Volume 1

The great historical, geographical, genealogical and poetical dictionary; being a curious miscellany of sacred and prophane history. Containing, in short, the lives and most remarkable actions of the patriarchs, judges, and kings of the Jews; of the apostles, fathers, and doctors of the church; of popes, cardinals, bishops, &c. ... Together with the establishment and progress both of religious and military orders, and the lives of their founders. As also, the fabulous history of the heathen gods and heroes. The description of empires, kingdoms, commonwealths, provinces, cities, towns, islands, mountains ... The whole being full of remarks and curious enquiries, for the illustration of several difficulties in theology, history, chronology and geography. Collected from the best historians, chronologers, and lexicographers ... but more especially out of Lewis Morery, D.D. his eighth edition corrected and enlarged by Monsieur Le Clerc; in two volumes in folio. To which are added, by way of supplement, inter-mix'd throughout the alphabet, the lives, most remarkable actions, and writings of several illustrious families of our English, Scotch and Irish nobility, and gentry, and most famous men of all professions, arts and sciences: as also, an exact description of these kingdoms; with the most considerable occurrences that have happened to this present time / [Louis Moréri].

  • Moréri, Louis, 1643-1680.
Date:
1701
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The great historical, geographical, genealogical and poetical dictionary; being a curious miscellany of sacred and prophane history. Containing, in short, the lives and most remarkable actions of the patriarchs, judges, and kings of the Jews; of the apostles, fathers, and doctors of the church; of popes, cardinals, bishops, &c. ... Together with the establishment and progress both of religious and military orders, and the lives of their founders. As also, the fabulous history of the heathen gods and heroes. The description of empires, kingdoms, commonwealths, provinces, cities, towns, islands, mountains ... The whole being full of remarks and curious enquiries, for the illustration of several difficulties in theology, history, chronology and geography. Collected from the best historians, chronologers, and lexicographers ... but more especially out of Lewis Morery, D.D. his eighth edition corrected and enlarged by Monsieur Le Clerc; in two volumes in folio. To which are added, by way of supplement, inter-mix'd throughout the alphabet, the lives, most remarkable actions, and writings of several illustrious families of our English, Scotch and Irish nobility, and gentry, and most famous men of all professions, arts and sciences: as also, an exact description of these kingdoms; with the most considerable occurrences that have happened to this present time / [Louis Moréri]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    636/836
    H A R P A L U S, a Caprain under Alexander the Great, who being made Governour of Babylon, plunder’d the Royal Palace in his Ma/ters Abl'ence, and came into Greece to raife a Rebellion tliere. But finding himfelf by Antipater, heefcap’d into Candia, where he was treacheroudy killed. Curtiw. HARPIES, fabulous Monffers, Daughters of Neptune and the Earth •, lb called from the Greek to fnatcli or ravifli. They were laid to dwell in Ifiands partly by Sea and partly by Land. They are feigned to be Fowls with a Virgins Face and Bears Ears, their Bodies like Vultures, and Hands like their hook¬ ed Talons. Virgil mentions three of them, vizy Aello, Ocypete, and CeUno, which lad homer names Vodarge. But Hefiod takes notice only of the firfl two. According to the Poets, they haunted Phineas's Houfe, infeded his Meat, and fnatched it from his Table. But Zetes and Calais, two famous Argonauts (Sons of Boreas by Orithya) being winged, were fent thither, and drove them away to the Illands Strophadei. The fence whereof is this: Firfl, By the Argonauts are only meant Phoenician Merchants that went into Colchis to buy Sheep: And the Harpies were nothing but Locufis, ay-TOia in Greek, and Arheh in Hebrew, lignifyinga Loculi. And as the Loculls in Egpypt were driven away by the North Winds •, fo the Poets feign’d the Harpies to be driven a- way by Zetes and Calais, Sons of Boreas the North-wind. The Harpies caufed a Famine in Phineas\ Country, and’tis well known that whole Provinces have been eaten up by Locufis, as you may fee more at large in Bochart’s Hierozpicon. The Harpies caus’d a great dink, fo will Loculls •, and when they die for want of Food, they fo poifon the Air, that it fometimcs brings the Plague. The Harpies infefted what they touched ; fo do the Locuds. Going to devour Fhineas’s Meat they made fuch a Noife, that they were heard at a good didance ■, fo do the Locuds with their Teeth when they eat, and with their Wings when they fly. Phineas co\xld not hinder their coming at him, agreeable to what the Prophet Joel fays of the Locuds wherewith lie threatned the Jews. They /hall, fays he, run to and fto in the City, climb up up¬ on the Uoi/es, and enter ltl(e a Thief at the Windows. Tbo.Har¬ pies got away without any harm -, and the fame is faid of the Lo¬ cuds xnjoel ■, When they fall upon the Sword, fays he, they /hall not be wounded, Biblioth. Zlniv. T. I. HARPOCRATES, the God of Silence among the Egyptians, piftur’d with his Finger upon his Mouth. The Peach-Tree was Confecrated to him, whofe Leaf islhapcd like the Tongue, and its Fruit like the Heart. Tho’ ’tis likely theStory was taken from Harpocrates, a Greek Philofopher, whofe Precepts were mod for Silence, and againd Freedom of Speech -, whence the Proverb mentioned by Catullus, Harpocratem reddere, that is, to drike one Dumb, or make him hold his Tongue. Natalis Comes. H A R PS F E I LD (Nicholas) Archdeacon of Canterbury, he appear’d verv zealous for the Roman Catholick Religion, and to fupportthatlntered fubmitted to twenty three yearsimprifonment under C^ueen Elio^abeth, and died under that redraint in 1582. He wrote fix Dialogues againd the Magdeburgailes, publidied by Alanus Copus. A Hidory of England. An Account of Wicli/f’'i Herelie, &c. * Pits de Script. Angl. HARRINGTON (Sir John) one of the mod ingenious EngUfl) Poets of his Time, Born in Somerjet/hire, Bred in Cam¬ bridge, at.d Liv’d in the Reigns of Q. Elio^abeth (who was his God¬ mother) and K. James I. He is particularly Noted for his Witty Book of Epigrams, and his ingenious Tranflation of fu- riofo out of the Italian. There are two noted Jeds-, one his own, and the other made upon him. The fird happen’d at the Lady iloliertaHoufe, his Wife’s Mother, vvhere they us’d to goto Din¬ ner extraordinary late. A Child of his being there faid Grace, which was that of the Primmer, wherein are thefe words. Thou giveji them Meat in due Seafon ■, upon which Sir John dopt the Child as fpeaking an Untruth ^ for here (fays he) we never have our Meat in due Seafon. The other happened at an Ord’nary in Bath, to which Sir John frequently repair’d, where he obferv’d a young Woman that waited at Table, negledting other Gentlemen who fate higher, and were of greater Edates, but mod officious to him. He ask’d herthe Reafon of it ■, and her Return was. That knowing him to be a witty Gentleman, ffie was cautious not to difpleafe him, led he diould make an upon her, wittily referring to his Book of Epigrams. HARRIOT (Thomas) a Man accomplilh’d in all kinds of Learning, efpccially the Mathematicks,to which his Genius feem’d in a peculiar manner adapted. He was born at about the Year 1560, and had afterwards his Education there, in St. Mary Hall. He we!! merited his Degrees in Arts in that Univerfity, to which he was fo great an Ornament. He was Contemporary with h\x. Oughtred, though fome Years elder; Providence feeming to delign this happy conjunflure of Time for the prefenting to the World thofe two great Redorersof Mathematick Learning ; and therefore it would be an Injudice to him, and to our Country vvhere he was born, if we fhould omit making an honourable mention of his Name ; and the rather, becaufe a Neighbouring Nation has been in a fair way of Robbing him and us of his de- ferved Praife. The great Des Cartes, in thofe Works of his, which have made him mod Renowned, diines with the light bor¬ rowed from this Illudrious Perfon, as will appear to any who dull compare their Books, and confult the Learned Bt. Wallis in his Treatife of Algebra in Engliffi, (both in the Book, and the Preface) and alfo in the Latin Edition more fully, (at the end of the Preface, and after Chap. 53.) Where he accurately compares the Improvements that Harriot made in his Book called A) tn Ana¬ lytical Praxis, with what Des Cartes advanced after, as liis owa (without mentioning the Name of Harriot) in his Geometry; and gives it clearly of Harriot\ fide, upon fair and convincing Rca- fons; as, Fird, Harriot's Book vvas publidied feveral Years before that of Des Cartes, vix^. An. 1631 ; the other not till 1637. Secondly, Des Cartes was in Holland when Harriot's Book was printed, where it was eafie for him to have procured it; but I.e came into from thence the fame Year, 'ui^. 1631. And a Man of his Curiofity can’t be fuppos’d to be a drangcr to a Book which was fo newly made publick, and writ upon a Subjetton which his own thoughts were fo deeply engaged. Thirdly, He obferves the fame Method. Des Cartes feems to have been fo well fatisfied in thefe Improvements of Algebra to be found in Harriot, and the condition to which it was by him re¬ duced, (they are the words of Dodtor Wallis, Cap. 5 5. begin.) that in his Geometry (quam ego Algeh am petius dicerem, as he fays in another place, in his Epid. to Sir Sam. Morland, at the end of the 53Chap. Lat. Edit.) fird publidied in French An. and atterward in Latin by Fr. Van Schooten, An. 1649, &: 1659. He doth perfeflly follow Harriot almod in every thing, and adds very little of his own, if any thing (as to pure Algebra) to what we have before fhewed out of H.arnot. Without which Founda¬ tion (fays he, Chap. 30.) that whole Superdrutlure of Dtv Cm /er (I doubt) had never been. And in the Letter but now mentioned, he takes pains to com¬ pare them through the very particulars in fix or feven Pages-, and in his Letter to Prejlet of the fame length, and next following, he hath confirmed this with great advantage on his fide over his Adverfary. This truth appear’d fo plain to his Country-man Monfieur Roberva/ that when Sir Charles Cavendifh being at l'.t- ris, fhewed him Harriot's Book, he was convinced that Des Car¬ tes had perufed it; and being ftartled he fell into this Exclama¬ tion, II I'a veu ! 111’a teuHe hath feen it! He ha''h leen it 1 finding all that in Harriot which he had before admired in Des Cartes, and not doubting but that Des Cartes had itfrom thence. Cap. 53. Notwithftandiug it mufl be granted, that Der Curfex added divers Geometrical Effeftions and Accommodations of Algebra to many Geometrical Propoiitions, as Vieta, Getaldus, Oughired, and others, had done before, and many others have done iince, (Ibid. Cap. $$.) but that was not H^mof’s biifinefs here. The Learned Publiflierof this Book of his (Mr. Ifinner in his Preface and Epilogue thereto) informs us, t!i.it there were many other Mathematical Books written by this Author, and thofe full of ex¬ cellent knowledge (never printed, and now probably lofl) and that this Algebra vvas publifhed as a necefiary Pndromus to tlie intend¬ ed Publifliing thofe others, and an Introduftion tor the better un- derflanding of them, Cap. 53. begin. Of this Treatife this Account given is the fuller, becaufe the Book it felf has been but little known abroad -, poffibly for the Reafons before-mentioned, that the Author has had the misfor¬ tune to be Eclipfed by the great Name of Des Cartes, and the Improvements he had made upon it, and the fuccefs his Book met with, vvhere Harriot, by this means, had fcarcc the good fortune to be named Some little time after the Year 1579, leaving the Univerfity, he was taken into the Family of Sir Walter Rawleigh, that he might, at leifure hours, inflruft him in the Mathcmaricks. He accompanied him in his Expedition to Virginia; of whicli Coun- : try. Sir Walter encourag’d him to give a Defeription, which is printed both in Latin and Engliffi, After his Return he vvas In- vited into the Family of the E. of Northumberland-, who, after he was Condemned to perpetual Imprifonment in the Tower, en- t tertained him, and other eminent Mathematici.tns, allowing tliem ' both a fplendid Table and large Penfions ; to him particularly 120 /. per Annum. He lived about fixty Years, and died the 2d of July 1621. He was liad in great Eflcem, as appears by the fumptuous Funeral made for him by the eminent Men in that Learning, and by the coflly Monument erefted for him in the Church of St. Chrilkpher, London, where he vvas buried ; with this Elogy, amongfi other things, faid in his Praife. (Dx. Wallis's Algebra at the end of his Pref. to the Lat. Edit.) ———Cmnes Scientias calluit, & in omnibus excelluit, Mathe- maticis, Philofophicis, Tbeolog'cis -, Veritatis indagator Studinfi/Ji- mus, Dei Trinitatis cultor Pti/fimus. HARRISON (Thomas) a Man of mean Extraftion, ad- ■ vanc’d by the Parliament to be Major-General of their Army : But more particularly noted, for his being one of the Judges of King Charles 1. and drawing up the Sentence of his Condemnation : For which (after the Return of King C/.>ar/ej-II.) on Wednefday the loth of OHober i66o. he was Tried and Condemn’d ; and on the Saturday following. Executed at Charing ernfs. H A R T B EN, a famous Swedijo Giant, 9 Cubits high, who had always 12 Champions by him to tye him fall, when he vvas taken with a Fighting-fit. There are many more fabulous Stories of liim, which, for brevities fake, I ffiall omit. Saxo Gramma¬ ticus, I