Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/720

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702 IIERTHA HERTZEN northerD -part of the county are several ranges of chalk hills, which attain an elevation of 900 ft. above the sea. There are manufactories of straw goods, ribbons, paper, and malt, but the principal industry is agriculture, seven eighths of the county being arable land. In the S. W. part are extensive apple and cherry orchards. There are many Roman and other antiquities, of which the most prominent are St. Alban's abbey and the ruins of Berkham- stead castle, and Roystone church and cave. Capital, Hertford. IIERTHA, J:rtha, or Nertbns, the goddess of earth (Anglo-Saxon, eorthe, Ger. Erde an- ciently worshipped by the ^Estii, Lombards, Angles, and many other Teutonic tribes estab- lished near the lower Elbe, and in the regions of the Baltic. The Scandinavians called her Jord ; according to them she was daughter of Annar and Night, sister of Dagur or Day by the mother's side, wife of Odin (thus identical with Frigga), and mother of Thor. This iden- tification of the female principle, or of gene- ration and fertility, with the earth, is found in all religions. The earth being the all-nour- ishing mother, it was naturally believed that Hertha sympathized with mankind, and the myth of the revival of spring gradually be- came for the vulgar a faith that she visited them in person at stated times. These visits took place, according to Tacitus, on a sacred island in the Baltic, where the chariot of Hertha was kept. When the goddess had de- scended from the throne of Odin, she was believed to take her seat in the chariot. Heif- ers were then harnessed to it, and she was drawn amid festivity over the land. During this procession all feuds were suspended. Fi- nally the goddess, or rather her wagon, on re- turning to the holy grove, was washed in the sea by slaves, who immediately after were drowned. This appearance of Hertha was also practised in another form among certain Ger- man tribes, with whom it was usual on occa- sions of drought to send the most beautiful maiden of the village, entirely naked, at the head of a female procession over the fields. HERTZ, Hendrik, a Danish poet, born in Co- penhagen, Aug. 25, 1798. He is of Jewish pa- rentage, but joined the Protestant church, and studied law. In 1826 he published anony- mously his first comedy, Herr BurcTchard og hans Familie, which was rapidly followed by others. Gjenganger-Brevene, a polemical poem (1830), attracted much attention on account of its severe criticism of the literature of the day. His tragedy Svend Dy rings Huus (1837) added greatly to his popularity by its patriotic char- acter, and a lyrical drama entitled " King Rene's Daughter" carried his fame into Ger- many, France, and England, where his works have since been translated as soon as they ap- peared. Among his novels, Stemninger og Til- stande (1839), Johannes Johnson (1858), and Eventyr og Fortallinger (1862) are specially noteworthy. HERTZEN, or Hcrzen, Alexander, a Russian author, born in Moscow, March 25, 1812, died in Paris, Jan. 21, 1870. He studied at the uni- versity of Moscow, where he and some of his associates were arrested in 1834 on account of their socialistic tendencies. He was detained in prison nearly a year, and for several years af- terward he was exiled to Siberia. In 1839 he received a full pardon and a clerkship in the ministry of the interior, which he soon lost by his strictures on the government ; but in view of his high connections and attainments he was treated considerately, and received the title of councillor of state with orders to reside at Nov- gorod. In 1-842 he asked to be released from all connection with the government, and in the same year came forward as a writer under the nom de plume of Iskander. In 1845-' 6 he published an elaborate work showing his sympathy with the younger Hegelian school of philosophy, and in 1847 appeared his first novel descriptive of Russian life. His father's death having put him in possession of a mod- erate fortune, he was enabled to leave Russia in 1847. After conferring with revolutionists in Italy, France, and Switzerland, he organ- ized a systematic propaganda against Russian absolutism by establishing a publishing house in London for printing and circulating Russian translations of the writings of Louis Blanc, Mazzini, and kindred authors. In 1856 ho founded in London the Kolokol (" The Bell "), a journal which attained a large clandestine circulation in Russia, and through which he paved the way for the emancipation of the serfs, for the abolition of corporal punish- ment in the army, for judiciary reforms, and for diminishing corruption among Russian offi- cials. In 1865 he removed to Geneva, where he published the KoloTcol'vo. French {La Cloche), but could not sustain it. He spent the latter part of his life in Paris. The loftiness of his purpose and his integrity, as well as his com- manding influence on Russian progress, were respected even by his a/lversaries ; and his claims to literary distinction rest upon a variety of writings, comprising novels and books of travel, published in Russian, German, and French, these languages having been equally familiar to him. His principal works are : Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben (3 vols., 1854; English translation, 2 vols., London, 1855) ; Russland's sociale Zustdnde (1854) ; Memoiren der Furstin Daschlcow (2 vols., 1857); "The Polar Star" (in Russian, 7 vols., London, 1857-'67; 8th vol., Geneva, 1868); Memoires de Timperatrice Catherine, ecrits par elle-meme (London, 1859) ; "For Five Years, 1855-'60" (in Russian, London, 1860) ; Biloe i Dumi (3 vols., London, 1861; 4th vol., Geneva, 1867); and "Posthumous Writings" (in Russian, Ge- neva, 1870). His confiscated Russian estates were restored in 1874 to his only surviving brother, in virtue of an amnesty granted on occasion of the marriage of the grand duchess Maria with the duke of Edinburgh.