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sas, is represented by the son of the exiled Gustavus IV. of Sweden, the present prince of Vasa. (See DENMARK.)

HOLT, a N. W. co. of Mo., separated from Kansas and Nebraska on the S., S. W., and W. by the Missouri river, and bounded E. by the Nodoway; area, 470 sq. m.; pop. in 1856, 5,404, of whom 279 were slaves. It has an undulating surface, with some bluffs on the Missouri river, and a fertile soil. The productions in 1850 were 240,347 bushels of Indian corn, 48,355 of wheat, 11,423 of oats, 870 tons of hay, and 11,607 lbs. of wool. There were 3 saw mills, 3 churches, and 330 pupils attending public schools. Capital, Oregon.

HOLT, SIR JOHN, an English jurist, born in Thame, Oxfordshire, Dec. 30, 1642, died in March, 1709. He was educated at Oxford, became a student of law, was called to the bar in 1663, and rose to great eminence as an advocate. In 1685 he was elected recorder of London, but was removed at the expiration of a year and a half in consequence of his opposition to the measures of the court. In the convention parliament which met to arrange the succession to the crown, after the departure of James II., he displayed so much ability that William III. appointed him in April, 1689, chief justice of the king's bench, which position he occupied until his death. In 1700 he was solicited to accept the great seal, upon the removal of Lord Somers from the office of chancellor, but declined. Of his integrity, courage, and firmness in the discharge of his duties, a traditional instance is related upon the occasion of a summons from the commons to appear at their bar, for deciding in favor of the Aylesbury burgesses, who had been committed for complaining about the illegal rejection of their votes. He took no notice of the first message from the house; and upon being summoned by the speaker in person, he told that officer to return at once to his chair, or he would commit him to Newgate. The reports of his decisions, compiled by his pupil and successor, Chief Justice Raymond, commencing with the Easter term, 6 William and Mary, give a good impression of his judicial abilities. Sir John Holt published in 1708 a folio volume of crown cases collected by Chief Justice Kelyng, with notes by himself, and 3 of his own decisions.

HÖLTY, LUDWIG HEINRICH CHRISTOPH, a German poet, born in Mariensee, near Hanover, Dec. 21, 1748, died in Hanover, Sept. 1, 1776. He studied theology at Göttingen, became acquainted with Bürger, Miller, and Count C. Stolberg, and was a member of the society of poets which they had formed. In 1773 he went to Leipsic, and in 1775 to Hanover to restore his health, which was greatly impaired. He was preparing a collection of his poems when he died. They were afterward edited by his friends Stolberg and Voss in 1783. He translated the philosophical works of the earl of Shaftesbury and other English works into German.

HOLY ALLIANCE, a league formed by the

emperors Alexander I. of Russia, Francis of Austria, and Frederic William III. of Prussia, after the second abdication of Napoleon, and acceded to by most of the other powers of Europe, excepting the holy see and England. Its ostensible object was to regulate the states of Christendom on principles of Christian amity, but the real aim was to maintain the existing dynasties. Alexander himself drew up the agreement and gave to it its name. The three monarchs signed it at Paris, Sept. 26, 1815, but it was not wholly made public till Feb. 2, 1816, when it appeared in full in the "Frankfort Journal." A special article of the treaty excluded for ever the members of the Bonaparte family from all the thrones of Europe. It was in virtue of the holy alliance that Austria in 1821 suppressed the revolutions in Naples and Piedmont, and that France in 1823 restored absolutism in Spain. After Alexander's death the compact lost much of its authority, and the French revolution of 1830 may be said to have ended it.

HOLY WATER, in the Roman Catholic church, water which has been blessed by a priest with various prayers and exorcisms, and with the admixture of salt. It is used in many of the church services, and is commonly placed at the doors of churches, that the faithful may sprinkle themselves with it on entering and leaving the sacred edifice. In many places it is customary for the priest to pass among the congregation and scatter it from a brush or sprinkler before mass. Catholics usually keep it in their houses, and beside its symbolical usage, as a memento of baptism, it is believed to have a peculiar efficacy in repelling devils. Baronius and others ascribe its origin to the apostles, but many Catholic writers refer it to a period as late as that of Pope Alexander I. In the Latin church it is solemnly blessed on the day before Easter. The Greeks perform the ceremony on Jan. 6, when they believe that Jesus Christ was baptized by St. John in the Jordan. Twice a year they drink holy water in the churches, viz., at the end of the midnight mass of Christmas and on the feast of the Epiphany.

HOLY WEEK, a name given in the Roman Catholic church to the week immediately preceding the festival of Easter, because she then celebrates the most sacred mysteries with solemnities of peculiar interest. It was anciently called the great or painful week, or week of sorrows. The ceremonies begin on Sunday, when Christ's entrance into Jerusalem is commemorated by blessing palm or other green branches and distributing them to the people, whence the day is called Palm Sunday. On the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings the office of the Tenebra (darkness) is chanted. This consists of the matins and lauds for the following mornings, which it is customary to recite over night. During the service a large candlestick supporting 15 lights arranged in form of a triangle, which denote Christ and the prophets who predicted his coming, stands in the

sanctuary; the lights are one by one extinguished, until only the upper one remains, which is taken down and placed under the altar until the close of the office, and then brought back; this symbolizes Christ's burial and resurrection. On Thursday, sometimes called Holy or Ma unday Thursday (from the word mandatum, commandment, with which one of the services begins), the institution of the Lord's supper is commemorated, and in some places the priests wash the feet of 12 poor persons, in imitation of the action performed by Jesus toward his apostles. It is done by the pope to 13 priests, though why the number should be 13 instead of 12 is not well understood. The bells are not rung nor instruments of music sounded from the Gloria in excelsis in the mass of Thursday until the same time on Saturday. A consecrated host is carried in procession to some temporary altar prepared for it, and kept there until the next day, when the priest carries it back to the main altar and consumes it. There is no mass on Good Friday, and the altar is stripped of all its ornaments. The ceremony of kissing the cross, sometimes called the adoration of the cross, is performed on this day by all the faithful. On Saturday the services begin by the blessing of fire and water, and of the paschal candle, an emblem of Jesus Christ, which is lighted in token of his resurrection, and burns during part of the mass from Easter until the Ascension. It was on the Saturday in Holy Week that the early church used to administer baptism to catechumens, and parts of the service still relate to this custom.

HOLYHEAD(Welsh, Caer Gybi, fort of Gybi), a parliamentary borough, market town, and seaport of N.Wales, on a small island of the same name at the W. extremity of the county of Anglesea; pop. in 1851, 5,622. An embankment of a mile in length, 16 feet high, with a bridge midway, through which the tide rushes with great violence, connects the island across a sandy shallow with the island of Anglesea. The town is irregularly built, but the houses are massively constructed of stone. The pier is of limestone, 900 feet in length, with 14 feet water at the head in low tides. A harbor and breakwater have been some years in construction, at the national expense, and is being formed by literally casting a mountain into the sea. Holyhead mountain, or Pen Caer Gybi, from which the materials are drawn, is a hill of limestone 700 feet high. The N. breakwater has been carried out 6,400 feet, the E. 2,500. Since the commencement in 1849 over 5,000,000 tons of stone have been used in the work, and upward of £500,000 expended on it. The harbor when completed will enclose 316 acres, with 64 fathoms depth of water. A considerable proportion of the population is employed in connection with these works, the remainder being mostly engaged in rope making, ship building, and the coasting trade. The parish church is an ancient structure, dedicated to St. Gybi, with some rude but curious carving on its walls, and VOL. IX.-16

situated in a churchyard surrounded by a stone fence which appears to have been a Roman fortress. Holyhead unites with Amlwich, Beaumaris, and Llangefni, in sending one member to parliament. It is a terminus of the Chester and Holyhead railway.

HOLYOKE, a township of Hampden co., Mass., on the right bank of the Connecticut river, and on the border of Hampshire co., 9 m. N. from Springfield and 107 m. W. from Boston; pop. in 1855, 4,639. It is an important manufacturing place, owing its prosperity chiefly to the Hadley Falls company, incorporated in 1848, with a capital of $4,000,000, for the construction of a dam across the Connecticut river at Holyoke. This work was completed in 1849. It is 1,017 feet long and built of timber, with solid masonry abutments at each end. The foundation and all the spaces between the timbers are filled in with stone to the height of 10 feet, and the structure has withstood the heaviest freshet ever known in the Connecticut river without damage or settling in any part. The water is admitted by 13 gates to a main canal faced with masonry, 140 feet wide at bottom, 144 at the top, and 22 feet deep, branching at a distance of of a mile from the river into 2 mill races, for the use of factories on different levels. The water from the upper race, after moving the mills on its proper level, is conveyed back to a point near the river, where it falls into the lower race. The motive power secured by these works is said to be the best in the United States. The principal manufacturing establishments are the Hampden cotton mills, commenced in 1853, with a capital of $100,000; the Lyman cotton mills, commenced in 1854, capital $1,470,000; the Parsons paper mills, commenced in 1854, capital $60,000; and the Holyoke paper mills, commenced in 1857, capital $50,000. In 1855 the value of goods manufactured was $1,669,482, the production of which employed 1,998 hands and an aggregate capital of $2,026,720. The village of Holyoke is regularly laid out on high ground W. of the canals. It is lighted with gas, supplied with water from the Connecticut by forcing pumps worked by hydraulic power, and has a large hotel. In 1858 the town contained 7 churches (2 Baptist, 2 Congregational, 1 Methodist, 1 Roman Catholic, and 1 Universalist), a bank, a savings bank, a high school, and a weekly newspaper office. The Connecticut river railroad passes through it.-Holyoke was originally part of Springfield. It was incorporated as part of West Springfield in 1786, receiving the name of Ireland parish, and became a separate township in 1850.

HOLYOKE, EDWARD AUGUSTUS, M.D., an American physician, and a centenarian, born in Essex co., Mass., Aug. 1, 1728, died in Salem, Mass., March 31, 1829. He was graduated at Harvard college, of which his father, Edward Holyoke, was president, in 1746, and began to practise as a physician at Salem in 1749. At his death he had practised in Salem for 79 years, and had never been 50 miles from that city.

He was married in 1755, and a second time in 1759, and was the father of 12 children, only two of whom survived him. He was reputed a skilful and learned physician, and was one of the founders and the first president of the Massachusetts medical society. He was temperate in his diet, eating freely of fruit; was accustomed to walk in his professional practice until his 80th year; and regarded his constant care to have a full proportion of sleep as one of the causes of his longevity. At 80 years of age he had lost his teeth, and his hearing and memory had begun to fail. Between the ages of 45 and 85 his sight required the aid of convex glasses; it gradually improved afterward, till at his death he could read the finest print with his naked eyes. On his 100th birthday about 50 of his medical brethren of Boston and Salem gave him a public dinner, when he appeared at the table with a firm step, smoked his pipe, and gave an appropriate toast. A memoir of his life was published by the Essex medical society. HOLYROOD PALACE. See EDINBURGH. HOLYWELL, a municipal and parliamentary borough and market town of Flintshire, N. Wales, near the left bank of the estuary of the Dee, and on the Chester and Holyhead railway, 15 m. N. W. from Chester; pop. in 1851, 5,740. It takes its name from the holy well of St. Winifred, formerly celebrated for its virtue in the cure of diseases. The well discharges 21 tons of water per minute, and now serves as the motive power of most of the machinery in the place. Margaret, countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII., erected a handsome Gothic building over the spring, the upper part of which is now used as a school house. Holywell rose into consideration in the beginning of the present century, by the extension of the mines and the establishment of cotton mills, smelting houses, and founderies. In the vicinity are collieries, and valuable mines of lead, copper, and zinc. The chief manufactures are copper wire, bolts, nails, sheathing, white and red lead, shot, flour, and flannels. Limestone is largely exported. Holywell unites with Flint in sending one member to parliament.

HOMBURG, a German watering place, capital of Hesse-Homburg, about 9 m. from Frankfort-on-the-Main, with which city it is connected by railway via Bonamös, and beautifully situated on an eminence, which affords a delightful view of the Taunus mountains; pop. 5,000. It consists of a long main street, on one side of which are the wells and Kursaal, and at the end of the other the palace of the landgrave. The mineral springs were discovered about 1834, partly by boring Artesian wells, and are considered very beneficial in cases of disordered liver and stomach. The Kursaal, built by some French speculators, at a cost of $100,000, is one of the most magnificent in Germany; it is decorated internally with frescoes and other works of art by Munich artists, and contains a saloon for musical assemblies, dining, coffee, and smoking rooms, and a reading room. It contains the

gambling tables, where large amounts are annually lost in play, and which furnish the chief source of revenue to the government. The efforts of the Frankfort parliament in 1849 to put a stop to gambling were unavailing. Homburg has become within the last few years a favorite resort of Russians and Englishmen and other visitors during the season. The gardens immediately attached to the palace were laid out in the style of English pleasure grounds by the late landgravine Elizabeth, daughter of George III.

HOME, SIR EVERARD, a Scottish surgeon, born at Greenlaw castle, Berwickshire, May 6, 1746, died Aug. 31, 1832. He studied medicine with his brother-in-law, the celebrated John Hunter, and afterward practised with great success in London for more than 40 years. In 1813 he was created a baronet and appointed sergeant surgeon to the king, in which office he was continued by William IV. He was also professor of surgery and anatomy, and for many years president of the royal college of surgeons. His "Lectures on Comparative Anatomy" (6 vols. 4to., London, 1814-28) is his most important work, being a collection of his contributions to the "Philosophical Transactions." There seems to be little doubt that he is indebted for his reputation as an author to the folio volumes of minutes of dissections left by John Hunter, which he took from the Hunterian museum under the pretence of preparing a catalogue of the museum, and subsequently burned.

HOME, HENRY, Lord Kames, a Scottish jurist and author, born in Kames, Berwickshire, in 1696, died Dec. 27, 1782. He was educated in the law at the university of Edinburgh, and, after nearly 30 years' practice at the bar, was in 1752 elevated to the bench as a judge of the court of session. In 1763 he was made a lord of justiciary. Under the title of Lord Kames he filled both offices with ability and integrity until the close of his life. As an author he is known by numerous works on law, metaphysics, criticism, agriculture, &c., covering a period of more than 50 years, and all evincing a vigorous intellect and remarkable industry. To legal literature he contributed a series of reports, consisting of an abridgment of the "Decisions of the Court of Session" from its foundation, arranged like a dictionary (2 vols. fol., 1741), “Remarkable Decisions of the Court of Session" (2 vols. fol., 1728-'66), covering nearly the whole period between 1716 and 1752, and "Select Decisions of the Court of Session from 1752 to 1768" (1 vol. fol., 1780); "Statute Law of Scotland abridged, with Historical Notes" (8vo. 1757); "Principles of Equity" (fol., 1760), &c. In 1751 appeared his "Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion" (8vo.), a work of ability, but which gave offence to the Scottish church from the supposed irreligious tendency of some of the author's views. The work however upon which his reputation chiefly rests is his "Elements of

Criticism" (3 vols. 8vo., 1762), which was greatly admired at the time of its appearance, possessing, in the opinion of Dugald Stewart, "infinite merits," but of which Goldsmith once said: "It is easier to write that book than to read it." He also published: “The Gentleman Farmer, being an Attempt to improve Agriculture by submitting it to the Test of Rational Principles" (1772); "Sketches of the History of Man" (2 vols. 4to., 1774); “Loose Hints on Education" (8vo., 1781), written the year before his death. As a member of the board of trustees for the encouragement of the fisheries, arts, and manufactures, and a commissioner for the management of forfeited estates, he labored earnestly to promote the material prosperity of Scotland. In 1807 appeared an account of his life, by Lord Woodhouselee (2 vols. 4to.).

HOME, JOHN, a Scottish author, born in Leith, Sept. 22, 1722, died in Edinburgh, Sept. 5, 1808. He was educated at the university of Edinburgh, and after a course of theological studies was licensed to preach in April, 1745. He was naturally of an impulsive and chivalric nature, and upon the outbreak of the rebellion in 1745 took up arms on the Hanoverian side. He was taken prisoner at Falkirk in 1746; but having effected his escape, he resumed his professional studies, and in the latter part of the year was presented to the parish of Athelstaneford, made vacant by the death of the Rev. Robert Blair, author of "The Grave." He gave much time to historical reading and dramatic composition, and in 1749 went to London with a tragedy entitled "Agis," which Garrick, then manager of Drury Lane, declined to accept. Although much mortified by his ill success, he set about the composition of another tragedy, "Douglas," founded on the old ballad of "Gil Morrice," which, upon being presented by the author to Garrick in 1755, was likewise refused by him. It was produced at Edinburgh in December of the succeeding year with great success; but so violent a storm was raised by the fact that a minister of the church of Scotland had written a play, that, notwithstanding the national pride was exceedingly flattered by the performance, Home was threatened with deposition, to avoid which he resigned his living in June, 1757. He removed to London in the same year, and had the satisfaction of seeing "Douglas" brought out at Drury Lane with complete success, on which occasion the exultation of his countrymen was carried to a ludicrous excess. By the aid of the sinecure office of conservator of Scots privileges at Campvere, presented to him by the earl of Bute, and of a pension of £300 bestowed upon him by George III., he was enabled to pass the remainder of his long life in comparative affluence. He wrote 4 other tragedies, the "Fatal Discovery," "Alonzo," "Alfred," and "Aquileia," which, with his early effort "Agis," were originally performed with success, but have long been forgotten. The last 40 years of his life were passed in Scotland. "His own favorite model

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of a character," says his biographer Mackenzie, "and that on which his own was formed, was the ideal being Young Norval in his own play of 'Douglas.' His literary reputation rests entirely upon his "Douglas," which is still highly esteemed, notwithstanding Dr. Johnson said "there were not 10 good lines in the whole play," and still frequently performed, notwithstanding the declaration of Garrick that it was totally unfit for the stage. He also wrote a "History of the Rebellion of 1745" (4to., London, 1802), which is commended by Prof. Smyth. His complete works, with an account of his life and writings, were published by Henry Mackenzie (3 vols. 8vo., Edinburgh, 1822).

HOMER, or CHOMER, among the Hebrews, the largest dry measure, equal to 10 ephahs, or to 19,857.7 Paris cubic inches. It was in later times replaced by the cor.

HOMER. The extant biographies of the greatest of the Greek poets preserve little but untrustworthy traditions of his life. In antiquity there were at least 16 works on the life and poems of Homer. Two biographies only remain, one attributed to Herodotus, and one to Plutarch. Both have been pronounced, on the most satisfactory evidence, to be forgeries; but both are ancient, and contain the current legends and traditions relating to the life and adventures of the poet. His mother is said to have been Critheis; and one legend represents him to have been born on the bank of the river Meles, near Smyrna, whence the name Melesigenes; another relates, that Critheis was married to Mæon, king of the Lydians, who brought up her sonthe offspring of a dæmon or genius—as his own, whence the name Mæonides. Ephorus, according to Plutarch, refers the origin of the name Homer to the poet's blindness, 'Oμnpos, according to him, signifying a blind man. Other explanations, equally fanciful, were invented by the ancients. Another legend states that Homer became a schoolmaster and poet in Smyrna; that he was induced by Mentes, a foreign merchant, to travel; that while visiting Ithaca he was attacked by a disease in the eyes, which resulted in total blindness; that he composed verses, which he recited wherever he went; that Thestorides, a schoolmaster of Phocæa, carried a copy of Homer's poetry to Chios, and recited it as his own; that Homer followed him thither, and resided long at Bolissos, a town in Chios; and finally, that he died on the little island of Ios, when journeying to Athens. A legend repeated by Plutarch is that the poet when on his way to Thebes landed at Ios, and there died of vexation at being unable to solve a riddle propounded to him by some young fishermen, in answer to his question if they had got any thing. "As many as we caught," said they, "we left; as many as we did not catch, we carry." Most of these traditions are evidently fictitious; and, as is well known, the very existence of Homer has been denied. But the want of authentic records of the particulars of his life is no proof that he did not live, when

weighed against the facts: 1, that a remarkable body of poetical composition has come down from remote antiquity under his name; 2, that he is referred to by the Greek writers who stand nearest to his supposed age, in point of time, without the slightest suggestion of a doubt of his existence, and of his being the author of the poems; 3, that the unanimous opinion of antiquity, in all the subsequent periods of ancient literature, is unequivocally in favor of this view; and finally, an analysis of the Iliad and Odyssey demonstrates the unity of authorship, consequently the individual existence of the author, whether we call him Homer or by some other name; and as no other name has been suggested, either in ancient or in modern times, it would be absurd not to accept the one adopted by the concurrent voices of antiquity. We may assume then the extreme probability that there was, in the earliest period of Greek poetical literature, a great poet named Homeros -Homer-whatever may be the meaning of the name. We cannot determine his age with much precision. Herodotus believes him to have lived about 400 years before himself; an opinion which, if true, places him in the second half of the 9th century B. C. But the various dates of his age range from 1184 to 684 B. C.; the last is undoubtedly too recent, and the first probably too early. It is almost certain that he must have lived considerably before the date of the Olympiads, 776 B. C. If we place him between 1000 and 800 B. C., we shall probably come as near the truth as we now can. It seems certain that Homer must have been an Asiatic Greek, first, from the nearly unanimous opinion of the ancients, and second, from the internal evidence of the poems themselves, which are obviously composed from an Asiatic point of view, so far as local allusions, the coloring of nature, the direction of winds, and other physical phenomena are concerned. But the well known fact that 7 cities contended for the honor of being his birthplace shows how little his history was really known. It may be said that, in addition to the uncertain approximation to the period in which he lived, and to the fact that he was an Asiatic Greek of the Ionian race, we only know that he was an aoidos or bard. The perfection of the language, as found in the Homeric poems, implies a long and careful poetical cultivation. There is an early stage in the progress of society when all the influences seem most favorable to poetical composition, at least to poetry of the epic character. It is a period of social refinement, before luxury has corrupted the purity of moral feeling, and broken down the strength of the manly character; and it generally follows a time of great struggles in the formation or the preservation of the state. It is when language has lost the meagreness of its early growth, and ceasing to be rude is still marked by its primitive and picturesque significancy, and before the speculations of philosophy, scientific abstractions, and multiplying social relations have imparted to words numerous secondary

meanings, more or less confusing or effacing the images they at first presented. The Ionic dialect, moulded under the happy influences of a serene and beautiful heaven, amid the most varied and lovely scenery in nature, by a people of manly vigor and exquisite mental and physical organization, of the keenest susceptibility to the beauty of sound as well as form, of the most vivid and creative imagination, combined with a childlike impulsiveness and simplicity, had attained, when Homer appeared, a descriptive force and harmony which made it the most admirable instrument on which poet ever played. For every mood of mind, every shade of passion, every affection of the heart, every form, sound, and aspect of the outward world, it had its clear, appropriate, and rich expression. Its words and sentences seem to place the things described before the eye of the reader. In structure, it obeys the impulse of thought and feeling, rather than the formal principles of grammar. It expresses the passions of robust manhood with artless truth. In its freedom, its voluble minuteness of delineation, its rapid changes of construction, its breaks, pauses, significant and sudden transitions and irregularities, it exhibits the intellectual play of natural youth; while in boldness, splendor, and majestic sweep, it bears the impress of genius in the full strength of its maturity. On the mainland of Greece, the earliest poetical compositions were oracular and religious; the next undoubtedly were the songs of the bards, celebrating the warlike deeds of leaders and kings. In passing over to the islands of the Egaan and the coast of Asia Minor, they carried with them this body of legendary lore. In this way groups of heroic characters, founded on tradition, but embellished by the imagination of the successive gener. ations of singers, were formed. In the colonial societies of Asia Minor, the traditions of former times, embodied in the ballad poetry of Greece, were fondly cherished; and in the rapid progress of national prosperity, which appears to have crowned the early youth of the Greek life in Asia, these national minstrelsies served to delight the multitudes, when delivered by the singers or rhapsodists, in the popular and religious festivals, or in the halls of princes. The singers found in the ballads thus composed, and perhaps orally transmitted, the richest mines of legendary poetry; and in process of time pieces of greater length, with more fully developed characters, and varied dramatic action, were required by the advancing culture of the race. The Greek epic was a species of story-telling, for the entertainment of assemblies. It was delivered in a kind of musical recitative, with a slight accompaniment of the phorminx, or fourstringed lyre. In Ionia the ballad minstrelsy flourished with the greatest luxuriance, and finally was developed by the genius of Homer into the full form of the epic. Antiquity paid divine honors to the name of the poet. From his poems the ablest critics inferred the laws and cited the highest examples of epic composition.

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