Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/543

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as was said before, totally and not unjustly forgotten. Moreover, comparatively few of them have escaped destruc- tion. During the siege of Dresden by the Prussians in 1760, most cf his manuscripts, collected for a complete edition to be brought out at the expense of the elector, were burnt. Some of his works, amongst them an opera Alcide al Bivio, have been published, and the libraries of Vienna and Dresden possess the autographs of others. Hasse’s instru- mentation is certainly not above the low level attained by the average musiciaus of his time, and his ensembles do not present any features of interest. In dramatic fire also he was wanting, but he had a fund of gentle and genuine melody, and by this fact his enormous popularity during his life must be accounted for. The two airs which Farinelli had to repeat every day for ten years to the melancholy king of Spain, Philip V., were both from Hasse’s works. Of Faustina Hasse, almost as celebrated as ler husband, most that is necessary has been said above. It will be sufficient to add that she was born at Venice in 1700, sang at Vienna, London (under Handel, 1726), and Dresden, and was, according to the unanimous verdict of the critics (including Dr Burney), one of the greatest singers of a time rich in vocal artists. The year of her death is not exactly known. Most probably it shortly preceded

that of her husband.

HASSELQUIST, Frederick (1722–1752), a Swedish traveller and naturalist, was born near Linkoeping in East Gothland, 3d January 1722. He lost his father at an early age, and his uncle, his sole remaining protector, in his thirteenth year, but succeeded by means of private teaching in supporting himself while continuing his education. In {741 he entered the university of Upsala, where his taste for the study of nature was fostered and developed by Linneus, and where in 1747 he obtained licence in medicine, and published a thesis entitled De Viribus Planta- rum. On account of the frequently expressed regrets of Linnzeus at the lack of information regarding the natural history of Palestine, Hasselquist resolved to undertake a journey to that country, and a sufficient subscription having becn obtained to defray expenses, he, after making himself acquainted with the languages of the Levant, embarked for Smyrna, where he arrived November 26, 1749. He visited parts of Asia Minor, Egypt, Cyprus, and Palestine, and made large natural history collections, but his constitution, naturally weak, give way under the fatigues and anxicties of travel, and he died at Smyrna, February 9, 1752, on his way homewards. His collections reached home in safety, and five years after his death the results of his wanderings were published by Linnzeus under the title Resa till Heliya Landet fordttad fran ar 1749 tall 1752. The work is divided into two parts, the first consisting of the traveller’s journal and letters, and the second of his remarks on the botany, zoology, and mineralogy of the countries through which he passed, with observations on the prevalent dis- eases and their cure, and the state of industry, commerce, and the arts. It was translated into French and German in 1762, and into English in 1766.

HASSELT, a town of Belgium, capital of the province of Limburg, is situated on the Demer and on the railway from Aix-la-Chapelle to Maestricht, 20 miles north-west of Liége. It possesses two churches, a hospital, a spacious town-hall, an athenzeum, and a public library. Tobacco and madder are cultivated in the neighbourhood. The principal manufactures are linen, lace, brandy, and beer. At Hasselt the Dutch under the prince of Orange gained a victory over the Belgians under General Daine, 6th May 1831. The population in 1876 was 11,361.

HASSENPFLUG, Hans Daniel Ludwig Friedrich (1793–1862), a minister of state in Hesse-Cassel, celebrated as a reactionary, was born at Hanau, in the electorate of Hesse, in 1793. He studied law at Gottingen, and was appointed by the elector Frederick William I. (then acting as regent) to a subordinate post in that un1- versity. He rose rapidly, and proved himself a man of great resolution and energy. From the first he adopted that line of policy which made him so disliked throughout his career. He exercised, that is to say, a suspicious censorship over the press; he reduced to a shadow the power of the legislative chambers; he introduced new and harsh measures of army discipline, and contended relentlessly with all disciples of free thought. In the matter of education he showed praiseworthy zeal, and promoted as far as he could the national schools of Hesse. But the services he rendered in this way were not sufficient to induce the mass of the people to pardon the reactionary tendency of his general policy, and he was obliged in 1837 to flee from the general hatred he had encountered. He found shelter in Prussia, where the Government entrusted him with the discharge of various judicial offices, and he remained in Prussia till the full tide of reaction had set in after the year 1848. He then (1850) returned to Hesse Cassel, the ministry of the revolution of 1848 having been dismissed. Despite the fact that Hassenpflug had never freed himself from a charge of peculation brought against him in the performance of his judicial duties in Prussia, he was appointed by the elector of Hesse to the head of the new ministry. He acted at once on the old lines, levying taxes without the consent of the chambers, dissolving them when they protested, and finally proclaiming martial law. The soldiers rose, the officers being on the side of the people; the Government was in so precarious a condition that it seemed wise to the elector to flee with his court to Wilhelmsbad. Partly by the influence of Hassenpflug the German bundesrath (or council of all the states) espoused the cause of the elector against his subjects, and by the end of the year (1850) the astnte minister had the satisfaction of seeing the reactionary Government (with himself as minister of finance) reinstated in power. His position was, however, difficult, owing to his great unpopularity among all classes. When in 1852 the brother of the elector assaulted him in a fit of lunacy, Hassenpfiug at once sent in his resignation, but it was not accepted till 1855. He then retired to Marburg (in Hesse), where he died October 15, 1862. His friend Dr Vilmar, who pronounced his funeral oration, dwelt chiefly on the piety of the deceased, who he said never travelled without a copy of the New Testament.

HASTINAPUR, an ancient city of India, in the Meerut district, North-Western Provinces, lying on the bank of the Burigang4, or former bed of the Ganges, 22 miles N.E. of Meerut. It formed the capital of the great PAndava kingdom, celebrated in the Afahkdbhdrata, and probably one of the earliest Aryan settlements outside the Punjab. Few traces of the ancient city now remain, but tradition points to a group of shapeless mounds as the residence of the children of the moon, the Lunar princes of the house of Bharata whose deeds are commemorated in the great national epic. After the conclusion of the famous war which forms the central episode of that poem, Hastinapur remained for some time the metropolis of the descendants of Parikshit, but the town was finally swept away by a flood of the Ganges, and the capital was transferred to Kausdmbi.

HASTINGS, a municipal and parliamentary borough

and market-town of Sussex, England, the principal of the Cinque Ports, is picturesquely situated on the southern coast of England, 74 miles from London by the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway, and 62 by the London and South-Eastern Railway. It lies in two gorges, sur- rounded by an amphitheatre of hills and cliffs on every side

except the south. At the beginning of the century, when