with a pulpit dating from 1595 and a font dating from 1631. There are a gymnasium, a school of architecture and a monument to Hoffmann von Fallersleben in the town. The Weser is crossed here by a stone bridge about 500 ft. in length, erected in 1833. On the Brunsberg adjoining the town there is an old watch-tower, said to be the remains of a fortress built by Bruno, brother of Widukind. Near Höxter is the castle, formerly the Benedictine monastery, of Corvey. The principal manufactures of the town are linen, cotton, cement and gutta-percha, and there is also a considerable shipping trade. Höxter (Lat. Huxaria) in the time of Charlemagne was a villa regia, and was the scene of a battle between him and the Saxons. Under the protection of the monastery of Corvey it gradually increased in prosperity, and became the chief town of the principality of Corvey. Later it asserted its independence and joined the Hanseatic League. It suffered severely during the Thirty Years’ War. After the peace of Westphalia in 1648 it was united to Brunswick; in 1802 it was transferred to Nassau; and in 1807 to the kingdom of Westphalia, after the dismemberment of which, in 1814, it came into the possession of Prussia.
See Kampschulte, Chronik der Stadt Höxter (Höxter, 1872).
HOY (Norse Haey, “high island”), the second largest island
of the Orkneys, county of Orkney, Scotland. Pop. (1901) 1216.
It has an extreme length from N.W. to S.E. of 1313 m., its greatest
breadth from E. to W. is 8 m., and its area occupies 53 sq. m.
It is situated 2 m. S.W. of Pomona, from which it is separated
by Hoy Sound. As seen from the west it rises abruptly from the
sea, presenting in this respect a marked contrast to the rest of
the isles of the Orcadian group, which as a whole are low-lying.
Its eastern and southern shores are indented by numerous bays,
one of which, Long Hope, forms a natural harbour 4 m. long,
with a breadth varying from 14 m. to more than 1 m., affording
to any number of vessels a haven of refuge from the roughest
weather of the Pentland Firth. Off the eastern coast lie the
islands of Graemsay, Cava, Risa, Fara, Flotta and Switha,
while the peninsula of South Walls, forming the southern side
of the harbour of Long Hope, is an island in all but name. Red
and yellow sandstone cliffs, sometimes over 1000 ft. in height,
stretch for 10 to 12 m. on the Atlantic front. The detached
pillar or stack called the Old Man of Hoy (450 ft.) is a well-known
landmark to sailors. The only break in this remarkable run
of rocky coast is at Rackwick in the bight below the head of
Rora. In the interior, Ward Hill (1564 ft.) is the loftiest summit
in either the Orkneys or Shetlands. In the valley between
Ward Hill and the ridge of the Hamars to the south-east is
situated the famous Dwarfie Stone, an enormous block of
sandstone measuring 28 ft. long, from 11 ft. to 1412 ft. broad,
and 612 ft. high at one end and 2 ft. high at the other, in which
two rooms have been artificially hollowed out, traditionally
believed to be the bed-chambers of Trolld, the dwarf of the
sagas, and his wife. A boulder lying at the narrow end was
supposed to be used to close the entrance. The generally
accepted theory is that it was a pagan altar which some hermit
afterwards converted into a cell. Other hills in the island are
the Cuilags (1420 ft.) and the Knap of Trewieglen (1308 ft.),
besides several peaks exceeding 1000 ft. in height. Hoy is
commonly approached from Stromness, there being piers at
Linksness, the nearest point to Graemsay, and at Hackness,
South Ness and North Bay, the last three all on the harbour
of Long Hope.
HOYLAKE, a watering-place in the Wirral parliamentary
division of Cheshire, England, 8 m. W. of Birkenhead, on the
Wirral railway. With West Kirby to the south, at the mouth
of the estuary of the Dee, it forms the urban district of Hoylake
and West Kirby. Pop. (1901) 10,911. The well-known links
of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club are at Hoylake. The town
has a considerable population of fishermen.
HOYLAND NETHER, an urban district in the Hallamshire
parliamentary division of the West Riding of Yorkshire, England,
512 m. S.S.E. of Barnsley, on the Midland railway. Collieries
and brickworks employ the large industrial population. Pop.
(1901) 12,464.
HOYLE, EDMUND, or Edmond (1672–1769), the first systematizer
of the laws of whist, and author of a book on games,
was born in 1672. His parentage and place of birth are unknown,
and few details of his life are recorded. For some time he was
resident in London, and partially supported himself by giving
instruction in the game of whist. For the use of his pupils he
drew up a Short Treatise on the game, which after circulating
for some time in manuscript was printed by him and entered
at Stationers’ Hall in November 1742. The laws of Hoyle
continued to be regarded as authoritative until 1864, since which
time they have been gradually superseded by the new rules
adopted by the Arlington and Portland clubs in that year (see
Whist). He also published rules for various other games, and
his book on games, which includes the Short Treatise, has passed
into many editions. The weight of his authority is indicated
by the phrase “according to Hoyle,” which, doubtless first
applied with reference to whist, has gained currency as a general
proverb. Hoyle died in London on the 29th of August 1769.
HOZIER, PIERRE D’, Seigneur de la Garde (1592–1660),
French genealogist, was born at Marseilles on the 10th of July
1592. In 1616 he entered upon some very extensive researches
into the genealogy of the noble families of the kingdom, in which
work he was aided by his prodigious memory for dates, names
and family relationships, as well as by his profound knowledge
of heraldry. In 1634 he was appointed historiographer and
genealogist of France, and in 1641 juge d’armes of France, an
officer corresponding nearly to the Garter king-of-arms in
England. In 1643 he was employed to verify the claims to
nobility of the pages and equerries of the king’s household. He
accumulated a large number of documents, but published
comparatively little, his principal works being Recueil armorial
des anciennes maisons de Bretagne (1638); Les noms, surnoms,
qualitez, armes et blasons des chevaliers et officiers de l’ordre du
Saint-Esprit (1634); and the genealogies of the houses of La
Rochefoucauld (1654), Bournonville (1657) and Amanzé (1659).
He was renowned as much for his uprightness as for his knowledge,
no slight praise in a profession exposed to so many temptations
to fraud. He died in Paris on the 1st of December 1660. At
his death his collections comprised more than 150 volumes or
portfolios of documents and papers relating to the genealogy of
the principal families in France. Of his six sons, only two
survived him. His eldest son, Louis Roger d’Hozier (1634–1708),
succeeded him as juge d’armes, but became blind in 1675, and
was obliged to surrender his office to his brother.
Charles René d’Hozier (1640–1732), younger son of Pierre, was the true continuator of his father. In addition to his commentary appended to Antoine Varillas’s history of King Charles IX. (1686 ed.), he published Recherches sur la noblesse de Champagne (1673). On the promulgation in 1696 of an edict directing all who had armorial bearings to register them on payment of 20 livres, he was employed to collect the declarations returned in the various généralités, and established the Armorial général de France. This work, which contained not only the armorial bearings of noble families, but also of those commoners who were entitled to bear arms, is not complete, inasmuch as many refused to register their arms, either from vanity or from a desire to evade the fee.
The collection (now in the Bibliothèque Nationale) consists of 34 volumes of text and 35 of coloured armorial bearings, and in spite of its deficiencies is a useful store of information for the history of the old French families. It contains 60,000 names, grouped according to provinces and provincial subdivisions. The sections relating to Burgundy and Franche-Comté were published by Henri Bouchot (1875–1876): those relating to the généralité of Limoges, by Moreau de Pravieux (1895); and those for the élection of Reims, by P. Gosset (1903).
In 1717, in consequence of a quarrel with his nephew Louis Pierre, son of Louis Roger, Charles sold his collection to the king. It then comprised 160 portfolios of genealogical papers arranged alphabetically, 175 volumes of documents, and numerous printed books profusely annotated. In 1720 it was inventoried by P. de Clairambault, who added a certain number of genealogies taken from the papers of F. R. de Gaignières, increasing the
