Possession; power. Sacraments serve as the moral instruments of God to that purpose; the use whereof is in our hands, the effect in his. Hooker. And though you war, like petty wrangling states, You're in my hand; and, when I bid you cease, You shall be crushed together into peace. Dryden. Between the landlord and tenant there must be a quarter of the revenue of the land constantly in their hands. Locke. It is fruitless pains to learn a language, which one may guess by his temper he will wholly neglect, as soon as an approach to manhood, setting him free from a governor, shall put him into the hands of his own inclination. Locke. Vectigales Agri were lands taken from the enemy, and distributed amongst the soldiers, or left in the hands of the proprietors under the condition of certain duties. Arbuthnot. Pressure of the bridle. Hollow men, like horses, hot at hand, Make gallant show and promise of their mettle. Shakspeare. Method of government; discipline; restraint. Menelaus bare an heavy hand over the citizens, having a malicious mind against his countrymen. 2 Mac. v. 23. He kept a strict hand on his nobility, and chose rather to advance clergymen and lawyers.. Bacon. However a strict hand is to be kept upon all desires of fancy, yet in recreation fancy must be permitted to speak. Influence; management. Flattery, the dangerous nurse of vice, Got hand upon his youth, to pleasures bent. Locke. Daniel. That which performs the office of a hand in pointing. ideas of our own minds do naturally follow one another, the thing seems to stand still; as is evident in the hands of clocks and shadows of sun-dials. Locke. Agent; person employed; a manager. The wisest prince, if he can save himself and his people from ruin, under the worst administration, what may not his subjects hope for when he changeth hands, and maketh use of the best? Swift. Giver and receiver. This tradition is more likely to be a notion bred in the mind of man, than transmitted from hand to hand Tillotson. through all generations. An act; a workman; a soldier Your wrongs are known: impose but your commands, This hour shall bring you twenty thousand hands. Dryden. Demetrius appointed the painter guards, pleased that he could preserve that hand from the barbarity and insolence of soldiers. Dryden. A dictionary containing a natural history requires too many hands, as well as too much time, ever to be hoped for. Lockc. Catch or reach without choice. The men of Israel smote as well the men of every city as the beast, and all that came to hand. Judges. A sweaty reaper from his tillage brought First fruits, the green ear, and the yellow sheaf, Unculled as came to hand. Form or cast of writing. Milton. Dryden. The way to teach to write is to get a plate graved with the characters of such hand you like. Locke. Whether men write court or Roman hand, or any other, there is something peculiar in every one's writing. Cockburn. Constantia saw that the hand writing agreed with the contents of the letter. Addison. They were wrote on both sides, and in a small hand. Arbuthnot. I present these thoughts in an ill hand; but scholars are bad penmen, we seldom regard the mechanick part of writing. Felton. Hand over head. Negligently; rashly; without seeing what one does. So many strokes of the alarm bell of fear and awaking to other nations, and the facility of the titles, which hand over head have served their turn, doth ring the peal so much the louder. Bacon. A country fellow got an unlucky tumble from a tree: Thus 'tis, says a passenger, when people will be doing things hand over head, without either fear or L'Estrange. wit. He issues, ere the fight, his dread command, The body, though it moves, yet not changing per- That slings afar, and poniards hand to hand, ceivable distance with other bodies, as fast as the Be banished from the field. VOL. XI. Dryden. C Hand in hand. In union; conjointly. Had the sea been Marlborough's element, the war had been bestowed there, to the advantage of the country, which would then have gone hand in hand Swift. with his own. Hand in hand. Fit; pat. As fair and as good, a kind of hand in hand comparison, had been something too fair and too good for any lady in Brittany. Shakspeare. Hand to mouth. As want requires. I can get bread from hand to mouth, and make even at the year's end. L'Estrange. To bear in hand. To keep in expectation; to elude. A rascally yea forsooth knave, to bear in hand, and then stand upon security. Shakspeare. To be hand and glove. To be intimate and familiar; to suit one another. HAND, v.a. From the noun. To give or transmit with the hand. Judas was not far off, not only because he dipped in the same dish, but because he was so near that our Saviour could hand the sop unto him. Brown. I have been shewn a written prophecy that is handed among them with great secrecy. Addison. To guide or lead by the hand. Angels did hand her up, who next God dwell. Donne. By safe and insensible degress he will pass from a boy to a man, which is the most hazardous step in life: this therefore should be carefully watched, and a young man with great diligence handed over it. To seize; to lay hands on. Let him, that makes but trifles of his eyes, First hand me: on mine own accord, I'll off. Locke. Shakspeare. To manage; to move with the hand. Prior. To transmit in succession, with down; to deliver from one to another. I know of no other way of securing these monuments, and making them numerous enough to be handed down to future ages. Addison. They had not only a tradition of it in general, but even of several the most remarkable particular accidents of it likewise, which they handed downwards to the succeeding ages. each other, which give it a great degree of strength, and at the same time an unusual flexibility, to enable it to handle adjacent bodies, lay hold of them, and grasp them, in order either to draw them towards us or thrust them off. Anaxagoras is said to have maintained, that man owes all his wisdom, knowledge, and superiority over other animals, to the use of his hands. The right hand was the place of honor and respect. Amongst the Greeks and Romans it was customary for inferiors to walk on the left hand of superiors, that the right hand might be ready to afford protection and defence to their left side, which, on account of the awkwardness of the left hand, was more exposed to danger. HAND, in falconry, is used for the foot of the hawk. To have a clean, strong, slender, glutinous hand, well clawed, are good qualities of a hawk or falcon. HAND, in the manege, is also used for the fore foot of a horse: also for a division of the horse into two parts, with respect to the rider's hand. The fore hand includes the head, neck, and fore quarters; the hind hand is all the rest of the horse. HANDS are borne in coat armour, dexter and sinister, that is, right and left; expanded or open; and after other manners. A bloody hand in the centre of the escutcheon is the badge of a baronet of Great Britain. color, an inhabited island of Scotland, on the HANDA, Celt. Aonda, i. e. the isle of one coast of Sutherland, one mile square. It has a large tremendous rock on the north, from eighty to 100 fathoms high, much frequented by seafowls. HAND-BARROW, n. s. A frame on which any thing is carried by the hands of two men, without wheeling on the ground. A hand-barrow, wheelbarrow, shovel, and spade. Tusser. Set the board whereon the hive standeth on a hand-barrow, and carry them to the place you intend. Mortimer. HAND-BASKET, N. s. A portable basket. You must have woollen yarn to tie grafts with, and a small hand-basket to carry them in. Mortimer. HAND-BELL, n. s. A bell rung by the hand. The strength of the percussion, is the principal cause of the loudness or softness of sounds; as in Bacon. ringing of a hand-bell harder or softer. Woodward. Arts and sciences consist of scattered theorems and practices, which are handed about amongst the masters, and only revealed to the filii artis, 'till some great genius appears, who collects these disjointed propositions, and reduces them into a regular system. Arbuthnot. One would think a story so fit for age to talk of, and infancy to hear, were incapable of being handed down to us. Pope. HAND is much used in composition for that which is manageable by the hand, as a handsaw; or borne in the hand, as a handbarrow, &c. HAND, a member of the human body, at the extremity of the arm. See ANATOMY. The mechanism of the hand is excellently fitted for the various uses and occasions we have for it, and the great number of arts and manufactures in which it is to be employed. It consists of a compages of nerves, and little bones joined into HAND-BREADTH, N. s. A space equal to the breadth of the hand; a palm. A border of an hand-breadth round about. Exodus. Off goth the skinne, an hondbrede al aboute Chaucer. The Milleres Tale. The eastern people determined their hand-breadth by the breadth of barley-corns, six making a digit, and twenty-four a hand's-breadth. Arbuthnot. was over. Id. HANDEL (George Frederick), an eminent master and composer of music, born at Halle, in Upper Saxony, on the 24th of February, 1684. His father was a physician in that city, and was upwards of sixty years of age when he was born. During his infancy young Handel amused himself with musical instruments, and made considerable progress in the science before he was seven years of age. His propensity for music at last became so strong that his father, who designed him for the law, forbade him to touch an instrument. Handel, however, privately conveyed a small clavichord to a room in the uppermost part of the house, to which he constantly stole when the family were asleep; and thus made such advances in his art as enabled him to play on the harpsichord. He was first noticed by the duke of Saxe Weissenfels on the following occasion. His father went to see another son, by a former wife, who was valet de chambre to the duke, and young Handel, being then in his seventh year, accompanied him. While he was in the duke's court it was impossible to keep him from harpsichords; and he sometimes went into the organ loft at church, and played after service On one of these occasions the duke, happening to go out later than usual, found something so uncommon in his manner of playing, that he enquired for him, and was so much taken with the musical genius he exhibited that he persuaded his father to let him follow his inclmations. On his return to Halle, Handel was placed under Zackaw, the organist of the cathedral, and was even then able to supply his master's place in his absence. At nine years of age he began to compose church services for voices and instruments, and continued to compose one every week for three years. At fourteen he far excelled his master, and was sent to Berlin. The opera was then encouraged by Frederick I. king of Prussia, and under the direction of Buononcmi, Attilio, and other eminent Italian masters. Buononcini, being of a haughty disposition, treated Handel with contempt; but Attilio behaved to him with kindness, and he profited much by his instructions. His abilities soon recommended him to the king, who frequently made him presents. After this he went to Hamburgh, where the opera was little inferior to that of Berlin. Soon after his arrival his father died; and, his mother being left in narrow circumstances, he thought it necessary to procure some scholars, and to accept a place in the orchestra. At this time the first harpsichord in Hamburgh was played by one Keser, who also excelled in composition; but he, having involved himself in debt, was obliged to abscond. Upon this vacancy, the person who had been used to play the second harpsichord claimed the first by right of succession; but was opposed by Handel, who founded his claim solely upon his abilities. After much dispute it was decided in favor of Handel; but his antagonist, as they were coming out of the orchestra, made a push at Handel's breast with a sword, which must undoubtedly have killed him, had there not fortunately been a music-book in the bosom of his coat. Handel, though yet but in his fifteenth year, became composer to the house: and the success of Almeria, his first opera, was so great, that it ran thirty nights without interruption. Within less than a year after this he set two others, called Florinda and Norene, which were received with equal applause. During his stay here, which was about four or five years, he also composed a considerable number of sonatas, which are now lost. His talents now procured him the acquaintance of many persons of note, particularly the prince of Tuscany, brother to John Gaston de Medicis, the grand duke. This prince pressed him to go with him to Italy; but this offer Handel declined, being resolved not to give up his independence for any advantage that could be offered him. In his nineteenth year Handel took a journey to that country, where he was received with the greatest kindness by the prince of Tuscany, as well as by the grand duke; and notwithstanding the difference between the style of the Italian music and the German, to which Handel had hitherto been accustomed, he set an opera called Roderigo, which pleased the grand duke so well that he was rewarded with 100 sequins and a service of plate. After staying about a year in Florence he went to Venice, where he is said to have been first discovered at a masquerade, by his exquisite performance on the harpsichord. Here he composed his opera called Agrippina, which was performed twenty-seven nights successively, with the highest applause. From Venice he proceeded to Rome, where he became acquainted with cardinal Ottoboni and many other dignitaries, by whom he was frequently attacked on account of his religion; but Handel declared he would live and die in the religion in which he had been educated. He now composed an oratorio called Resurrectione, and 150 cantatas, besides some sonatas and other music. Ottoboni contrived to have a trial of skill between him and Dominici Scarlatti. When they came to the organ Scarlatti himself yielded the superiority to Handel. From Rome Handel went to Naples; after which he paid a second visit to Florence: and at last, having spent six years in Italy, set out for his native country. In his way thither he was introduced at the court of Hanover by baron Kilmanseck; when the elector (afterwards king George I.) offered him a pension of 1500 crowns a year, as an inducement for him to continue. This offer he declined, on account of his having promised to visit the court of the elector palatine. The elector, being made acquainted with this objection, generously ordered him to be told, that his acceptance of the pension should not restrain him from his promise, but that he should be at full liberty to be absent a year or more if he chose it. Soon after the place of master of the chapel was bestowed upon Handel; and having visited his mother, who was now aged and blind, and his old master Zackaw, and staid some time at the court of the elector palatine, he set out for England, where he arrived in 1710. Operas were then a new entertainment here, and Handel set a drama called. Rinaldo, which was performed with uncommon success. Having staid a year in this country he returned to Hanover; but, in 1712, again came over to England; and, the peace of Utrecht being concluded a few months afterward, he composed a grand Te Deum and Jubilate on the occasion. He now found the nobility very desirous that he should resume the direction of the opera house in the Hay Market; and queen Anne having added her authority to their solicitations, and conferred on him a pension of £200 a year, he remained in Britain till the death of the queen and the accession of king George I.; who added a pension of £200 a year to that bestowed by queen Anne; and this was soon after increased to £400, on his being appointed to teach the young princesses music. In 1715 Handel composed his opera of Amadige; but from that time to 1720 he composed only Teseo and Pastor Fido. About this time a project was formed by the nobility for erecting a kind of academy at the Hay Market, to secure to themselves a constant supply of operas composed by Handel, and performed under his direction. No less than £50,000 were subscribed for this scheme, and it was proposed to continue the undertaking for fourteen years. Handel went over to Dresden, to engage singers, and returned with Senesino and Duristanti. Buononcini and Attilio had still a strong party, but not equal to that of Handel; and therefore in 1720 he obtained leave to perform his opera of Radamisto. The house was so crowded that many fainted; and £2 were offered by some for a seat in the gallery. The contention, however, still ran very high between Handel's party and that of the two Italian masters. It was on this occasion that dean Swift wrote the following epigram: Some say that signior Buononcini At last it was determined that the rivals should be jointly employed in an opera, in which each should take a distinct act, and he who by the general suffrage was allowed to have given the best proof of his ability should be put in possession of the house. This opera was called Muzio Scævola, and Handel set the last act. It is said that Handel's superiority was owned even in the overture; but, when the act was performed, there remained no pretence for doubt. The academy was now firmly established, and Handel conducted it for nine years with great success; but about that time an irreconcileable enmity took place between him and Senesino; whom Handel resolved to dismiss, and the nobility resolved not to permit him. The haughtiness of Handel's temper would not allow him to yield, and the affair ended in the dissolution of the academy. His audience dwindled away, and the offended nobility raised a subscription against him, to carry on operas in the play-house in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Against this opposition Handel bore up four years: three in partnership with Heidegger, and one by himself: but, though his own musical powers were superior to those of his antagonists, the astonishing voice of Farinelli, whom the opposite party had engaged, determined the victory against him. At last Handel, having spent all he was worth in a fruitless opposition, desisted; but was deranged for some time after, and his right arm was rendered useless by a stroke of the palsy. In this deplorable situation he was sent to the baths of Aixla-Chapelle; from which he received relief. Returning to England, in 1736, his Alexander's Feast was performed with applause at Covent Garden. The success and splendor of the Hay Market was by this time so much reduced by mismanagement, that lord Middlesex undertook the direction of it himself, and applied to Handel for composition. He accordingly composed his operas called Faramondo and Alessandro Severo, for which, in 1737, he received £1000. In 1738 he had £1500 from a single benefit, and nothing seemed wanting to retrieve his affairs, except such concessions on his part as his opponents had a right to expect. These, however, he could not be prevailed upon to make; and refused to enter into any engagements upon subscription. After having tried a few more operas at Covent Garden, without success, he introduced that species of music called oratorios, which he thought better suited to the gravity of an English audience. This was by some thought a profanation, and the oratorios at first met with little success; so that in 1741 Handel again quitted England, and went to Dublin. His Messiah here brought him into universal favor. In nine months he had brought his affairs into order; and on his return to England, in 1742, found the public more favorably disposed towards his oratorios. Messiah became a great favorite; and Handel, with a generous humanity, determined to perform it annually for the benefit of the Foundling Hospital. In 1743 he had a return of his paralytic disorder; and in 1751 became quite blind. This last affliction sunk him into the deepest despondency; and, finding it impossible to manage his oratorios alone, he was assisted by Mr. Smith, with whose aid they were continued till within eight days of his death. During the latter part of his life his mind was often disordered, yet at times it appears to have resumed its full vigor, and he composed several songs, choruses, &c. From October, 1758, his health declined very fast. On the 6th of April, 1759, his last oratorio was performed, at which he was present, and he died on the 14th. On the 20th he was buried in Westminster Abbey. His musical powers are best expressed by Arbuthnot's reply to Pope, who seriously asked his opinion of him His Chaucer. The Cokes Tale. If that shepherd be not in handfast, let him fly. Shakspeare. HAND-FASTING, an ancient custom which formerly took place in various parts of Scotland every year. At a stated time it was the custom for the unmarried persons of both sexes to choose a companion with whom they were to live till that time next year. If they were pleased with each other at that time, then they continued together for life; if not, they separated, and were free to make another choice as at first. The fruit of their connexion, if there were any, was always attached to the disaffected person. A priest, whom they named Book i' bosom, because he carried in his bosom a bible or a register of the marriages, came from time to time to confirm the marriages. Mr. Brown traces this custom from the Romans. HANDFUL, n. s. As much as the hand can grasp, or contain; sometimes expressive of length, or distance, rather than quantity; also a small quantity by comparison. Being in possession of the town, they had their handful to defend themselves from firing. Raleigh. Take one vessel of silver and another of wood, each full of water, and knap the tongs together about an handful from the bottom, and the sound will be more resounding from the vessel of silver than that of wood. Bacon. He could not, with such a handful of men, and without cannon, propose reasonably to fight a battle. Clarendon. The peaceful scabbard where it dwelt, It had devoured, it was so manful. Hudibras I saw a country gentleman at the side of Rosamond's pond, pulling a handful of oats out of his pocket, and gathering the ducks about him. Addison. HAND-GALLOP, n. s. A slow and easy gallop, in which the hand presses the bridle to hinder increase of speed. Ovid, with all his sweetness, has as little variety of numbers and sounds as he: he is always upon a hand-gallop, and his verse runs upon carpet ground. Dryden. The covenants thou shalt teach by candle-light, When puffing smiths, and every painful trade Of handicrafts, in peaceful beds are laid. Dryden. Particular members of convents have excellent mechanical geniuses, and divert themselves with painting, sculpture, architecture, gardening, and several kinds of handicrafts. Addison. The prophaneness and ignorance of handicraftsmen, small-traders, servants, and the like, are to a degree very hard to be imagined greater. Swift. It is the landed man that maintains the merchant Id. and shop-keeper, and handicraftsmen. The nurseries for children of ordinary gentlemen and handicraftsmen are managed after the same manGulliver's Travels. ner. HAN'DIWORK, n. s. Handy and work. Work of the hand; product of labor; manufacture. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Psalms. As proper men as ever trod upon neat's-leather have gone upon my handiwork. Shakspeare. In general they are not repugnant unto the natural will of God, which wisheth to the works of his own hands, in that they are his own handiwork, all happiness; although, perhaps, for some special cause in our own particular, a contrary determination have seemed more convenient. Hooker. He parted with the greatest blessing of human nature for the handiwork of a taylor. L'Estrange. HA'NDKERCHIEF, n. s. Hand and kerchief. A piece of silk or linen used to wipe the face, or cover the neck. He was torn to pieces with a bear: this avouches the shepherd's son, who has not only his innocence, but a handkerchief and rings of his, that Paulina knows. Shakspeare. She found her sitting in a chair, in one hand holding a letter, in the other her handkerchief, which had lately drunk up the tears of her eyes. Sidney. Confederate in the cheat, they draw the throng, And cambric handkerchiefs reward the song. Gay. The Romans did not make use of handkerchiefs, but of the lacinia or border of the garment, to wipe their face. Arbuthnot. HAN'DLE, v. a. & n. s. Belg. handelen; Swe. handla; Dan. handle. To touch, or feel, with the hand to manage; to make familiar with: figuratively, to treat; to mention in writing or conversation; to deal with, or practise upon: handle, that part by which any thing is held; and hence, figuratively, that of which use is made. They that handle the law know me not. Jerem. ii. 8. Leaving to the author the exact handling of every particular, and labouring to follow the rules of abridg2 Mac. ment. He left nothing fitting for the purpose Untouched, or slightly handled in discourse. Manual occupa O miserable age! virtue is not regarded in handicraftsmen. Shakspeare. He has simply the best wit of any handicraftsman in Athens, Id. The principal bulk of the vulgar natives are tillers of the ground, free servants, and handicraftsmen; as smiths, masons, and carpenters. Bacon. |