university on various grounds, but chiefly because of Dr. Hampden's well-known liberal principles in politics and his opposition to the tractarian party then dominant at Oxford, a violent attempt was made to prevent his occupying the chair to which he had been appointed. In this his opponents failed, though they succeeded in procuring a censure to be passed on him by the university, and in depriving him of certain privileges to which his chair entitled him; but their zeal was again still more violently inflamed against him when shortly afterwards he was named to the see of Hereford. A fierce controversy ensued, during which Dr. Hampden himself remained for the most part passive, but which spread widely through the Church of England, engaged the pens of some of its ablest members, and drew to it the attention of men of all parties. The objections offered against Dr. Hampden were founded chiefly on the alleged heterodoxy of his Bampton-lecture sermons. These had been now several years before the public without being suspected of containing any deleterious matter; but now it was discovered that they were most pernicious, as in them the author had denied or questioned all the cardinal doctrines of christianity, and had showed especially a tendency to unitarianism. The extent to which these charges were believed can be accounted for only by the fact that he was judged of rather by garbled extracts from his book, than by a fair examination of what he had written. Every means were adopted to prevent his becoming a bishop, but he had both law and equity on his side; many of the best men in his own church warmly espoused his cause; the ministry by whom he was nominated remained firm to their appointment; and at length, after a storm of unexampled fury, he was elected bishop of Hereford by the chapter on 28th December, 1847, and was consecrated early in the following year. Bishop Hampden has published, besides his Hampton Lectures, "An Essay on the Philosophical Evidence of Christianity;" "Lectures on Moral Philosophy;" a volume of "University" and a volume of "Parochial Sermons;" treatises on Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, in the Encyclopædia Britannica; and a treatise on the Scholastic Philosophy, in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana. All these works indicate on the part of the author a sincere love of truth, great powers of thought and argument, and some of them the possession of copious stores of learning, especially in ancient and mediæval philosophy.—W. L. A.
HAMZA, surnamed Al Hadi, flourished about 1020, under the Caliph Hakem. He is celebrated in the religious books of the Druses as one of their chief apostles. Hamza is said to have been disaffected towards the government, and hence to have endeavoured to overthrow Mohammedanism. He wrote a book in a more pure and elegant style than the Koran, entitled "The Book of Testimonies to the Mystery of the Unity." François Petis de la Croix translated this work into French. The Druses say that Hamza also wrote some epistles, and make the belief in his priesthood one of their cardinal doctrines. He seems to have commenced his public career at Cairo, but the circumstances of his life are little known.—B. H. C.
HANBAL, Ahmad Ibn, called Al Shibani al Meruzi, was a native of Bagdad, where he was born a.h. 164 (a.d. 780), and where also he died, a.h. 241 (a.d. 855). Hanbal is famed for his skill in laws, traditions, and religious rites; he founded a sect called after his own name, and is still regarded as head of one of the four orthodox sects of Mussulmans. He compiled a Masnad, or collection of authorized traditions, more copious than any which preceded. In a.h. 220, refusing to admit that the Koran was created, he was beaten and imprisoned.—B. H. C.
HANCARVILLE, Pierre François Hugues d', a zealous antiquarian, born at Nancy in 1729. He accompanied Sir William Hamilton, the British ambassador, to Naples, where he published an elaborate dissertation on "Etruscan, Greek, and Roman Antiquities." He was likewise the author of "Monuments of the private life of the Twelve Cæsars," and other works. He died at Padua in 1805.—G. BL.
HANDEL, George Frederick, the musician, was born at Halle, in the duchy of Magdeburg, Lower Saxony, on the 23rd of February, 1685, and died in London, at 57 Brook Street, Hanover Square, on the 13th of April, 1759. This date of his birth (differing from that given in the inscription on his monument in Westminster Abbey) is proved by the baptismal register, preserved in the Marienkirche in Halle The father of Handel was a surgeon by profession, and son of a coppersmith, who was a burgher of credit. When the musician was born, the surgeon was already sixty-three years old. He was married for the second time to Dorothea, a pastor's daughter, whose age at her son's birth was thirty-five. He designed the child of his old age for the study of the law, and peremptorily forbade his indulgence in the pursuit of his predilection—the practice of music The child contrived to elude the parental interdict, procured a clavichord, which he secreted in a garret, and passed many a stolen hour in practising upon it. A half brother of Handel, a son of his father's first marriage, was valet to the duke of Saxe Weissenfels. When little George was seven years old he accompanied his father on a visit to this relation. Arrived at the palace, young Handel soon found an opportunity, after service in the chapel, to enter the organ gallery, and there to place his tiny fingers on the keys of the grandest of instruments. The duke heard him play, and made such careful observation of his manner as to assure himself of the boy's remarkable talent. He straightway advised the father to take means for developing the rare genius manifested by his son; and the advice of such a dignitary had an effect which the boy's ardent desire, and the extraordinary natural capacity he evinced, had been unable to produce. Zackau, the organist of the cathedral at Halle, was the man judiciously selected to be Handel's instructor. While sedulously pursuing the study of composition, Handel continued to practise the harpsichord, and he likewise received lessons upon the organ. At the same time he worked diligently at the violin, and played also upon the oboe, which was the instrument of his particular preference at this period. It was not long before Zackau discovered the full extent of the boy's capacity; and when Handel was eleven years old, the teacher acknowledged that he had learned all that it was in his power to teach him, and recommended his being sent to Berlin. Here Handel quickly made his talent known, and was generally, as justly, regarded as a prodigy. Bononcini, who was afterwards Handel's rival in London, was now attached to the opera in Berlin, and, soon taking alarm at the youth's rising fame, endeavoured in every way to retard his advancement. In 1698 Ariosti, another Italian who subsequently was placed in opposition to him in London, went to Berlin. Entirely different was his treatment of the boy-artist from that of his countryman. He would sit for hours before the harpsichord, on which he gave him lessons, with Handel on his knee, listening to and admiring the youngster's marvellous performance. Amid all the favour he received, Handel did not relax at Berlin the assiduity of his studies. The elector was so delighted with young Handel's remarkable skill, that he made proposals to attach him to the court, and offered to send him to Italy to complete his musical education. The father, however, opposed this project, and ordered his son to return to Halle. With unabated diligence Handel again placed himself under the discipline of Zackau. It must have been now that he made the friendship of a student of Halle university, Johann Christoph Schmidt, a native of Anspach in Franconia; this was the most lasting, and in many respects for Handel the most valuable connection he ever formed. The old surgeon died shortly after his son's return from Berlin, leaving him dependent on his talents, which, about this time, had procured him the situation of organist in one of the churches in Halle. Anxious for a wider field of action than this small town afforded him, Handel, in 1703, set off for Hamburg. In that city there was a well-appointed German opera under the direction of Keiser, in the orchestra of which he obtained an engagement as second violin, and on Keiser's departure succeeded to his post at the harpsichord. In 1704 Handel composed his first important work of which any record is found—this was "Die Passion," a cantata to be performed on Good Friday. At the end of 1704 he had a quarrel with Mattheson respecting the leadership of the orchestra, on the occasion of that composer's producing his opera of Cleopatra. This ended in a duel, that might have had a fatal result but for the breaking of Mattheson's sword, when some friends parted the combatants. On the 8th of January, 1705, Handel produced his first dramatic work, the German opera of "Almira." The success of this was such as to warrant the production, before the end of the following month, of "Nero," a second essay in the same form. Two other operas, "Daphne" and "Florinda," also produced by Handel at the German theatre, appeared, as it would seem, in 1706. Gastone di Medici, brother of the duke of Tuscany, invited the rising composer to accompany him to Italy. Handel had amassed in
