Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/596

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582 HUBERT ably augmented, he forthwith devoted himself to the purchase of rare books. After ransack- ing England he travelled extensively on the continent, purchasing everywhere, and leaving large depots of books in Paris, Antwerp, Brus- sels, Ghent, and elsewhere in the Netherlands and Germany. His residence in Pimlico, Lon- don, was filled with books from top to bottom, and he had another house in York street laden with literary treasures, and a large library in Oxford. At his death his collection in Eng- land was estimated by Dr. Dibdin at 105,000 volumes, exclusive of many thousands on the continent, the whole having cost upward of 180,000. Allibone in his "Dictionary of Authors" computes the volumes in England at 113,195, and those in France and Holland at 33,632, making a total of 146,827, to which must be added a large collection of pamphlets. This immense library was disposed of by auc- tion after the owner's death, the sale lasting 216 days and realizing more than 60,000. Heber was elected to parliament for the uni- versity of Oxford in 1821, and served till 1826. HUBERT, Antoine Angnste Ernest, a French ar- tist, born at Grenoble, Nov. 3, 1817. He went to Paris in 1835 to study law, but soon devoted himself to painting. In 1839 he exhibited his " Tasso in Prison," which was bought by the government for the Grenoble museum, and "The Cup found in Benjamin's Sack," to which was awarded the great prize which gave him the right to go to Home for five years at the expense of the government. He con- tinued eight years in Italy, and made much reputation by his " Malaria," exhibited in 1850, representing an Italian family flying from the pestilence. He obtained first class medals in 1851 and 1855; and in 1866 he was appointed director of the academy of France at Rome. HEBERT, Jacques Rene", a French revolution- ist, known also under the assumed name of PERE DUOHESNE, born in Alencon in 1755, executed in Paris, March 24, 1794. Of low parentage and education, he went when very young to Paris, where he led an obscure life, generally supporting himself by dishonest means. When the revolution broke out he took to pamphlet writing, and soon established a scurrilous news- paper called Le Pere Duchesne, which had con- siderable popularity among the lowest classes, and was instrumental in exciting several insur- rectionary movements. After Aug. 10, 1792, he was one of the most active members of the self-constituted revolutionary commune, and received the appointment of substitute to the procureur syndic. The Girondists hav- ing obtained from the convention an order for his arrest, he was liberated in consequence of a violent outbreak of the mob, and became more popular than ever. He was a member of the commission to examine Marie Antoinette, and uttered the most outrageous calumnies against her. In conjunction with Chaumette, Anacharsis Clootz, and others, he established the worship of the "goddess Reason;" and, HEBREWS relying upon the support of the commune and the club of Cordeliers, organized the ultra- revolutionist party known as the Hebertists or enrages. The committee of public safety, controlled by Robespierre, had them arraign- ed by virtue of a decree of the convention; and on the night of March 13, 1794, Hebert, Chaumette, Montmoro, Ronsin, Clootz, and 14 others, were conveyed to prison. llebert evinced great cowardice on his trial, and was executed amid the jeers of the populace. The circulation of his paper had been immense. During the year 1793 he received from the gov- ernment 180,000 francs for copies gratuitously distributed. He published several pamphlets of a similar character to his journal, Les mtres cas- ses, Catechisme, Cantique seculaire, Almanack, &c., all of them signed " Le Pere Duchesne." HEBREWS, Israelites, or Jews (Heb. 'Ibrim, Benei Yisrael, Yehudiiri), a people of Semitic race, whose ancestors appear at the very dawn of history on the banks of the Euphrates, Jor- dan, and Nile, and whose fragments are now to be seen in almost every city of the globe. Their history is the history of a nation, of a religion, and of a literature, and must thus exceptionally be treated. For its chief char- acteristic is the intimate blending and joint working of the national and religious elements in the development and preservation of the people ; and Hebrew literature is almost en- tirely national or religious. The opening event of this history, as recorded in Scriptures, is the emigration (about 2000 B. C.) of the Sem- ite Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees. (See CHALDEA.) He was by his father Terah a descendant of Eber, and as such may have borne the name Ibri (Hebrew), but more like- ly he was first designated by it in the land west of the Euphrates, as an immigrant from beyond ^eher) the " great river." The name Israelite was applied to his descendants after a surname of Jacob, his grandson, and that of Yehudim (Jews) at a much later period (first mentioned about 712 B. C.), when, after the dispersion of the ten tribes, the house of Judah became the representative of the whole people. Separating from his relatives, who were idola- ters, Abraham passed over from Mesopotamia (Aram Naharaim) to Canaan or Palestine, where he lived the life of a nomad, being rich in herds, flocks, and attendants, and worshipping the " Creator of heaven and earth," to whose ser- vice, " to walk before him and to be innocent," he bound himself and his house, in after life, by the covenant of circumcision. Having re- paired to Egypt during a famine and returned, he rescued his nephew Lot, who lived in the valley of the lower Jordan, from the captivity of Amraphel, a king of Shinar, and his allies; lived for some time in the land of the Philis- tines ; and finally settled near Hebron, where he died, leaving his main inheritance and hia faith to Isaac, his son by his relative Sarah. Isaac thus became the second Hebrew patri- arch, while his brother Ishmael, the son of Ha-