sake how came you to know her? Why, Madam, she figured in the literary world too! Bet Flint wrote her own life, and called herself Cassandra, and it was in verse; it began:—
‘When nature first ordained my birth |
“So Bet brought her verses to me to correct; but I gave her half-a-crown, and she liked it as well. Bet had a fine spirit; she advertised for a husband, but she had no success, for she told me no man aspired to her. Then she hired very handsome lodgings and a footboy, and she got a harpsichord, but Bet could not play; however, she put herself in fine attitudes and drummed. And pray what became of her, Sir? Why, Madam, she stole a quilt from the man of the house, and he had her taken up; but Bet Flint had a spirit not to be subdued, so when she found herself obliged to go to gaol, she ordered a sedan chair, and bid her footboy walk before her. However, the footboy proved refractory, for he was ashamed, though his mistress was not. And did she ever get out of gaol, Sir? Yes, Madam, when she came to her trial, the judge acquitted her. ‘So now,’ she said to me, ‘the quilt is my own, and now I’ll make a petticoat of it.’ Oh! I loved Bet Flint.”
The subject is low enough to please Goldsmith. The humour may be of that mean order which has only a refreshing laugh, and gives tone to the feelings, but it is the pure spirit of humour.
We need not labour to demonstrate that a kindly appreciation of the ludicrous may find expression in art as well as in literature. But humour in art tends so inevitably to become caricature, which can be genial as well as ferocious, that the reader must be referred to the article on Caricature for an account of its manifestations in that field. (D. H.)
HUMPBACK WHALE (Megaptera longimana or M. böops), the
representative of a genus of whalebone whales distinguished
by the great length of the flippers. This whale (or a closely
allied species) is found in nearly all seas; and when full-grown
may reach from 45 ft. to 50 ft. in length, the flippers which are
indented along their edges measuring from 10 ft. to 12 ft. or
more. The general colour is black, but there are often white
markings on the under surface; and the flippers may be entirely
white, or parti-coloured like the body. Deep longitudinal
furrows, folds or plaits occur on the throat and chest. It is
said that the popular name refers to a prominence on which
the back fin is set; but this “hump” varies greatly in size in
different individuals. The humpback is a coast-whale, irregular
in its movements, sometimes found in “schools,” at others
singly. The whalebone is short, broad and coarse; but the
yield of oil from a single whale has been as much as 75 barrels.
A few examples of this whale have been taken in Scotland and
the north of England (see Cetacea).
.jpg) |
| Humpback Whale (Megaptera longimana or böops). |
HUMPERDINCK, ENGELBERT (1854– ), German musical
composer, was born at Siegburg, in the Rhine Province, and
studied under F. Hiller at Cologne, and F. Lachner and J.
Rheinberger at Munich. In 1879, by means of a scholarship,
he went to Italy, where he met Wagner at Naples; and on the
latter’s invitation he went to Bayreuth and helped to produce
Parsifal there next year. He travelled for the next few years
in Italy and Spain but in 1890 became a professor at Frankfort,
where he remained till 1896. In 1900 he became the head of a
school in Berlin. His fame as a composer was made by his
charming children’s opera Hänsel und Gretel in 1893, founded
very largely (like his later operas) on folk-tunes; but his works
also include other forms of music, in all of which his mastery
of technique is apparent.
HUMPHREY (or Humfrey), LAWRENCE (1527?–1590),
president of Magdalen College, Oxford, and dean successively
of Gloucester and Winchester, was born at Newport Pagnel.
He was elected demy of Magdalen College in 1546 and fellow
in 1548. He graduated B.A. in 1549, M.A. in 1552, and B.D. and
D.D. in 1562. He was noted as one of the most promising pupils
of Peter Martyr, and on Mary’s accession obtained leave from
his college to travel abroad. He lived at Basel, Zurich, Frankfort
and Geneva, making the acquaintance of the leading
Swiss divines, whose ecclesiastical views he adopted. His leave
of absence having expired in 1556, he ceased to be fellow of
Magdalen. He returned to England at Elizabeth’s accession,
was appointed regius professor of divinity at Oxford in 1560,
and was recommended by Archbishop Parker and others for
election as president of Magdalen. The fellows refused at
first to elect so pronounced a reformer, but they yielded in 1561,
and Humphrey gradually converted the college into a stronghold
of Puritanism. In 1564 he and his friend Thomas Sampson,
dean of Christ Church, were called before Parker for refusing to
wear the prescribed ecclesiastical vestments; and a prolonged
controversy broke out, in which Bullinger and other foreign
theologians took part as well as most of the leading divines in
England. In spite of Bullinger’s advice, Humphrey refused
to conform; and Parker wished to deprive him as well as
Sampson. But the presidency of Magdalen was elective and
the visitor of the college was not Parker but the bishop of
Winchester; and Humphrey escaped with temporary retirement.
Parker, in fact, was not supported by the council; in 1566
Humphrey was selected to preach at St Paul’s Cross, and was
allowed to do so without the vestments. In the same year he
took a prominent part in the ceremonies connected with Elizabeth’s
visit to Oxford. On this occasion he wore his doctor’s
gown and habit, which the queen told him “became him very
well”; and his resistance now began to weaken. He
yielded on the point before 1571 when he was made
dean of Gloucester. In 1578 he was one of the divines
selected to attend a diet at Schmalkalde to discuss the
project of a theological accommodation between the
Lutheran and Reformed churches; and in 1580 he
was made dean of Winchester. In 1585 he was persuaded
by his bishop, Cooper, to restore the use of
surplices in Magdalen College chapel. He died on the
1st of February 1590 and was buried in the college
chapel, where there is a mural monument to his memory; a
portrait is in Magdalen College school.
Humphrey was a voluminous writer on theological and other subjects. At Parker’s desire he wrote a life of his friend and patron Bishop Jewel, which was published in 1573 and was also prefixed to the edition of Jewel’s works issued in 1600. One of his books against the Jesuits was included in vol. iii. of the Doctrina Jesuitarum per varios authores, published at La Rochelle (6 vols., 1585–1586).
See Bloxam’s Register of Magdalen College, iv. 104–132; Cooper’s Athenae Cantabrigienses; Wood’s Athenae Oxonienses; Gough’s Index to Parker Soc. Publ.; Strype’s Works: Cal. State Papers (Dom. 1547–1590); Acts of the Privy Council; Burnet’s Hist. Ref.; Collier’s Eccles. Hist.; Dixon’s Church Hist. vol. vi.; Dict. Nat. Biog. (A. F. P.)
HUMPHREYS, ANDREW ATKINSON (1810–1883), American
soldier and engineer, was born at Philadelphia on the 2nd
of November 1810. He was the son of Samuel Humphreys
(1778–1846), chief constructor U.S.N., and grandson of Joshua
Humphreys (1751–1838), the designer of the “Constitution”
and other famous frigates of the war of 1812, sometimes known
as the “father of the American navy.” Graduating from West
Point in 1831, he served with the 2nd Artillery in the Florida
war in 1835. He resigned soon afterwards and devoted himself
to civil engineering. In 1838 he returned to the army for survey
duties, and from 1842 to 1849 was assistant in charge of the Coast
Survey Office. Later he did similar work in the valley of the
Mississippi, and, with Lieut. H. L. Abbott, produced in 1861
a valuable Report on the Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi
River. In connexion with this work he visited Europe in 1851.
