which in the opinion of the lawyers made his time the golden age of the court. His excellent judgment was aided by great industry; and for carefully mastering the subject of every case before him, and patient attention to the bar, he stands unequalled. His emoluments were largely drawn from the fees and perquisites which, though lawful (for his integrity was above all suspicion, and "Ne cupias" was his motto), might have been lessened by judicious reforms. His law amendments were trivial, but the business of the court greatly increased in his time. As speaker of the house of lords he had to dispose of Scotch appeal cases, and for this purpose he learnt civil law through Scotch law, to the profit of himself and the suitors, Scotch and English. Hence his name was in high repute in Scotland until he procured the acts passed, 1747, for abolishing heritable jurisdictions and the Highlanders' garb—measures which, although the former was perhaps more beneficial than any passed since Cromwell, were offensive to the national pride. As a politician Lord Hardwicke, compared with the duke of Newcastle and other chiefs of the party, was a good if not a great minister of state. In the crisis of 1745, urged perhaps by Walpole, then become Lord Orford, he penned a royal speech which was well expressed and reassuring. When the rebel tide flowed back, he sat as lord steward on the trials of Lords Kilmarnock, Cromarty, Balmerino, and Lovat; and it would be too much, the times considered, to expect that his addresses and sentences on these occasions should be free from all tincture of virulence. In others of his measures while in office a liberal and tolerant spirit was shown. He supported the bill for the reformation of the calendar, 1751. The marriage bill of 1753 was his. On the resignation in 1756 of his patron the duke of Newcastle, Lord Hardwicke gave up the great seal; and although he lived eight years longer, with full capacity for business, he accepted no office. About this time he wrote his "Letters to Lord Kames on Equity Jurisdiction," printed in the Memoirs of the latter. These letters display deep knowledge of the subject, and a happy style of elucidation. He is also said to have written an essay in the Spectator—the portion relating to the partition treaty in Tindal's continuation of Rapin's History. Lord Hardwicke had a comely person and a fine voice. He married a widow lady, a niece of Lord Somers—a favourable circumstance for his advancement in the world and his happiness at home. He had a numerous offspring, and they were amply provided for by posts and accumulated wealth. His second son, Charles, was an eminent lawyer, who was appointed lord chancellor in an unfavourable conjuncture, and died from political vexation without enjoying the office.—S. H. G.
HARDWICKE, Philip Yorke, second earl of, son and successor of the first earl, was born in the December of 1720, and educated at Hackney and Benet college, Cambridge. Before leaving college he was appointed a teller of the exchequer, and after leaving it, he entered in 1741 the house of commons as member for Reigate, subsequently representing Cambridgeshire. In 1764 he succeeded to the title on the death of his father, the lord chancellor. Ill health and a love of literary pursuits combined to dissuade him from taking an active part in politics. In the brief Rockingham administration of 1765, however, he had a seat in the cabinet, though without office or salary. His earliest literary work, begun at college, was executed in co-operation with several others; amongst his coadjutors being his brother, the Hon. Charles Yorke, afterwards Lord Morden. It was written on the plan of Barthelemy's Anacharsis, and entitled "Athenian Letters, or the epistolary correspondence of an agent of the King of Persia residing at Athens during the Peloponnesian war." A few copies of the work were printed in 1743, a hundred more in 1781, and an elegant edition in 1798, under the auspices of the next earl of Hardwicke. About 1775 Lord Harwicke printed the correspondence of Sir Dudley Carleton, English minister in the Netherlands, of which a second impression appeared in that year, and a third in 1780. In 1779 his lordship gave to the press the volume known as the Hardwicke State Papers, being a collection of documents and letters illustrative of British history from 1501 to 1726, taken from the state-paper office, the MSS. of the British museum, and one or two private collections. In 1783 he printed privately "Walpoliana," anecdotes and sayings of Sir Robert Walpole, whom he had known in youth, and which he gathered, according to his own account, "from Sir Robert's friends rather than his enemies." The impression was an extremely small one. Of the volume, now very rare, there is a copy in the Grenville collection in the library of the British museum. Lord Hardwicke died in the May of 1790.—F. E.
HARDY, Alexandre, born at Paris about 1560; died in 1631. Hardy's name occurs in every account of the early French stage. He was attached in the character of what is called "auteur de la troupe" to more than one theatre successively, and is said to have written six hundred dramas, all in verse. His plays are described as showing some talent and originality. In classifying his pieces we find some called tragedies, some tragicomedies; the former exclusively taken from classic story; the latter from modern manners.—J. A., D.
HARDY, Sir Thomas Masterman, Bart., a celebrated naval officer, was a native of Dorsetshire, and was born in 1769. He entered the naval service in 1781, and became a midshipman on board the Helena of 14 guns. He afterwards served in the Hebe, the Tisiphone, and the Amphitrite, and in November, 1794, was made lieutenant on board the Meleager, which was attached to the squadron under Commodore Nelson. In August, 1796, Hardy was transferred to the Minerve on which Nelson had hoisted his broad pennant, and an attachment then sprung up between the great naval warrior and his lieutenant, which was only terminated by death. Shortly after Hardy was taken prisoner by the Spaniards, and was exchanged in February, 1797, while the Minerve lay at Gibraltar. A day or two after his release, while in the jolly-boat striving to save a man who had fallen overboard, he was only saved from falling again into the hands of the enemy by the spirited conduct of Nelson, who—exclaiming with an oath "I'll not lose Hardy; back the mizzen-topsail"—retarded the progress of the frigate, and took Hardy and the crew of the jolly-boat on board, though he was at the time pursued by two Spanish line-of-battle-ships which were nearly within gunshot. Three days later (February 14) Hardy was present with his illustrious friend at the battle of St. Vincent. On the 29th of Mav following. Lieutenant Hardy performed a most gallant exploit in cutting out of Santa Cruz, with the boats of the Minerve, the Mutine, a French 14-gun brig. The prize was immediately adopted into the service, and was intrusted to her captor, who, as a reward for his gallantry, was promoted to the rank of commander. In this brig Hardy accompanied Nelson in pursuit of the French fleet, and fought with his usual bravery at the battle of the Nile. He was successively appointed to the Vanguard, the Foudroyant, which carried Nelson's flag, and the Princess Charlotte. He returned home in 1799; but, in November of the following year, he commanded the Namur and then the St. George, both Nelson's flag-ships. The latter was employed to sound a part of the channel, before the battle of Copenhagen (April 2, 1801), but took no part in the attack, as she drew too much water. After serving successively in the Isis, in which he conveyed the duke of Kent to Gibraltar, and the Amphion, on the 30th of July, 1803, Captain Hardy was appointed to the Victory of 100 guns, which bore Nelson's flag. From this time he never quitted his great commander till the hour of his death. At the battle of Trafalgar (21st October, 1805), as the Victory was entering into action. Hardy made a very narrow escape. A shot struck the forebrace bitts of the quarter-deck, and passed between Nelson and Hardy, a splinter from the bitts tearing off Hardy's shoe-buckle, and bruising his left foot. Nelson was walking the quarter-deck with Captain Hardy when he received his mortal wound; and it was to him that the hero's last wishes were confided. Captain Hardy was intrusted with the duty of conveying Nelson's body to England, and at the funeral he bore the banner of emblems. He was created a baronet, 4th February, 1806. Sir Thomas subsequently served with great distinction in the West Indies with Sir Richard Strachan; upon the Halifax station; and at Lisbon. In 1812 he joined the North American squadron in the Ramillies, 74; and in 1818, having been appointed to the Superb, he assumed and held until January, 1824, the command of the squadron stationed on the South American coast. He conveyed to Lisbon the expedition sent thither by Mr. Canning in 1826, and was subsequently appointed commander of an experimental squadron. He was altogether thirty-six years afloat, and witnessed the capture of no fewer than fifty-seven line-of-battle-ships. In 1830 Sir Thomas was made a lord of the admiralty, and in 1834 governor of Greenwich hospital, a situation which he held until his death in September, 1839.—J. T.
HARDYNG, John, an early English poet and historian, and the descendant of a respectable northern family, was born in the
