Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/383

This page needs to be proofread.
HAD—HAD
363

fied by Lord Grey of Wilton, the English commander, but was besieged in the following year by the Scotch and their French auxiliaries, who forced the garrison to abandon the town. As one result of all this struggle and suffering, it is impossible to dig far in any direction without coming on human remains. Haddington has also suffered frequently from floods. An inscrip tion in the centre of the town commemorates one of the most notable of these (October 4, 1775), marking the point to which the water rose. John Knox was born (1505) at the Giffordgate in the Nungate ; John Brown, a celebrated dissenting divine, several of whose descendants have been eminent in science and literature, had a charge in Haddington for many years ; and Edward Irving was for some years mathematical master in the burgh school.


For the general history of the county see Chalmers s Caledonia, vol. ii. ; also Miller (1844). The siege of the town is fully narrated in Jlistoire de la Guerre cTEscosse, hy Jean de Beaugue. For an account of the burgh records, see Thomas Thomson s paper in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. ii. pt. iii. The question as to the birthplaces of Knox, Lyndsay, and Dunbar is fully discussed in David Laing s editions of those writers.

(f. wa.)

HADDOCK (Gadus ceglefinus, the ScMl-fisch of the Germans, Hadot of the French), a kind of cod-fish, distin guished by a black lateral line and a blackish spot above the pectoral fin. It is common round the British and Irish coasts, and generally distributed along the shores of the North Sea, extending across the Atlantic to the coast of North America. The haddock is prone, however, to abandon for a longer or shorter period a locality frequented by it. [t attains to a weight of 15 B>, and is one of the most valuable food fishes of Europe.

HADERSLEBEN (Danish, Haderslev), a town of Prussia, capital of a circle in the province of Schleswig-Holstein, is situated 48 miles north of the town of that name, in a pleasant valley on the Hadersleben fiord, which is about 9 miles in length and communicates with the Little Belt. The principal buildings are the beautiful church of St Mary elating from the 13th century, the theological seminary established in 1870, the gymnasium, and the hospital. The industries include iron-founding, tanning, and the manu facture of machines, tobacco, and gloves. The harbour, owing to the accumulation of mud, is only accessible to small vessels. The population in 1875, including the garrison, was 8356.


Hadersleben is first mentioned in 1228, and received town rights from Duke Waldemar II. in 1292. It suffered considerably during the wars between Schleswig and Holstein in the 15th century. In November 1864 it was ceded along with Schleswig to Prussia. Two Danish kings, Frederick II. and Frederick III., were born at Hadersleben.

HADES. See Pluto and Eschatology.

HADJI KHALFA. See Hajji Khalfa.

HADRAMAUT. See Arabia.

HADRIAN, Roman emperor (117138 a.d.), distinguished for the peace and beneficent energy of his government, was born at Rome 76 a.d. His full name was

Publius ^Elius Hadrianus ; his ancestors, originally from Picenum, had been settled at Italica in Spain since the time of the Scipios. He lost his father at the age of ten, and was placed under the guardianship of Trajan, a cousin of his father and also a native of Italica, who was already a conspicuous man in the Roman army. We know little of Hadrian s youth ; but he gave early promise of the readiness and versatility which distinguished him in later life, for he was so ardent a student of Greek that men nicknamed him Grseculus. At fifteen he entered on the practical career of war and government which befitted a Roman, and grew fond of the chase even to excess. Patronized by Trajan and assisted by powerful friends he rose rapidly, filling successively all the civil and military offices, which now, as under the republic, were open to young men of good birth. On Trajan s elevation to the empire Hadrian was the first to congratulate him. He served with distinction in both the Dacian campaigns; in the latter Trajan presented him with the ring he h?d received from Nerva, a proof of his regard which justified him in aspiring to ba his successor. If Trajan was not always favourably disposed towards Hadrian, the good-will of the empress Plotina never failed him, and was particularly helpful in some of the most criti cal turning points of his career. She it was who secured his alliance with Sabina, granddaughter of the emperor s sister, a marriage, however, which proved anything but happy. She, it was thought, did him still more effectual service at Trajan s death, even determining the question of the succession in his favour. When that emperor returned from his victorious war in Parthia, the succession was still undecided ; and we are assured on the express testimony of Dion Cassius that Plotina and her friends concealed his death for several days in order to facilitate the elevation of Hadrian. Whatever may have been the truth of such stories, Hadrian s claim to the empire rested on the unquestionable fact that he was the fittest man. His position as prefect of Syria, and commander of the legions with which Trajan had prostrated the Parthian empire, made him supreme in the army, while his peaceful disposition and civil demeanour must have made him acceptable to the senate. Yet he was not unconscious of the insecurity of his position; for he hastened to propitiate the army by a donation of twice the usual amount, and to excuse his abrupt elevation to the senate by alleging the impatient zeal of the soldiers and the welfare of the state, which could not exist without an " imperator." The first important act of Hadrian was to abandon the late conquests of Trajan, and again to make the Euphrates the eastern boundary of the empire. At his elevation the provinces were unsettled, and the barbarians on the frontier restless and menacing. He was convinced that the old limits of Augustus offered the most defensible frontier, and that the energy of the emperor was sufficiently occupied in governing the provinces already won. This policy of renunciation was ascribed to jealousy of Trajan; but history has recognized its wisdom. While arranging the affairs of the East, Hadrian had an opportunity of pardoning some eminent citizens who were accused of hostility to him, and after his return to Rome he confirmed his popularity by many gracious acts. Modestly declining the honours heaped upon himself, he carefully rendered the last offices to the deceased emperor, and considerably lightened the burdens of the citizens. During an absence in Moesia, where he had gone to compose some troubles with the Sarmatae and Roxolani, a formidable conspiracy was formed against him. The details are obscure ; but four consular men, among the most eminent of Rome, were accused of being concerned in it, and were put to death. Some, however, went so far as to say that the con spiracy was a scheme devised by Hadrian for getting rid of dreaded rivals. It was a dark transaction which threw a suspicion on his character. On his return to Rome he exerted himself to undo the evil effects of it by a generous and popular policy. Towards the senate he expressed the utmost deference and consideration ; he admitted the most eminent of its members to familiar intercourse, raised them to the highest honours, and supplied the indigent with means to maintain their position. He was equally liberal to the body of the people, granting them a large donation of money, remitting the arrears of taxes for the last fifteen years, and increasing the funds which Trajan had devoted to the alimentation of poor children. These measures of Hadrian might be criticized as the calculating policy of one who felt his position to be insecure, and who could afford to be generous to the city out of the revenues of the empire But such a theory could not apply to what is most characteristic in his rule,- his unwearying- care for the provinces and for the empire as a whole. He understood the true task of a Roman emperor better per

haps than any of his predecessors. More clearly than any of