Heir Apparent. The rightful heir to the crown, whose succession is beyond a doubt provided he survives the reigning monarch.
Heir-Presumptive. The presumed heir to the crown provided no child in the direct line of succession is born to supersede his claim.
Heligoland. Danish for “Holy Land,” which name was bestowed upon it after the conversion of its people by St Willibrod in the seventh century. A great many conventual establishments sprang up on the soil, but the encroachments of the sea had swept them away by the seventeenth century. Prior to their conversion the Anglii were wont to repair to this isle from the opposite mainland for the worship of the goddess Hertha, also known as Foseta, of whose temple it is said some ruins yet remain.
Heliotrope. From the Greek helios, sun, and tropos, to turn. The flowers of this plant are said always to turn towards the sun.
Hello Girls. A nickname popularly bestowed upon the telephone girls in the Post Office Department at St Martin’s-le-Grand.
Hellespont. The older name of the “Dardanelles,” where Helle in fleeing from her stepmother was drowned. This occurred at the point where Xerxes with his army had crossed the strait on a temporary bridge.
Hell Kettles. Three very deep pits full of water at Oxenhall, Durham. The people of the neighbourhood declare them to be bottomless. They are really disused coal pits, the water in which cannot be drained off.
Helmuth the Taciturn. The sobriquet of Count Von Moltke, Field Marshal of the German Empire, on account of his habitual reserve.
Helot. The name given by the Spartans to a slave from the Greek town of Helos, whose inhabitants they reduced to slavery.
Henbane. A plant which is poisonous to poultry.