Home, Sweet Home.—A popular lyric contained in the drama of Clari, the Maid of Milan, by John Howard [800] Payne. The beautiful melody to which it has been wedded is said to be of Italian or Sicilian origin, though by some it is attributed to Sir Henry Rowley Bishop. Perhaps the latter merely arranged and harmonized it.
Homilies.—The latter entries in the Peterborough Chronicle and a few homilies are almost all that we have left of the literature of the twelfth century. Some of these homilies are copied or imitated from those of Ælfric.
Honeycomb (hun´i-kōm), Will.—One of the members of the imaginary club by whom the Spectator was professedly edited. He is distinguished for his graceful affectation, courtly pretension, and knowledge of the gay world.
Honeyman, Charles.—A fashionable preacher in Thackeray’s novel, The Newcomes.
Hopeful.—A pilgrim in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, who accompanies Christian to the end of his journey.
Hop-o’-my-Thumb.—A character in the tales of the nursery. Tom Thumb and Hop-o’-my-Thumb are not the same, although they are often confounded. Tom Thumb was the son of peasants, knighted by King Arthur, and was killed by a spider. Hop-o’-my-Thumb was a nix, the same as the German “daumling,” the French “le petit pouce,” and the Scotch “Tom-a-lin” or “Tamlane.” He was not a human dwarf, but a fay.
Horatio (hō-rā´shi-ō).—Hamlet, Shakespeare. An intimate friend of Hamlet, a prince, a scholar, and a gentleman.
Horatius Cocles.—Captain of the bridge gate over the Tiber. He and two men to help him held the bridge against vast approaching armies. Subject and title of a poem by Lord Macauley.
Horner, Jack.—The name of a celebrated personage in the literature of the nursery. A Somersetshire tradition says that the plums which Jack Horner pulled out of the Christmas pie alluded to the title deeds of the abbey estates at Wells, which were sent to Henry VIII., in a pasty, and were abstracted on the way by the messenger, a certain Jack Horner.
Hortense (hôr-ten´s, or or-tons´).—Bleak House, Dickens. The vindictive French maid-servant of Lady Dedlock. In revenge for the partiality shown by Lady Dedlock to Rosa, Hortense murdered Mr. Tulkinghorn, and tried to throw the suspicion of the crime on Lady Dedlock.