began a connexion which was to last over twenty years, and which proved most fruitful both for the reputation of the two authors and the prosperity of the minor Paris theatres. Their joint works may be divided into three classes: the opérettes, the farces, the comedies. The opérettes afforded excellent opportunities to a gifted musician for the display of his peculiar humour. They were broad and lively libels against the society of the time, but savoured strongly of the vices and follies they were supposed to satirize. Amongst the most celebrated works of the joint authors were La Belle Hélène (1864), Barbe Bleue (1866), La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein (1867), and La Périchole (1868). After 1870 the vogue of Parody rapidly declined. The decadence became still more apparent when Offenbach was no longer at hand to assist the two authors with his quaint musical irony, and when they had to deal with interpreters almost destitute of singing powers. They wrote farces of the old type, consisting of complicated intrigues, with which they cleverly interwove the representation of contemporary whims and social oddities. They generally failed when they attempted comedies of a more serious character and tried to introduce a higher sort of emotion. A solitary exception must be made in the case of Frou-frou (1869), which, owing perhaps to the admirable talent of Aimée Desclée, remains their unique succès de larmes.
Meilhac and Halévy will be found at their best in light sketches of Parisian life, Les Sonnettes, Le Roi Candaule, Madame attend Monsieur, Toto chez Tata. In that intimate association between the two men who had met so opportunely on the perron des variétés, it was often asked who was the leading partner. The question was not answered until the connexion was finally severed and they stood before the public, each to answer for his own work. It was then apparent that they had many gifts in common. Both had wit, humour, observation of character. Meilhac had a ready imagination, a rich and whimsical fancy; Halévy had taste, refinement and pathos of a certain kind. Not less clever than his brilliant comrade, he was more human. Of this he gave evidence in two delightful books, Monsieur et Madame Cardinal (1873) and Les Petites Cardinal, in which the lowest orders of the Parisian middle class are faithfully described. The pompous, pedantic, venomous Monsieur Cardinal will long survive as the true image of sententious and self-glorifying immorality. M. Halévy’s peculiar qualities are even more visible in the simple and striking scenes of the Invasion, published soon after the conclusion of the Franco-German War, in Criquette (1883) and L’Abbé Constantin (1882), two novels, the latter of which went through innumerable editions. Zola had presented to the public an almost exclusive combination of bad men and women; in L’Abbé Constantin all are kind and good, and the change was eagerly welcomed by the public. Some enthusiasts still maintain that the Abbé will rank permanently in literature by the side of the equally chimerical Vicar of Wakefield. At any rate, it opened for M. Ludovic Halévy the doors of the French Academy, to which he was elected in 1884.
Halévy remained an assiduous frequenter of the Academy, the Conservatoire, the Comédie Française, and the Society of Dramatic Authors, but, when he died in Paris on the 8th of May 1908, he had produced practically nothing new for many years. His last romance, Kari Kari, appeared in 1892.
The Théâtre of MM. Meilhac and Halévy was published in 8 vols. (1900–1902).
HALFPENNY, WILLIAM, English 18th-century architectural
designer—he described himself as “architect and carpenter.”
He was also known as Michael Hoare; but whether his real name
was William Halfpenny or Michael Hoare is uncertain. His books,
of which he published a score, deal almost entirely with domestic
architecture, and especially with country houses in those Gothic
and Chinese fashions which were so greatly in vogue in the middle
of the 18th century. His most important publications, from the
point of view of their effect upon taste, were New Designs for
Chinese Temples, in four parts (1750–1752); Rural Architecture
in the Gothic Taste (1752); Chinese and Gothic Architecture
Properly Ornamented (1752); and Rural Architecture in the
Chinese Taste (1750–1752). These four books were produced in
collaboration with John Halfpenny, who is said to have been his
son. New Designs for Chinese Temples is a volume of some
significance in the history of furniture, since, having been published
some years before the books of Thomas Chippendale and
Sir Thomas Chambers, it disproves the statement so often made
that those designers introduced the Chinese taste into this
country. Halfpenny states distinctly that “the Chinese manner”
had been “already introduced here with success.” The work
of the Halfpennys was by no means all contemptible. It is
sometimes distinctly graceful, but is marked by little originality.
HALF-TIMBER WORK, an architectural term given to those
buildings in which the framework is of timber with vertical studs
and cross pieces filled in between with brickwork, rubble masonry
or plaster work on oak laths; in the first two, brick nogging or
nogging are the terms occasionally employed (see Carpentry).
Sometimes the timber structure is raised on a stone or brick
foundation, as at Ledbury town hall in Herefordshire, where the
lower storey is open on all sides; but more often it is raised on
a ground storey, either in brick or stone, and in order to give
additional size to the upper rooms projects forward, being carried
on the floor joists. Sometimes the masonry or brickwork rises
through two or three storeys and the half-brick work is confined
to the gables. There seems to be some difference of opinion as
to whether the term applies to the mixture of solid walling with
the timber structure or to the alternation of wood posts and the
filling in, but the latter definition is that which is generally
understood. The half-timber throughout England is of the most
picturesque description, and the earliest examples date from
towards the close of the 15th century. In the earliest example,
Newgate House, York (c. 1450), the timber framing is raised
over the ground floor. The finest specimen is perhaps that of
Moreton Old Hall, Cheshire (1570), where there is only a stone
foundation about 12 in. high, and the same applies to Bramall
Hall, near Manchester, portions of which are very early. Among
other examples are Speke Hall, Lancashire; Park Hall, Shropshire
(1553–1558); Hall i’ th’ Wood, Lancashire (1591); St
Peter’s Hospital, Bristol (1607); the Ludlow Feather’s Inn
(1610); many of the streets at Chester and Shrewsbury; the
Sparrowe’s Home, Ipswich; and Staple Inn, Holborn, from
which in recent years the plaster coat which was put on many
years ago has been removed, displaying the ancient woodwork.
A similar fate has overtaken a very large number of half-timber
buildings to keep out the driving winds; thus in Lewes nearly
all the half-timbered houses have had slates hung on the timbers,
others tiles, the greater number having been covered with plaster
or stucco. Although there are probably many more half-timber
houses in England than on the continent of Europe, in the north
of France and in Germany are examples in many of the principal
towns, and in some cases in better preservation than in England.
They are also enriched with carving of a purer and better type,
especially in France; thus at Chartres, Angers, Rouen, Caen,
Lisieux, Bayeux, St Lô and Beauvais, are many extremely fine
examples of late Flamboyant and early Transitional examples.
Again on the borders of the Rhine in all the small towns most of
the houses are in half-timber work, the best examples being at
Bacharach, Rhense and Boppart. Far more elaborate examples,
however, are found in the vicinity of the Harz Mountains;
the supply of timber from the forests there being very abundant;
thus at Goslar, Wernigerode and Quedlingburg there is an
endless variety, as also farther on at Gelnhausen and Hameln,
the finest series of all being at Hildesheim. In Bavaria at
Nuremberg, Rothenburg and Dinkelsbühl, half-timber houses
dating from the 16th century are still well preserved; and
throughout Switzerland the houses constructed in timber and
plaster are the most characteristic features of the country.
HALFWAY COVENANT, an expedient adopted in the Congregational
churches of New England between 1657 and 1662.
Under its terms baptized persons of moral life and orthodox
belief might receive the privilege of baptism for their children and
other church benefits, without the full enrolment in membership
which admitted them to the communion of the Lord’s Supper.
See Congregationalism: American.
