packs, consisting of hounds entirely different in size and color, often afford very good sport. It is only necessary that they should run well together; to which indeed a uniformity in size and shape seems to contribute. The pack that can run ten miles, or any other considerable space, in the shortest time, may be said to go fastest, though the hounds taken separately might be considerably inferior to others in swiftness. A pack of hounds, considered in a collective body, go fast in proportion to the excellence of their noses and the head they carry. Packs composed of hounds of various kinds seldom run well. When the packs are very large the hounds are seldom sufficiently hunted to be good; twenty or thirty couple therefore, or at most forty, will be sufficient for the keenest sportsman in this country, as thus he may be enabled to hunt three or even four times a week. The number of hounds to be kept must, however, in a consider able degree, depend on the strength of the pack and the country in which they hunt. They should be left at home as seldom as possible: and too many old hounds should not be kept. None ought to be kept above five or six seasons, though this also is somewhat uncertain, as we have no rule for judging how long a hound will last. In breeding of hounds considerable attention ought to be paid to the dog from which you breed. All such are to be rejected as have a tender nose, as are babblers or skirters. An old dog should never be put to an old bitch. January, February, and March, are the best months for breeding; late puppies seldom thrive. After the females begin to grow big with young, it will not be proper to let them hunt any more, or indeed to remain for a much longer time in the kennel. Sometimes these animals will have an extraordinary number of whelps. Mr. Beckford informs us, that he has known a bitch have fifteen puppies at a litter; and he assures us, that a friend of his informed him, that a hound in his pack brought forth sixteen, all alive. In these cases it is proper to put some of the puppies to another bitch, if you want to keep them all; but, if any are destroyed, the best colored ought to be kept. The bitches should not only have plenty of flesh, but milk also; and the puppies should not be taken from them till they are able to take care of themselves: their mothers will be relieved when they learn to lap milk, which they will do in a short time. After the puppies are taken away from their mother, the litter should have three purging balls given them, one every other morning, and plenty of whey the intermediate day. If a bitch bring only one or two puppies, and you have another that will take them, by putting the puppies to her the former will soon be fit to hunt again. She should, however, be first physicked, and it will also be of service to anoint her dugs with brandy and water. Whelps are very liable to the distemper, to which dogs in general are subject, and which frequently makes great havock among them at their walks. Young hounds should be fed twice a-day, as they seldom take kindly to the kennel-meat at first, and the distemper is most apt to seize them at this time. It is impossible to determine how many young hounds ought to be bred in order to keep up the pack. as this depends altogether on contingencies. The deficiencies of one year must be supplied by the next; but it is probable, that from thirty to thirty-five couple of old hounds, and from eight to thirty-five couple of young ones, will answer the purpose, where no more than forty couple are to be kept. A considerable number, however, ought always to be bred; for it is undoubtedly and evidently true, that those who breed the greatest number of hounds must expect the best pack. After the bounds have become acquainted with the huntsman, and answer to their names, they ought to be coupled, and walked out among sheep; and two dogs should not be coupled together, when you can avoid it. As young hounds are awkward at first, a few ought only to be set out at a time with people on foot, and they will soon afterwards follow a horse. With regard to the first entering of hounds to a scent, our author gives the following directions:-"You had better enter them at their own game; it will save you much trouble afterwards. Many dogs, I believe, like that scent best which they were first blooded to: but, be this as it may, it is most certainly reasonable to use them to that which it is intended they should hunt. Hounds ought to be entered as soon as possible, though the time must depend on the nature of the country in which they are. In corn countries hunting may not be practicable till the corn is cut down; but you may begin sooner in grass countries, and at any time in woodlands. Hounds at their first entrance cannot be encouraged too much. When they are become handy, love a scent, and begin to know what is right, it will then be soon enough to chastise them for what is wrong; in which case one severe beating will save a great deal of trouble. When a hound is flogged, the whipper-in should make use of his voice as well as his whip. They should be low in flesh when you begin to hunt; the ground being generally hard at that time, so that they are very liable to be shaken. Sometimes the huntsman turns down a cat before them, which they kill; and, when the time of hunting approaches, he turns out young foxes or badgers; taking out some of the most steady of his old hounds to lead on the young ones. Small covers and furze brakes are drawn with them to use them to a halloo, and to teach them obedience. If they find improper game, and hunt it, they are stopped and brought back; and, as long as they will stop at a rate, they are not chastised. To render fox-hunting complete, no young hounds should be taken into the pack the first season; a requisite too expensive for most sportsmen. The pack should consist of about forty couple of hounds, that have hunted one, two, three, four, or five seasons. The young pack should consist of about twenty couple of young hounds, and an equal number of old ones. They should have a separate establishment, and the two kennels should not be too near one another. When the season is over, the best of the young bounds should be taken into the pack, and the draft of old ones exchanged for them. Many must be bred to enable a sportsman to take in twenty couple of young hounds every season. It will always be easy to keep up the number of old hounds; for, when your own draft is not sufficient, drafts from other packs may be obtained, and at a small expense. When young hounds are hunted together for the first season, and have not a sufficient number of old ones along with them, it does more harm than good.' HOUP, n.s. Lat. upupa. The pewet or lapwing. HOU-QUANG, a province of China, in the centre of the empire; divided into two parts by the Yang-tse-kiang. The greater part of it is level, and watered by lakes, canals, and rivers; which render it so fertile that the Chinese call it the storehouse of the empire; and it is a saying among them, that the abundance of Kiang-si could furnish all China with a breakfast; but the province of Hou-quang could maintain all its inhabitants. Some princes of the race of Hongvou formerly resided in this province; but that family was entirely destroyed by the Tartars when they conquered China. The people here boast much of their cotton cloths, simples, gold mines, wax, and paper made of the bambooreed. The northern part of the province contains eight cities of the first class, and sixty of the second and third. The southern comprehends seven of the first class, and fifty-four of the second and third, exclusive of forts, towns, and villages, which are numerous. HOUR, n. s. Fr. heure; Latin HOUR GLASS, n. s. hora; Gr. ωρα. The HOURLY, adj. & adv. twenty-fourth part of HOUR PLATE, n. s. a natural day; the HOURS, n. s. space of sixty mi nutes; a particular time; the time as marked by the clock. Hourglass, a glass filled with sand, which, by running through a narrow hole, marks the time; the space of time. Hourly, happening every hour; frequently; often repeated. Hour-plate, the dial; the plate on which the hours pointed by the hand of a clock are inscribed. Hours, personification of imaginary beings. Ther shal not perishe an here of his hed, ne a moment of an houre ne shall not perishe of his time, that he ne shal yeve thereof a rekening. Chaucer. The Persones Tale. The thridde houre inequal that Palamon And to the temple of Diane gan hie. Id. The Knightes Tale. Whose silver gates (by which there sate an hory Old aged sire with hower-glasse in hand Night tyme) she entred, were he lief or sory. Spenser's Faerie Queene. -Then came the Howres, faire of high love, And timely Night, the which were all ende wed With wondrous beauty fit to kindle love; But they were virgins all, and love eschewed That might forslack the charge to them fore-shewed By mighty love; who did them porters make Of beaven's gate (whence all the gods issued) Which they did dayly watch and nightly wake By even turnes, ne ever did their charge forsake. Id. Vexation almost stops my breath, That sundered friends greet in the hour of death. Shakspeare. Computes how many nights he had been gone, Observes the waining moon with hourly view, Numbers her age, and wishes for a new. Love reckons hours for months, and days for years, And every little absence is an age. Id. Shake not his hourglass, when his hasty sand Is ebbing to the last. Id. Spanish Friar. The conscious wretch must all his arts reveal, From the first moment of his vital breath, To his last hour of unrepenting death. Id. Æneid. If eyes could not view the hand, and the characters of the hourplate, and thereby at a distance see what o'clock it was, their owner could not be much bencLockc. fited by that acuteness. Our neighbour let her floor to a genteel man, who Tatler. kept good hours. They are as loud any hour of the morning, as our own countrymen at midnight. Addison. We must live in hourly expectation of having those troops recalled, which they now leave with us. Swift. No more in vain conjecture let me wear My hours away, but seek the hermit's cell; "Tis he my doubt can clear, perhaps my care dispel. Beattie. Thine are the hours and days when both are cheering And innocent! Byron. Within few hours I shall not call in vainYet in this hour I dread the thing I dare: Until this hour I never shrunk to gaze On spirit good or evil, now I tremble, And feel a strange cold thaw about my heart. Id. Manfred. I have epigrams that want nothing but the sting; conundrums, that need nothing but an explanation; rebusses and acrostics, that will be complete with the addition of the name only. These being in great request may be had at an hour's warning. Canning. Microcosm. Hon. An hour, with us, is a measure of time, equal to a twenty-fourth part of the natural day, or the duration of the twenty-fourth part of the earth's diurnal rotation. It answers nearly to fifteen degrees of the equator. It is divided into sixty minutes; the minute into sixty seconds, &c. The division of the day is very ancient; as it is shown by Kircher. The most ancient hour was the twelfth part of the day. Herodotus, lib. ii., says that the Greeks learnt from the Egyptians the method of dividing the day into twelve parts. The division of the day into twenty-four hours was net known to the Romans before the first Punic war. Till that time they only regulated their days by the rising and setting of the sun. They divided the twelve hours of the day and night into four watches, containing three hours each. See CHRONOLOGY. HOURS, horæ, in the Romish church, are certain prayers performed at stated times of the day; as matins, vespers, lauds, &c. The less hours are, prime, tierce, sixth, and none. They are called canonical hours, being rehearsed at certain hours prescribed by the canons, in commemoration of the mysteries accomplished at those hours; these hours were anciently called also courses, cursus. The first constitution, enjoining the observation of the canonical hours, is of the ninth century, in a capitular of Heito, bishop of Basil, enjoining the priests never to be absent at the canonical hours by day or night. HOURIS, in Mahommedan theology, females promised to the faithful in paradise; formed for this purpose, with eternal beauty and undecaying charms. HOUSATONICK, a river of Connecticut, United States, which rises in Berkshire county, and runs a south-east course along the whole breadth of the state; emptying itself into Long Island Sound, between Stratford and Milford. It is navigable to Derby about twelve miles; and above that is well adapted for machinery. A bar of shells at its mouth obstructs the navigation of large vessels. Between Salisbury and Canaan is a cataract, where the whole water of the river, which is 150 yards wide, falls sixty feet perpendicularly. HOUSE, n. s., v. a. & v. n. Sax. þur; Bel. huys; Scott. huse. A place of human I wol you all the shape devise In the subarbes of the town, of chambres and of halles, And all other houseing that to a lord belongit; Mere cottagers are but housed beggars. Id. Upon the North-sea a valley houseth a gentleman, who hath worn out his former name. Carewo. Nor were the crimes objected against him so clear, as to give convincing satisfaction to the major part of both houses, especially that of the lords. King Charles. To house with darkness and with death. Milton. Sidney. Pure spiritual substances we cannot converse with, therefore have need of means of communication, which some make to be the celestial houses: those who are for the celestial houses worship the planets, as the habitations of intellectual substances that animate them. Stillingfleet. By delaying my last fine, upon your grace's acces Sabode, in place sion to the patrimonies of your house, I may seem to where studious or religious persons live in common, as a monastery; a college: the manner of living; station of a planet astrologically considered; family of ancestors; descendants and kindred a body of parliament assembled, as lords or commons. House, to harbour; shelter; to reside, or take up one's abode; to have an astrological station in the heavens. Housing, quantity of inhabited building. From Fr. houseaur, heuses, or houses. Cloth originally used to keep off dirt, now added to saddles as ornamental. Housling, a house warming; something provided for entertainment at first entrance into a house. Houss has the same meaning with housing, but is an obsolete word. House is frequently used in composition, as in the examples which follow: have made a forfeiture. Dryden. Theodosius arrived at a religious house in the city, where now Constantia resided. Addison. He kept a miserable house, but the blame was laid wholly upon madam. Swift. In a house the doors are moveable, and the rooms square; yet the house is neither moveable nor square. Watts. Is thy face like thy mother's my fair child! Ada sole daughter of my house and heart. Byron. Childe Harold. By what shadow of argument could the House of Lords be maintained in equal authority and jurisdiction with the House of Commons, when once that House of Commons should become a mere deputation, speaking the people's will, and that will the rule of government. Canning's Speeches. HOUSE. See ARCHITECTURE. Among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans, houses were flat on the top for walking on, and had usually stairs on the outside, by which they might ascend and descend without coming into the house. Each house was so laid out, that it enclosed a quadrangular area or court; which being open to the sky, gave light to it. This was the place where company was received, and for that purpose it was strewed with mats or carpets, for their better accommodation. It was paved with marble or other materials, according to the owner's ability, and provided with covering to shelter them from the inclemency of the weather. This part of their houses, called by the Romans impluvium, or cava ædium, was provided with channels to carry off the water into the common sewers. The level roof was covered with a strong plaster by way of terrace. Hither, especially among the Jews, it was customary to retire for meditation, private converse, devotion, or the enjoyment of the evening breezes. It is surprising that so few modern houses are built with this convenience. The Grecian houses were usually divided into two parts, in which the men and women had distinct mansions. The apartment of the men was towards the gate, and called Avopwvirig; that of the women was the farthest part of the house, and called гvvaikovitis. HOUSE, in astrology, is the twelfth part of the heavens. The division of the heavens into houses is founded upon the pretended influence of the stars, when meeting in them, on all sublunary bodies. These influences are supposed to be good or bad; and to each of these houses particular virtues are assigned, on which astrologers prepare and form a judgment of their horoscopes. The horizon and meridian are two circles of the celestial houses, which divide the heavens into four equal parts, each containing three houses; six of which are above the horizon, and six below it; and six of these are called eastern, and six western houses. Thus a scheme or figure of the heavens is composed of twelve triangles, in which are marked the stars, signs, and planets, so included in each of these circles. Every planet has likewise two particular houses, in which it is pretended that they exert their influence in the strongest manner; but the sun and moon have only one, the house of the former being Leo, and that of the latter Cancer. See ASTROLOGY. HOUSE ISLAND, an island of England, one mile and sixty-eight chains from the coast of VOL. XI. Northumberland. It is the largest of the Farn Islands. Farn is about a mile in compass, and has a fort and a lighthouse. It contains about six or seven acres of rich pasture; and the shore abounds with good coals which are dug at the ebb of tide. St. Cuthbert is said to have passed the last two years of his life on this island. A priory of Benedictines was afterwards established in it for six or eight monks, subordinate to Durham. A square tower, the remains of a church, and some other buildings, are still to be seen on this island; and a stone coffin, said to be that of St. Cuthbert. At the north end of the isle is a chasm, from the top to the bottom of the rock, communicating with the sea; through which, in tempestuous weather, the water is forced with great violence and noise, and forms a fine jet d' eau of sixty feet high. It is called by the inhabitants of the opposite coast, the Churn. HOUSE BREAKER, n. s. House and break. Burglar; one who makes his way into houses to steal. All housebreakers and sharpers had thief written on their foreheads. L'Estrange. HOUSE BREAKING, n. s. House and break. Burglary. When he hears of a rogue to be tried for robbing or housebreaking, he will send the whole paper to the government. Swift. HOUSE DOG, n. s. House and dog. A mastiff kept to guard the house. A very good housedog, but a dangerous cur to strangers, had a bell about his neck. L'Estrange. You see the goodness of the master even in the Addison. old housedog. House and hold. A HOUSEHOLD, n. s. Two households, both alike in dignity, A little kingdom is a great household, and a great household a little kingdom. Bacon's Advice to Vil. Of God observed of men, a peculiar household of his love, which at all times he has cherished as a father, and governed as a master: this is the proper household of faith in the first ages of the world, 'twas sometimes literally no more than a single household, or some few families. Sprat. Great crimes must be with greater crimes repaid, Dryden's Fables. Learning's little household did embark, In his own church he keeps a scat, An inventory, thus importing Id. Shakspeare. 2 F It is used in the manner of an adjective, to signify domestic; belonging to the family. Cornelius called two of his household servants. Acts x. 7. For nothing lovelier can be found Milton. It would be endless to enumerate the oaths among the men, among the women the neglect of household Swift. affairs. Couper. HIS We sacrifice to dress, till household joys And comforts cease. HOUSEHOLD, PRINCIPAL OFFICERS OF MAJESTY'S. These are the lord steward, lord chamberlain, the groom of the stole, the master of the great wardrobe, and the master of the horse. The civil government of the king's house is under the care of the lord steward, who, beng the chief officer, has authority over all the other officers and servants, except those of his majesty's chapel, chamber, and stable; and he Is the judge of all crimes committed either within the verge or the court. Under him are the treasurer, the comptroller, cofferer, the master of the household, the clerks of the greencloth, and the officers and servants belonging to the accounting house, the marshalsea, the verge, the king's kitchen, the household kitchen, the acatery, bake-house, pantry, buttery, cellar, pastry, &c. Next to him is the lord chamberlain, who has under him the vice-chamberlain, the treasurer, and comptroller of the chamber; forty-eight gentlemen of the privy-chamber, twelve of whom wait quarterly; the gentleman usher, the grooms of the great chamber, the pages of the presence chamber; the macebearers, cup-bearers, carvers, musicians, &c. The master or keeper of the great wardrobe has ander him a deputy,comptroller, clerk of the robes, brusher, &c.; and a number of tradesmen and artificers, who are all sworn servants to the king. The master of the horse has under his command the equerries, pages, footmen, grooms, coachmen, farriers, saddlers, and all the other officers and tradesmen employed in his majesty's stables. Next to the civil list of the king's court, is the military, consisting of the band of gentlemen pensioners, the yeomen of the guard, and the troops of the household. HOUSEHOLDER, n. s. From household. Master of a family. A certain householder planted a vineyard. Matt. xxi. An householder, and that a grete was he. Chaucer. Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. HOUSEHOLDSTUFF, n. s. Household and stuff. Furniture of house; utensils convement for a family. In this war that he maketh, he still flicth from his fo, and lurketh in the thick woods, waiting for adntages: his cloke is his bed, yea, and his householdSpenser on Ireland. 1 great part of the building was consumed, with much costly hseholdstuff. A woman had her jest for her householdstuff. Bacon. L'Estrange. HOUSEKEEPER, n. s. House and keep. Householder; master of a family. To be said an honest man and a good housekeeper. goes as fairly as to say a graceful man and a great scholar. Shakspeare. If I may credit housekeepers and substantial tradesmen, all sorts of provisions and commodities are risen excessively. Locke. One who lives in plenty; one that exercises hospitality. The people are apter to applaud housekeepers than house raisers. Wotton. One who lives much at home. How do you both? You are manifest housekeepers. What are you sewing there? Shakspeare. Coriolanus. A woman servant that has the care of a family, and superintends the other maid servants, Merry folks who want by chance Swift. Shakspeare. HOUSEKEEPING, adj. House and keep. Domestic; useful to a family. His house for pleasant prospect, large scope, and other housekeeping commodities, challengeth the preCarew. eminence. |