Page:Imperialdictiona02eadi Brandeis.pdf/1053

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
HYD
995
HYP

best known work is entitled "Veterum Persarum et Medorum Religionis Historia." His other publications are "Tabulæ Stellarum Fixarum ex Observatione Ulugh Beoghi;" "Quatuor Evangelia et Acta Apostolorum Lingua Malaicâ characteribus Europæis;" "Epistola de Mensuris et Ponderibus Serum sive Sinensium;" and "De Ludis Orientalibus." All of these works, except the first mentioned, were republished by Dr. Sharpe, under the title of Syntagma Dissertationum quas olim Hyde separatim edidit. Oxford, 1767, 2 vols. 4to.—J. T.

HYDER-ALI-KHAN-BAHADOOR, Sultan of Mysore, a formidable opponent of the British rule in Hindostan, was the son of the chief-general of the rajah of Mysore, and born in 1717. Until the age of thirty-three he was comparatively unknown. In 1750 we find him commanding a contingent against the Mahrattas, fighting in concert with the French, and visiting Pondicherry, where he saw what European civilization and skill could effect. For some years he was in active alliance with the French. He aided them in 1752 in the war in the Carnatic, and distinguished himself in the Trichinopoly campaign of 1754. In 1759 he rose to the chief command of the army of Mysore, and in 1761, having deposed its rajah, became a mayor of the palace to the new rajah, brother of the former, he was now virtual ruler of Mysore. The year before he had lent some temporary assistance to Lally, who appealed to him for aid as a last resource when the English menaced Pondicherry, which capitulated in the January of 1761. After the fall of Pondicherry, Hyder's army was reinforced and strengthened by the junction of skilful French officers and soldiers. His acquisitions in Malabar and elsewhere involved him in hostilities with the nizam of the Deccan, with whom the English had contracted a defensive alliance, so that Hyder and the English were soon engaged in direct hostilities. The nizam deserted the English and allied himself with Hyder; then he returned to the English alliance. On this event the English authorities resolved on conquering Mysore, and dethroning or displacing Hyder. Hyder not only held his own, but by a skilful strategy forced an advantageous peace from his enemies. After defeating Colonel Wood, who had been sent against him, he drew the English army to a distance from Madras by pretending timidity. Then swiftly marching a hundred and twenty miles in three days, he appeared at the head of a numerous and formidable army in the neighbourhood of Madras, which lay exposed to assault and sack. Peace was made with him on his own terms—a mutual restitution of conquests, and a treaty of mutual alliance in defensive wars. This was in 1769. In 1770 the Mahrattas invaded Mysore, and Hyder appealed to the English for the assistance secured by their treaty-stipulations. It was withheld; he had to conclude a disadvantageous peace with the Mahrattas, and far from well affected towards his nominal allies the English, he devoted himself for some years to the military, financial, and social organization of his kingdom. In 1778, anticipating the war about to break out between England and France, the English authorities in Bengal resolved to attempt to drive the French from India. Hyder, mindful of grievances, old and new, was on the alert, and eagerly seized a slight pretext to declare war against the English, with the assistance of the nizam and of the Mahrattas, both of whom had been alienated from the English government. On the 21st of July, 1780, Hyder invaded the Carnatic with a force of one hundred thousand men, of whom thirty thousand were cavalry. The English army opposed to him consisted of little more than six thousand men, and had, after fighting bravely, to give way, Hyder's quasi-victories being chiefly won by his son, Tippoo Sahib (q. v.). Madras was once more menaced, but Sir Eyre Coote's victories of Porto Novo, 1st July, 1781, and of Perambaucum, 27th July, kept Hyder in check. Next year the fortune of war seemed once more in favour of Hyder and his allies the French, when Tippoo's onward movement was arrested by news of the death of his father, which occurred on the 7th of September, 1782.—F. E.

HYGINUS is thought to have been a native of Athens, and was by profession a philosopher. He was made bishop of Rome, but the date is matter of dispute. Eusebius says he ruled from 140 till 143; but other authorities assign the year 122, and some 153, as the period of his election. He is said to have zealously opposed the doctrines of Cerdo and Valentine.—J. B. J.

HYGINUS, Caius Julius, an illustrious grammarian, who, according to Suetonius, was a native of Spain, a freedman of Augustus, and a friend of Ovid and Licinius. Pliny, Servius, and other writers, often refer to the works of Hyginus with much respect; but recent researches have furnished evidence that more than one author of this name flourished in the first century, and hence the works referred to may not be those of one individual. The principal writings alluded to, or quoted from, are "De Urbibus Italicis;" "De Trojanis Familiis;" "De Claris Viris;" "De Proprietatibus Deorum;" and "De Diis Penatibus." All these have been lost; but there are two works—viz., "Fabularum Liber" and "Poeticon Astronomicon"—ascribed to Hyginus, which are extant. The barbarous style of these two works has, however, led critics generally to regard them as spurious, and to attribute them to a later age. Hyginus is said to have fallen into poverty in his old age, and to have been supported by his friends.—J. B. J.

HYLARET, Maurice, a Franciscan preacher and theologian, was born at Angoulême in 1539, and died at Orleans in 1591. He studied at Paris, where also he became a professor. He was an able disputant and a popular preacher, in which latter capacity he settled at Orleans. He was a great promoter of the League, and appears to have been a turbulent and factious man. His works are numerous, but are not now read.—B. H. C.

HYLL, Albayn, a physician, who wrote a commentary on Galen, and died in London in 1559. He studied at Oxford, and took the degree of doctor of medicine on the continent; but whether he was a native of Wales or of Scotland, is uncertain.—G. BL.

HYPATIA, the famous daughter of Theon, was born at Alexandria, probably about the year 370. She was instructed by her father in the sciences—mathematics and astronomy—to which he was himself devoted; but under what masters she afterwards cultivated philosophy has been left to conjecture. It is said she resided for some time at Athens, and there it is probable she may have attended the school of Plutarch. It was not at any rate from the Aristotelian Theon she derived the philosophy which at an early age, as head of the Neo-platonician school in her native city, she began to expound. Beautiful as she was gifted, Hypatia soon attracted to her lectures a numerous auditory—so numerous, and comprising so many of the citizens notable for wealth or intellect, that it is said St. Cyrill one day observing the throng of her pupils issuing into the street, remarked their number and quality with an astonishment not unmingled with wrath. Cyrill at this time, in the exercise of his episcopal functions, came frequently into collision with the authority of Orestes, prefect of the city, whose increasing hostility to the bishop and his clergy was by them slanderously attributed to the influence of Hypatia. Accordingly, the worst construction was put upon her intimacy with the prefect; and along with the slander which made her detestable as a woman, there was instilled into the minds of the christian population of the city the calumny which made her odious as the moving spirit of paganism, the instigator behind the scenes, of its new zeal and energy. At the commencement of the year 415, her destruction having been in this way prepared, Hypatia was seized in the street by a rabble of her enemies, dragged from her chariot to a spot opposite the chief church of the city, and there stripped of her clothes, stoned, and torn to pieces. Cyrill has not been held guiltless of her blood; but to what extent he was implicated in the atrocious deed of his partisans, cannot of course be determined. Synesius, who calls himself the pupil of Hypatia, addressed to her several letters. According to Suidas she wrote some works on astronomy and other subjects. There has been attributed to her a letter to St. Cyrill, advocating the cause of Nestorius, but it is evidently apocryphal. The name of Hypatia, it will be remembered, has been made familiar to English readers in one of the most brilliant of Professor Kingsley's historical romances.—J. S., G.

HYPERIDES, a celebrated Athenian orator, who was a contemporary and friend of Demosthenes. The accounts which have been transmitted to us of his history and character are meagre, and in some points contradictory; but there is satisfactory ground for believing that he was one of the boldest and most efficient opponents of Philip and Alexander. Along with Demosthenes he was engaged in the prosecution of Philocrates; and after the battle of Chæronea he proposed, in order that the fiercest resistance might be made to the Macedonians, that all the slaves should be emancipated, and resident aliens invested with the rights of citizenship. Hyperides was, according to Arrian (Anab. i. 10), one of those whose surrender was demanded by Alexander; but his name is not included in the list given