are three islands between Mull and Coll. Coll is four leagues long and one broad; it is a great rock thinly covered with soil, producing a quantity of kelp, which is exported chiefly to Ireland. It has not a single tree, and several tracts of land formerly cultivated are now rendered barren by the sand blown from the shores. The streams are numerous, and it has forty-eight lakes, abounding in trout. It has a lead mine, not worked; has no foxes, which are met with on the other islands, but abundance of rabbits; contains 1000 inhabitants, and is the property of the duke of Argyle and M'Lean, and with Tirey forms a parish. Locheern on the east is a good harbour. Tirey is four leagues long and one broad is generally level and fertile, and has quarries of a fine rose-colored marble. It has no haven for any thing else but boats; has twenty-four lakes, and is said to be unhealthy. It rears cattle, horses and sheep, and exports 250 tons of kelp; a regular ferry boat crosses between this island and Coll, and between the latter and Mull. Lismore Island, before the entrance of Loch Linne, is a vast mass of limestone, but covered with a good soil. Tradition says it was anciently a deer forest, and very large deer and ox horns are found in the soil. It was also the ancient residence of the bishops of Argyle; it has 1000 inhabitants. Rum is three leagues long and two broad; has not above 200 inhabitants, who rear cattle and sheep; it has several rivulets, in which are salmon. Loch Serefort on the east is a good harbour. Egg, four miles long and two broad, is hilly and generally rocky. Muck, two or three miles long and one broad, is low, with a good soil; but without port, except for boats. Cannay, three miles long and one broad, is only worthy of notice for a hill, near which the magnetic needle takes a reversed direction, whence it is called Compass Hill. It has a good haven, formed by the little island Sanday, on the north-east. Basaltic columns are seen on its shores. Sky, the largest of the islands near the main, is fifteen leagues long and from two to six broad; the strait between it and the main is only a quarter of a mile broad in one place, and is the usua. track of ships bound to and from Norway. The whole island is composed of rocky mountains, and the coasts are so indented that every mile presents a harbour. The climate is cold and damp; the rivers abound with salmon, and the sea lochs with sea fish. In 1750 the population was estimated at 15,000, but in 1772 was reduced to 1200, chiefly by emigration to America. Strath, the principal place of the island, is on the south-east. Dunvegan Castle, at the head of Loch Follart, on the north, is the residence of M'Leod, who has the title of laird of Sky. Of the great number of rocky islets round Sky, one only is noticed by travellers: it is named Bord Cruin, or the Round Table, and is the easternmost of several islets off the point of Slate, the south-west of Sky; it is 500 yards in circuit. with perpendicular sides, leaving but one landing place, from which the ascent to the top is by a spiral path that admits but one person. In the middle of the platform on the summit is a well of fresh water. Rasay, between Sky and the main, is four leagues long and one broad; though generally rocky, it produces pasture and corn, and has some plane, ash, and fir trees; the highest point is named by the people Dunlan, and by seamen Rasay's Cap. The island has lime and freestone; it is considered the most humid of the chain, having near 300 rainy days in the year. Rona, north of Rasay, three miles long and one broad, though very stony has some pasture. The little island Flodda-huan, on the north side of Sky, is remarkable for the annual periodical arrival of flocks of plovers from Sky in September, and their return in April. The western Scottish islands, the Habudes of the ancients, lie in a semicircle from south-west to north-east, and are separated by narrow straits filled with rocks, having the appearance of originally forming one land. The physical construction of this chain is worthy of notice; towards the west they are all flat, while they ascend towards the east, and at last form a precipitous ridge. This conformation exposes them to the whole force of the western winds and waves from the Atlantic, and the encroachment of the sea on this side is very observable. The rocks are primary, and their structure different from that of the continental islands or main land, all of which dip towards the east. The climate of these islands is divided into a wet and dry season, the former commencing in September and lasting till May the summers are hot. The vegetables that the climate permits to be successfully cultivated are flax, hemp, potatoes, and barley. The sheep and black cattle are small, but numerous. The channel between this chain and the main land is I called the Minsh. : The southern cluster is called Bishop's Islands; the other principal ones in succession are Watersay, three miles long. Barray, eight miles long and two broad, is intersected by several sea lochs; it is barren and mountainous. South Uist is thirty miles long and two to three broad; it has several sea lochs, affording good anchorage, and rears numbers of horses, cattle, and sheep. Benbicula, ten miles in circuit, is only deserving notice for the ruins of a nunnery. North Uist, five leagues long and three broad, is hilly on the east and fit for pasture only: on the west it is level, and produces corn ten to twenty fold. Loch Momoddy on the east is a great rendezvous of fishing boats, 400 vessels having loaded here in a season. There are several other inlets for vessels on the east side, but the west is inaccessible. Berneeiary, a little island between North Uist and Harris, has a fresh lake, frequented by innumerable sea birds; it is inhabited, as are those of Pabbay, Calligray, and Eusay. Harris is a peninsula joined to the island of Lewis by an isthmus a quarter of a mile broad; it belongs to the family of M'Leod, who reside on it, and have constructed a basin and quay for shipping at Loch Lodwell on the east. This island, including Lewis, is mountainous and rocky, except the west coast, which is bordered by a strip of level ground. Taransay, Scalpay, and Scarp, are three smal! inhabited islands west of Harris. On the east point of Scalpay is a light-house, and near its west side two good harbours. The Aire of Lewis, a peninsula on the east coast, and on the same coast is Stornaway, at the head of a loch, the only town of the Hebrides, with 2000 inhabitants: its houses are of stone slated, and it has a church and custom-house. The Butt of Lewis, or Cape Orby, is the north point of the island. The detached islands belonging to the Hebrides are St. Kilda or Hirta, a solitary rock fifteen leagues off Lewis. It is about three leagues ir circuit, rising to a mountain named Congara, 5400 feet above the sea; its shores are so rocky that there is but one landing place on the east, and this only practicable in fair weather; it is inhabited by about twenty-seven families in a hamlet on the east, who cultivate eighty acres of land, raise cattle, and take sea birds. Soa is a high steep rock, a mile in circuit, half a mile from the west side of Kilda. The Flannan Islands, or Seven Hunters, are five leagues west of Galleyhead, in Lewis. Barra and Rona are two high, rocky, and barren islets twenty leagues north of the Butt of Lewis, from which they are visible in clear weather. Rona, the northern, is two miles in circuit, and surrounded by rocks. In the most northerly isles, the sun, at the summer solstice, is not above an hour under the horizon at midnight, and not longer above it at mid-day in the depth of winter. The soil of the Hebrides varies also in different isles, and in different parts of the same island. Lead mines have been discovered in some of these islands, but not worked to much advantage; others have been found to contain quarries of marble, limestone, and free-stone; nor are they destitute of iron, talc, crystals, and many curious pebbles, some of which emulate the Brasilian topaz. With respect to vegetables, over and above the plentiful harvests of corn that the natives earn from agriculture, and the pot-herbs and roots that are planted in gardens for the sustenance of the people, these islands produce spontaneously a variety of plants and simples, used by the islanders in the cure of their diseases; but there is hardly a shrub or tree to be seen, except in a very few spots, where some gentlemen have endeavoured to rear them with much more trouble than success. The animals, both of the land and sea, domestic and wild, quadrupeds, fowls, and fishes, found in and about these islands, are of the same species, size, and configuration, with those of the Orkneys. Mr. Pennant has given a full history of these islands from their supposed visitation by Pytheas. If we may credit our Saxon historians, they appear to have been early under the dominion of the Picts. The first invasion of the Danes does not seem to be easily ascertained. It appears that they ravaged Ireland, and the isle Rathry, as early as the year 735. In the following century their expeditions became more frequent. Harold Harfager, or the lighthaired, pursued hither, in 875, several petty princes, whom he had expelled out of Norway. Ile seems to have made a rapid conquest: put to death the chief of the pirates, and made an indiscriminate slaughter of their followers. Soon after his return the islanders re-possessed their ancient seats: and, in order to repress their insults, he sent Ketil, the flat-nosed, with a fleet and some forces for that purpose. This chief soon reduced them to terms, and sent back the fleet to Harold; openly declared himself the independent prince of the Hebrides; and caused them to acknowledge him as such, by the payment of tribute. Ketil remained, during life, master of the islands; and his subjects appear to have been a set of warlike freebooters. After the death of Ketil a kingdom was in aftertimes composed out of them, which, from the residence of the little monarch in the Isle of Man, was styled that of Man. The islands became tributary to that of Norway for a considerable time, and princes were sent thence to govern; but at length they again shook off the yoke. From the chronicles of the kings of Man we learn, that they had then a succession of princes. In 1093 Donald Bane, king of Scotland, called in the assistance of Magnus, the barefooted, king of Norway, and bribed him with the promise of all the islands. Magnus accepted the terms; but at the same time boasted that he did not come to invade the territories of others, but only to resume the ancient rights of Norway. His conquests were rapid and complete; for, besides the islands, by an ingenious fraud, he added Cantyre to his dominions. The Hebrides continued governed by a prince dependent on Norway. These viceroys were sometimes Norwegians, sometimes natives of the isles. In 1097 we find, that Magnus deputed a nobleman of the name of Ingemund; in after times we learn, that natives were appointed to that high office. Thus were the Hebrides.governed, from the conquest by Magnus, till the year 1263, when Acho, or Haquin, king of Norway, by an unfortunate invasion of Scotland, terminating in his defeat at Largs, so weakened the powers of his kingdom, that his successor Magnus IV. was content to make a cession of the islands to Alexander III.; but not without stipulating for the payment of a large sum, and of a tribute of 100 marks for ever, which bore the name of the annual of Norway. VOL. XI The islands still remained governed by powerful chieftains, who were the scourges of the kingdom. Encouraged by their distance from the seat of royalty, and the turbulence of the times, they exercised a regal power, and often assumed the title; but are more generally known in history by the style of the lords of the isles, or the earls of Ross; and sometimes by that of the Great M'Donald. Historians are silent about their proceedings, from the retreat of the Danes, in 1263, till that of 1533, when John, lord of the isles, withdrew his allegiance. In the beginning of the next century his successors were so independent, that Henry IV. entered into a formal alliance with the brothers Donald and John. This encouraged them to commit fresh hostilities against their natural prince. Donald, under a pretence of a claim to the earldom of Ross, invaded and made a conquest of that county; but, penetrating as far as the shire of Aberdeen, after a fierce but undecisive battle with the royal party, thought proper to retire, and in a little time to swear allegiance to his monarch, James I. of Scotland. But he was permitted to retain the county of Ross, and assume the title of earl. His successor, Alexander, at the head of 10,000 men, attacked and burnt Inverness; at length, terrified with the preparations made against him, he fell at the royal feet, and obtained pardon as to life, but was committed to strict confinement. His kinsman and deputy, Donald Balloch, resenting the imprisonment of his chieftain, excited another rebellion, and destroyed the country with fire and sword: but on his flight was taken and put to death by an Irish chieftain, with whom he sought protection. In the reign of James II., in 1461, Donald another petty tyrant, an earl of Ross, and lord of the isles, renewed the claim of independency; surprised the castle of Inverness; forced his way as far as Athol; and obliged the earl and countess, with the principal inhabitants, to seek refuge in the church of St. Bridget, in hope of finding security from his cruelty by the sanctity of the place; but the barbarian and his followers set fire to the church, put the ecclesiastics to the sword, and, with a great booty, carried the earl and the countess prisoners to his castle of Claig, in the island of Ilay. In a second expedition, immediately following the first, he suffered the penalty of his impiety: a tempest overtook him, and overwhelmed most of his associates; and he, escaping to Inverness, perished by the hands of an Irish harper: his surviving followers returned to Ilay, conveyed the earl and countess of Athol to the sanctuary they had violated, and expiated their crime by restoring the plunder, and making large donations to the shrine of the offended saint. John, successor to the last earl of Ross, entered into alliance with Edward IV., and sent ambassadors to the court of England, where Edward empowered the bishop of Durham and earl of Winchester to conclude a treaty with him, another Donald Balloch, and his son and heir, John. They agreed to serve the king with all their power, and so became his subjects: the earl was to have 100 marks sterling for life in K |