Hymen.

mufcles belonging to the os hyoides. See ANATOMY, Hypallage
Table of the Mufcles.
Hypatia.
HYPALLÅGE, among grammarians, a fpecies
of hyperbaton, confifting in a mutual permutation of
one cafe for another. Thus Virgil fays, Dare claffibus
auftros, for dare claffes auftris; and again, Necdum
illis labra admovi, for necdum illa labris admovi.

Hyobanche the first that compofed hymns to be fung in churches,
" and was followed by St Ambrose. Moft of thofe
Hyo-thy-
roides. in the Roman Breviary were compofed by Pruden-
tius. They have been tranflated into French verfe
by Meffieurs de Port Royal.-In the Greek Liturgy
there are four kinds of hymns; but the word is not
taken in the fense of a praise offered in verfe, but
fimply of a laud or praife. The angelic hymn, or
Gloria in excelfis, makes the firft kind; the trifagion
the fecond; the Cherubic hymn, the third; and the
hymn of victory and triumph called, the laft.

The hymns or odes of the ancients generally con-
fifted of three forts of ftanzas; one of which, called
frophe, was fung by the band as they walked from eaft
to weft; another, called antiftrophe, was performed as
they returned from weft to eaft; the third part, or
pode, was fung before the altar. The Jewish hymns
were accompanied with trumpets, drums, and cymbals,
to affift the voices of the Levites and people.

HYOBANCHE, in botany: A genus of the angiofpermia order, belonging to the didynamia clafs of plants. The calyx is heptaphyllous; the corolla ringent, with no under lip. The capfule bilocular, and polyfpermous. HYOIDES, in anatomy, a bone placed at the root of the tongue. See ANATOMY, no 28.

HYOSCYAMUS, HENBANE: A genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the pentandria clafs of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 28th order, Lurida. The corolla is funnel-fhaped and obtufe; the ftamina inclining to one fide; the capfule covered and bilocular. There are feveral fpecies, one of which, viz. the niger, or common henbane, is a native of Britain. It grows on road-fides, and among rubbish. It is a biennial plant, with long fleshy roots which ftrike deep into the ground, fending out feveral large foft leaves, deeply flashed on their edges; the following spring the ftalks come up, which are about two feet high, garnished with flowers ftanding on one fide in a double row, fitting close to the ftalks alternately. They are of a dark purplish colour, with a black bottom; and are fucceeded by roundish capfules which open with a lid at the top, and have two cells filled with fmall irregular feeds.-The feeds, leaves, and roots of this plant, as well as of all other fpecies of this genus, are poifonous: and many well attefted inftances of their bad effects are recorded; madness, convulfions, and death, being the common confequence. In a fmaller dofe, they occafion giddinefs and ftupor. It is faid that the leaves fcattered about a house will drive away mice. The juice of the plant evaporated to an extract is prefcribed in fome cafes as a narcotic; in which refpect undoubtedly it may be a powerful medicine if properly managed. The dofe is from half a fcruple to half a dram. The roots are used for anodyne necklaces.-Goats are not fond of the plant; horfes, cows, sheep, and fwine, refuse it.

HYOSERIS, in botany: A genus of the polyga. mia æqualis order, belonging to the fyngenefia clafs of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 49th order, Compofita. The receptacle is naked, the calyx nearly equal; the pappus hairy, or fcarce perceptible.

HYO-THYROIDES, in anatomy, one of the

HYPANTE, or HYPERPANTE, a name given by
the Greeks to the feat of the presentation of Jefus
in the temple.-This word, which fignifies lowly or
humble meeting, was given to this feaft from the meet-
ing of old Simeon and Anna the prophetess in the
temple when Jefus was brought thither.

HYPATIA, a learned and beautiful lady of anti-
quity, the daughter of Theon a celebrated philofopher
and mathematician, and prefident of the famous Alex-
andrian school, was born at Alexandria about the end of
the fourth century. Her father, encouraged by her ex-
traordinary genius, had her not only educated in all the
ordinary qualifications of her fex, but instructed in the
moft abftrufe sciences. She made fuch great progress in
philofophy, geometry, aftronomy, and the mathema-
tics, that the paffed for the most learned perfon of her
time. At length fhe was thought worthy to fucceed her
father in that diftinguifhed and important employment,
the government of the school of Alexandria; and to
teach out of that chair where Ammonius, Hierocles,
and many other great men, had taught before; and
this at a time too when men of great learning abounded
both at Alexandria and in many other parts of the
Roman empire. Her fame was fo extenfive, and her
worth fo univerfally acknowledged, that we cannot
wonder if he had a crowded auditory.
"She ex-
plained to her hearers (fays Socrates) the feveral
fciences that go under the general name of philofophy;
for which reafon there was a confluence to her, from
all parts, of those who made philofophy their delight.
and ftudy." One cannot represent to himself without
pleasure, the flower of all the youth of Europe, Asia,
and Africa, fitting at the feet of a very beautiful lady
(for fuch we are affured Hypatia was), all greedily
fwallowing inftruction from her mouth, and many of
them, doubtless, love from her eyes; though we are
not fure that the ever liftened to any folicitations,
fince Suidas, who talks of her marriage with Ifiodorus,
yet relates at the fame time that fhe died a maid.

Her scholars were as eminent as they were nume-
rous; one of whom was the celebrated Synefius, who
was afterwards bishop of Ptolemais. This ancient
Chriftian Platonist every where bears the strongest, as
well as the most grateful, teftimony of the virtue of
his tutorefs; and never mentions her without the most
profound refpect, and fometimes in terms of affection.
coming little fhort of adoration. But it was not Sy-
nefius only, and the difciples of the Alexandrian school,
who admired Hypatia for her virtue and learning:
never was woman more careffed by the public, and
yet never woman had a more unfpotted character. She
was held as an oracle for her wifdom, which made her
confulted by the magiftrates in all important cafes;
and this frequently drew her among the greatest con-
course of men, without the leaft cenfure of her manners.
In a word, when Nicephorus intended to pass the
higheft compliment on the princefs Eudocia, he
6

thought

The air, a charter'd libertine, is ftill.

[ 44 ]

Henry V. ad 1. fc. 1.
Now fhield with fhield, with helmet helmet clos'd,
To armour armour, lance to lance oppos'd,
Hoft against hoft with fhadowy fquadrons drew,
The founding darts in iron tempefts flew,
Victors and vanquish'd join promifcuous cries,
And thrilling fhouts and dying groans arife;
With ftreaming blood the flipp'ry fields are dy'd,
And flaughter'd heroes fwell the dreadful tide.
Iliad iv. 508.
Quintilian is fenfible that this figure is natural :
For (fays he), not contented with truth, we natu-
rally incline to augment or diminish beyond it; and
for that reafon the hyperbole is familiar even among
the vulgar and illiterate :" and he adds, very justly,
"That the hyperbole is then proper, when the object
of itself exceeds the common measure." From thefe

premifes, one would not expect the following inference, the only reafon he can find for juftifying this figure of fpeech," Conceditur enim amplius dicere, quia dici quantum eft, non poteft: meliufque ultra quam citra ftat oratio." (We are indulged to fay more than enough, because we cannot fay enough; and it is better to be above than under.) In the name of wonder, why this flight and childish reasoning, when immediately before he had obferved, that the hyperbole is founded on human nature? We could not refift this perfonal ftroke of criticism; intended not against our author, for no human creature is exempt from error; but against the blind veneration that is paid to the ancient claffic writers, without diftinguifhing their blemishes from their beauties.

Having examined the nature of this figure, and the principle on which it is erected; let us proceed to the rules by which it ought to be governed. And, in the first place, it is a capital fault to introduce an hyperbole in the defcription of an ordinary object or event; for in fuch a cafe, it is altogether unnatural, being deftitute of furprife, its only foundation. Take the following inftance, where the fubject is extremely familiar, viz. fwimming to gain the thore after a fhipwreck.

I faw him beat the furges under him, And ride upon their backs: he trod the water; Whose enmity he flung afide, and breasted The furge moft fwoln that met him: his bold head "Bove the contentious waves he kept and oar'd Himself with his good arms, in lufty strokes To th' bore, that o'er his wave-born basis bow'd, As flooping to relieve him. Tempeft, act 2. fc. 1. In the next place, it may be gathered from what is faid, that an hyperbole can never fuit the tone of any difpiriting paffion: forrow in particular will never prompt fuch a figure, and for that reason the following hyperboles must be condemned as unnatural:

K. Rich. Aumerle, thou weep'ft, my tender

hearted cousin !

We'll make foul weather with despised tears;
Our fighs, and they, fhall lodge the fummer-corn,
And make a dearth in this revolving land.
Richard II. ad 3. c. 6..

Draw them to Tyber's bank, and weep your tears Hyperbole,
Into the channel, till the lowest stream
Do kifs the most exalted fhores of all.

Julius Cafar, at 1. fc. 1.

Thirdly, A writer, if he wish to fucceed, ought al-
ways to have the reader in his eye: he ought, in par-
ticular, never to venture a bold thought or expreflion,
till the reader be warmed and prepared. For this rea-
fou, an hyperbole in the beginning of a work can ne-
ver be in its place. Example:

Jam pauca aratro jugera regia
Moles relinquent.

Horat. Carm. lib. 2. ode 15.

which being overstrained, it has a bad effect. Longi
In the fourth place, The niceft point of all, is to
afcertain the natural limits of an hyperbole, beyond
nus (chap. iii.), with great propriety of thought, en-
ters a caveat against an hyperbole of this kind: he
compares it to a bow-ftring, which relaxes by over-
training, and produceth an effect directly oppofite to
would be difficult, if not impracticable. We fhall
what is intended. To afcertain any precife boundary,
therefore only give a fpecimen of what may be rec-
koned overftrained hyperboles.
No fault is more
common among writers of inferior rank; and inftan-
ces are found even among thofe of the finest tafte
witnefs the following hyperbole, too bold even for an
Hotspur.

Hotfpur talking of Mortimer:

In fingle oppofition hand to hand,

e;

He did confound the best part of an hour
In changing hardiment with great Glendower.
Three times they breath'd, and three times did they
drink,

Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood;
Who then affrighted with their bloody looks,
Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds,
And bid his crifp'd head in the hollow bank,
Blood-ftained with thefe valiant combatants.
Speaking of Henry V.
First Part Henry IV. ad 1. fc. 4

England ne'er had a King until his time.
Virtue he had, deferving to command:

His brandifh'd fword did blind men with its beams:
His arms fpread wider than a dragon's wings:
His fparkling eyes, replete with awful fire,
More dazzled, and drove back his enemies,
Than mid-day fun fierce bent against their faces.
What fhould I fay? his deeds exceed all speech :
He never lifted up his hand, but conquer'd.

First Part Henry VI. að 1. fc. 1.

all advantages, ought to be comprehended within the
Lafly, An hyperbole, after it is introduced with
feweft words poffible as it cannot be relished but in
the hurry and fwelling of the mind, a leisurely view dif
folves the charm, and difcovers the defcription to be
fault is palpable in a fonnet which pafleth for one of
extravagant at least, and perhaps alfo ridiculous. This..
the most complete in the French language: Phillis, in
a long and florid defcription, is made as far to out--
fhine the fun as he outfhines the stars:

Le filence regnoit fur la terre et fur l'onde,
L'air devenoit ferain et l'Olimp vermeil,

4

yond;" and xpifix, of xgins, judex, of xgva, judico, Hyperdulia "I judge."

Sacre Flambeau du jour, n'en foiez point jaloux,
Vous parutes alors auffi peu devant elle,
Que les feux de la nuit avoient fait devant vous.
Malleville.

There is in Chaucer a thought expreffed in a fingle
line, which fets a young beauty in a more advanta-
geous light than the whole of this much laboured
poem:

Up rofe the fun, and up rofe Emelie.

HYPERBOREAN, in the ancient geography. The ancients denominated thofe people and places Hyperborean which were to the northward of the Scythians. They had but very little acquaintance. with thefe Hyperborean regions; and all they tell us of them is very precarious, much of it falfe. Diodorus Siculus fays, the Hyperboreans were thus called by reafon they dwelt beyond the wind Boreas; we fig nifying "above, or beyond," and Bopias, Boreas, the "north wind." This etymology is very natural and plaufible; notwithstanding all that Rudbeck has faid against it, who would have the word to be Gothic, and to fignify nobility. Herodotus doubts whether or no there were any fuch nations as the Hyperborean. Strabo, who profeffes that he believes there are, does not take hyperborean to fignify beyond Boreas or the north, as Herodotus understood it: the prepofition up, in this cafe, he fuppofes only to help to form a superlative; fo that hyperborean, on his principle, means no more than mot northern by which it appears the ancients fcarce knew themselves what the name meant.-Molt of our modern geographers, as Hoffman, Cellarius, &c. have placed the Hyperboreans in the northern parts of the European continent, among the Siberians and Samoieds: according to them, the Hyperboreans of the ancients were thofe in general who lived fartheft to the north. The Hyperboreans of our days are thofe Ruffians who inhabit between the Volga and the White fea. According to Cluvier, the name Celtes was fynonymous with that of Hy perboreans.

HYPERCATALECTIC, in the Greek and Latin poetry, is applied to a verfe that has one or two fyllables too much, or beyond the regular and jutt

44

measure; as,

Mufa forores funt Minerva ::
Alfo,

Mufa forores Palladis lugent.

HYPERCRITIC, an over-rigid cenfor or critic: one who will let nothing pafs, but animadverts fe verely on the flighteit fault. See CRITICISM. The word is compounded of Tip fuper, "over, above, be

HYPERDULIA, in the Romish theology, is the worthip rendered to the holy virgin. The word is Greek, uputia, composed of up, above, and, worship, fervice. The worship offered to faints is called dulia; and that to the mother of God, hyperdulia, as being fuperior to the former.

HYPERIA (anc. geog.) the feat of the Phæacians near the Cyclops, (Homer): fome commentators take it to be Camarina in Sicily; but, according to others, is fuppofed to be an adjoining ifland, which they take to be Melita, lying in fight of Sicily. And this feems to be confirmed by Apollonius Rhodius. Whence the Phæacians afterwards removed to Corcyra, called Scheria, Pheacia, and Macris; having been expelled. by the Phoenicians, who fettled in Melita for commerce, and for commodious harbours, before the war of Troy. (Diodorus Siculus.)

HYPERICUM, ST JOHN'S WORT: A genus of the polyandria order, belonging to the polyadelphia clafs of 20th order, Rotacea. The calyx is quinquepartite; plants; and in the natural method ranking under the the petals five; the filaments many, and coalited at the bafe into five pencils; the feed-veffet is a pencil.

the

The

Hyperi

of them hardy deciduous fhrubs, and under-fhrubby Species. Of this genus there are 29 fpecies, most plants, adorned with oblong and oval fimple foliage, and pentapetalous yellow flowers in clutters. moft remarkable are, 1. The hircinum, or ftinking St John's-wort. This rifes three or four feet high, with feveral fhrubby two-edged italks from the root, branching by pairs oppofite at every joint; oblong, oval, clofe fitting oppofite leaves; and at the ends of all. there are three varieties; one with ftrong ftalks, fix fhouts, clusters of yellow flowers. Of this young or eight feet high, broad leaves, and large flowers; the other with ftrong ftalks, broad leaves, and without any difagreeable odour; the third hath variegated. leaves. All thefe varieties are fhrubby; and flowerin June and July in fuch numerous clusters, that the fhrubs appear covered with them; and produce abundance of feed in autumn. 2. The canarien- feven feet high; oblong, clofe-fitting leaves by pairs; fis hath fhrubby ftalks, dividing and branching fix or and, at the ends of the branches, clusters of yellow flowers appearing in June and July. 3. The afcyron, or dwarf American St John's-wort, hath fpreading roots, fending up numerous, flender, fquare italks, a foot long; oval, fpear-shaped, clofe-fitting, fmooth. leaves by pairs oppofite; and, at the end of the stalks, large yellow flowers. 4. The androfamum, commonly fhrubby talk, two feet high, branching by pairs opcalled tufan, or park-leaves, hath an upright underpolite and at the ends of the talks, clusters of fmall yellow flowers appearing in July and Auguft, and. fucceeded by roundish berry-like black capfules. This · grows naturally in many parts of Britain. 5. The balearicum, or wart-leaved St John's wort, is a native of Majorca; and hath a fhrubby ftalk, branching two feet high, with reddith fearitied branches, fmall oval leaves warted underneath, and large yellow flowers. appearing great part of the year. 6. The monogynum, or one tyled China hypericum, hath a fhrubby purplish ftalk, about two feet high; oblong, fmooth, ftiff, clofe-

:

fitting

cum.