tive method of inquiry which has proved so successful in other sciences. Mr. Hildreth's principal work is his "History of the United States" (6 vols. 8vo., New York, 1849-'56). This undertaking he had projected during his life in college, and he gave to it many years of thorough deliberation and study. The period covered by the historian extends from the settlement of America to the end of Monroe's first presidential term. Mr. Hildreth has also published a historical work on "Japan as It Was and Is" (12mo., 1855). He has been a liberal contributor to various newspapers and periodicals, and his labors in editing and writing for cyclopædias and works of a similar character would alone give him the reputation of a voluminous author. One specimen of these fugitive efforts may be seen in the article on John Hancock published in the "Homes of American Statesmen." Of late years Mr. Hildreth has been a member of the editorial staff of the "New York Tribune." HILL, a central co. of Texas, bounded W. by the Brazos river, and drained by small tributaries of that stream; area in 1853, 890 sq. m., since which time its boundaries have been changed; pop. in 1858, 2,366, of whom 508 were slaves. It consists mostly of rolling prairie, with a rich black soil, but poorly watered and rather thinly timbered. A range of hills passes near its E. boundary. It produces Indian corn, wheat, and other grains, and good pasturage. Formed from Navarro and Ellis counties in 1853. Capital, Hillsborough.

HILL, ISAAC, an American journalist and politician, born in Ashburnham, Mass., April 6, 1788, died in Washington, D. C., March 22, 1851. In 1809 he settled at Concord, N. H., where he established the "New Hampshire Patriot," of which he was the sole editor for many years. He served in the senate and lower house of that state, and in 1830 was elected to the U. S. senate, where he remained 5 years. In 1836 he was elected governor of New Hampshire, and continued in office by reelection three terms. During the latter portion of his life he was enthusiastically devoted to agriculture. For 10 years he published the "Farmer's Monthly Visitor," a periodical that attained a wide circulation.

HILL, ROWLAND, an English clergyman, born at Hawkestone, near Shrewsbury, Aug. 12, 1744, died April 11, 1833. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge. He early conceived a predilection for the views of the Methodists, and while at Cambridge used to preach in the prisons and private houses. The influence of his family, however, prevented him from joining the Methodists, and he soon afterward took orders in the church of England. Whitefield's reputation was then at its height, and during his absence from his chapel Hill frequently filled his place. When Whitefield died, the Methodists looked to Hill as his successor, but the repugnance which his family entertained for the new sect induced him to decline their offers. For 12 years, however, he preached in Wiltshire, Som

ersetshire, and Gloucestershire. In 1782 he laid the first stone of Surrey chapel, Blackfriar's road, London, and for 50 years he was the chief preacher there in the winter, spending the summers in provincial excursions. He travelled over most of England and Wales, and visited Edinburgh and Ireland. He preached always without notes, and his sermons were in a colloquial, familiar strain, abounding in anecdotes, and sometimes even in jokes and puns. He published several sermons and controversial tracts, but his most celebrated work is his "Village Dialogues," first published in the "Evangelical Magazine" in 1801; the 34th edition, with additions and corrections, was published in 1824. His memoirs were written by the Rev. Edward Sidney (London, 1844), and by the Rev. W. Jones (1845).

HILL, ROWLAND, viscount, nephew of the preceding, a British general, born in Prees, Shropshire, Aug. 11, 1772, died at Hardwicke Grange, near Shrewsbury, Dec. 10, 1842. He entered the army at the age of 18, served at the siege of Toulon as aide-de-camp to 3 successive generals, in Egypt in command of the 90th regiment, and in the expedition to the Weser, and in 1808 arrived in the Peninsula with the rank of major-general. He participated in the memorable advance and retreat of Sir John Moore, and rendered important services in covering the embarkation of the British army at Corunna (1809). Returning to the Peninsula in the same year, he served throughout the war, with the exception of a few months in 1811, when he was incapacitated by illness, and distinguished himself particularly at Talavera, Arroyo de Molinos, and Almaraz. His services were rewarded by the thanks of parliament, and his elevation to the peerage in 1814 as Baron Hill of Almaraz and of Hawkestone. He closed a brilliant military career at Waterloo, where he commanded a division of the allied army. In 1828 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the army, a position he occupied with universal approbation until 1842, when, upon resigning office, he was created a viscount. Lord Hill possessed almost every quality of a great commander, and was aptly called the "right arm of the duke of Wellington," who bore frequent testimony to his strategetic skill and high military capacity. His personal qualities gained him the honorable title of the "soldier's friend ;" and his humanity, impartiality, and care for the comfort of his men, over whom he exercised a perfect control, rendered him perhaps the most popular soldier of his time in the British service.

HILL, ROWLAND, author of the cheap postage system in Great Britain, born in Kidderminster in Oct. 1795. He showed from his earliest age a great fondness for figures, which was subsequently developed in the study of mathematics. His first occupation was that of mathematical tutor in a school kept by his father and in private families, and for a number of years he devoted himself to improving the system of school instruction and organization, with a view of pre

paring pupils more thoroughly for the duties of active life. To his labors in this field the so called "Hazlewood system" of instruction is partly due. In 1833 he was appointed secretary to the South Australian commission, in which capacity he aided in founding and organizing the colony of South Australia. About this time the defects in the postal arrangements of the kingdom began to occupy his attention, and in 1837, after an extensive pedestrian tour in the lake district, during which the evils of the system became fully apparent to him, he published a pamphlet on the subject entitled "Post Office Reform, its Importance and Practicability." By his personal exertions he succeeded in 1838 in having the matter referred to a special committee of the house of commons, before whom he underwent a long and harassing examination, the preparation of statistics and facts for which involved much time and labor. In Aug. 1838, the committee reported in favor of a uniform low rate of postage as recommended by Mr. Hill, and at the next session of parliament more than 2,000 petitions were presented in its favor. In July, 1839, a bill to enable the treasury to carry Mr. Hill's plan into effect was introduced by the chancellor of the exchequer into the house of commons, where it was passed by a majority of 102; and on Aug. 17 the project became a law. A temporary office under the treasury was at the same time created to enable Mr. Hill to inaugurate his plan, and on Jan. 10, 1840, the uniform penny rate came into operation in all parts of the United Kingdom. The post office authorities were, however, hostile to the change, and Mr. Hill found himself without adequate support from the existing ministry or from that which succeeded it. His scheme, though only partially adopted, worked well; during the commercial depression which followed its adoption, the post office revenue went on increasing, while every other source of national income proved less productive than before. He was nevertheless dismissed from his office soon after the accession of the Peel ministry. In 1843 he was appointed one of the directors of the Brighton railway, in which capacity he projected several useful improvements. In the succeeding year a subscription was commenced for a testimonial to express the popular sense of the benefit his labors had conferred upon the country, and ultimately £13,000 was raised and presented to him. Upon the return of the whigs to power in 1846 he was appointed secretary to the postmaster-general, holding divided authority with Col. Maberly; and 8 years later, on the transfer of the latter to the audit office (April, 1854), he became sole secretary, a position which he still holds.

HILL, THOMAS, an American clergyman and mathematician, born in New Brunswick, N. J., Jan. 7, 1818. His father, a tanner by trade, was for many years judge of the superior court of common pleas; both of his parents were English. Mr. Hill was left an orphan at 10 years of age; at 12 he was apprenticed to the

printer of the "Fredonian" newspaper, where he remained 4 years. He then entered an apothecary's shop, after a year's attendance at school, and served in it 3 years. He was graduated at Harvard college in 1843; he completed his term of residence at the divinity school in 1845, and was settled at Waltham on Christmas of the same year. Mr. Hill is a Unitarian of the Evangelical school, but so little sectarian, or strictly denominational, that! he has been invited to deliver the address before the society of Christian inquiry in the orthodox college of Burlington. He has been a frequent contributor to the periodical and occasional literature of the day, having written poems, reviews, translations, and essays for the Christian Examiner," "Religious Magazine," "Phonographic Magazine," "North American Review," and "Atlantic Monthly," and having published sermons, lectures, and addresses, and papers in the "Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science." He has also written most of the mathematical articles for this cyclopædia. He has published an "Elementary Treatise on Arithmetic," and two other works, entitled "Geometry and Faith," and "First Lessons in Geometry." It is, however, in his investigations in curves that he has displayed the greatest originality and fertility. He has added to the number of known curves, and simplified their expression; and by overstepping the common methods of using coordinates, and introducing new combinations, he has vastly extended the field of research. It is understood that he has now in manuscript a work on curves of great value and importance. In 1859 he succeeded the late Horace Mann in the presidency of Antioch college at Yellow Springs, Ohio.

HILL, WILLIAM, D.D., an American clergyman, born in Cumberland co., Va., March 3, 1769, died in Winchester, Va., Nov. 16, 1852. He was educated at Hampden Sidney college, was one of the first converts in a widely extended revival of religion in 1787, was graduated in 1788, soon began the study of theology under the Rev. John Blair Smith, the president of the college, and was licensed to preach in 1790. Declining a pastorate, he labored two years with great vigor and success as a missionary in southern Virginia, acquired a high reputation as a pulpit orator, and in 1799 was appointed to deliver a funeral oration at Harper's Ferry in commemoration of Washington. In 1800 he took charge of the Presbyterian church in Winchester, an office which he retained till 1834. Among those who made profession of religion under his ministry was the revolutionary officer, Major-General Morgan. He removed from Winchester to the Briery Presbyterian church in Prince Edward co., the pastorate of which he exchanged after two years for that of the second Presbyterian church in Alexandria. Disqualified by age for active labor, he returned in 1838 to Winchester, where he passed the remainder of his life in retirement. He was for several years engaged in

writing a history of the Presbyterian church in the United States, only a part of which was published. In the contest which resulted in the division of that church, he favored the new school. HILLA, or HILLAH, a town of Asiatic Turkey, in the eyalet of Bagdad, on both sides of the Euphrates, and amid the ruins of Babylon; pop. about 10,000. It is a quiet, peaceable place, with well supplied bazaars, but greatly decayed from its importance under the Sassanide shahs and the caliphs, when it was also remarkable for one of the most flourishing communities of the Babylonian Jews.

HILLARD, GEORGE STILLMAN, an American author and journalist, born in Machias, Me., Sept. 22, 1808. He was graduated at Harvard college in 1828, having during his college course excelled in every department of study, but being perhaps most distinguished for the beauty of his English composition, and the brilliancy of his declamation. In his senior year he was one of the editors of a college periodical called the "Harvard Register." For some time after taking his bachelor's degree he was a teacher in the Round Hill school, Northampton, Mass. He next entered the law school of Harvard university, and afterward studied in the office of Charles P. Curtis, Esq., of Boston, and was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1833. In 1835 he delivered the fourth of July oration before the municipal authorities of that city. In 1839 he edited the "Poetical Works" of Spenser, in 5 vols. 8vo., with a critical introduction. In 1840 he published a translation of Guizot's essay on the "Character and Influence of Washington." In 1843 he was selected to deliver the annual oration before the Phi Beta Kappa society at Cambridge. In 1846 he delivered and published a lecture on the "Connection between Geography and History." This was the first exhibition in the United States of the principles of comparative physical geography, since unfolded by Mr. Guyot in his work on "Earth and Man." In 1846 Mr. Hillard embarked for Europe, and having completed his tour, returned in 1847, and in the same year delivered a course of 12 lectures before the Lowell institute in Boston. In 1850 he delivered an address before the mercantile library association of Boston, and in the following year the address before the New York pilgrim society. In 1852 he was invited by the city authorities to deliver the discourse on Daniel Webster, whose death had just taken place. In 1853 he edited the "Memorial of Daniel Webster" for the city of Boston. In the same year he published his "Six Months in Italy" (2 vols. 12mo.), repeated editions of which have since appeared both in the United States and England. Mr. Hillard also wrote a memoir of the late James Brown, of the firm of Little and Brown, Boston, which was printed for private distribution. Beside these works, he has prepared a series of school readers, and in 1856 edited a selection from the writings of Walter Savage Landor. He contributed to Sparks's "American Biography" a

life of Capt. John Smith, which was republished in England as an English work, and without the author's name. For some time he was one of the editors of the “Jurist,” and a contributor to its pages. He wrote many articles in the "New England Magazine" while it was edited by Mr. Buckingham, and he has contributed to the "Christian Examiner" and the "North American Review." For several years he has been one of the conductors of the "Boston Courier." In the summer of 1859 he embarked for Europe a second time, and returned in the autumn, having travelled in England, Holland, and France. During his absence he wrote a series of letters which were published in the "Boston Courier." Mr. Hillard has served the state as a member of the house of representatives and of the senate of Massachusetts. He has also been a member of the common council of the city of Boston, and for 6 months its president. He held for some time the office of city solicitor, and has been assiduously occupied in the labors of his profession.

HILLEL, a rabbi and president (nasi) of the sanhedrim of Jerusalem, who flourished in the latter half of the 1st century B. C. He is distinguished from other rabbis of the same name by the surname of Hazzaken (the Elder). He is also called the Babylonian from his native country. Admired for his humanity, mildness, and love of peace, he is also celebrated as the reformer and great propagator of the study of the traditional law, the results of which were afterward collected under the title of Mishna by one of his descendants and successors in the presidency of the sanhedrim, Rabbi Jehudah the Holy. Hillel's school flourished especially during the reign of Herod the Great, the rival school being that of the austere Shammay. Beside the legal decisions of Hillel, various sayings of his are preserved in the Mishna, as well as numerous anecdotes in the Gemara, all of which express his love of men, as well as of study. It is he who, being applied to by a pagan for instruction in the Mosaic law, replied: "Do not to others what you do not like others to do to you,' is the essence; every thing else is but comment."- Another Hillel, who flourished about the middle of the 4th century, was the author of the existing Jewish calendar.

HILLER, FERDINAND, a German composer and pianist, born in Frankfort-on-the-Main, of Jewish parents, Oct. 24, 1811. At the age of 10 he made his appearance in public as a pianist, and soon after became the pupil of Hummel. In 1829 he went to Paris, where during a residence of 7 years he acquired a considerable reputation as a composer and pianist. The next few years of his life were passed alternately in Italy and Germany, where he produced his operas Romilde, Die Zerstörung Jerusalems, Der Traum in der Christnacht, and Konradin, der letzte Hohenstaufe. In 1847 he became musical director at Düsseldorf, and 8 years later chapelmaster at Cologne, where he founded the Rhenish conservatory. He after