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Rh as incorporated in 1891, comprised several townships and parts of townships, but under the Local Government Act of 1894 these were united into one civil parish. The corporation consists of a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 8196 acres.

HASPE, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Westphalia, in the valley of the Ennepe, at the confluence of the Hasper, and on the railway from Düsseldorf to Dortmund, 10 m. N.E. of Barmen by rail. Pop. (1905), 19,813. Its industries include iron foundries, rolling mills, puddling furnaces, and manufactures of iron, steel and brass wares and of machines. Haspe was raised to the rank of a town in 1873.

HASSAM, CHILDE (1859–&emsp;&emsp;), American figure and landscape painter, born in Boston, Massachusetts, was a pupil of Boulanger and Lefebvre in Paris. He soon fell under the influence of the Impressionists, and took to painting in a style of his own, in brilliant colour, with effective touches of pure pigment. He won a bronze medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1889; medals at the World’s Fair, Chicago, 1893; Boston Art Club, 1896; Philadelphia Art Club, 1892; Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg, 1898; Buffalo Pan-American, 1901; Temple gold medal, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1899; and silver medal, Paris Exhibition, 1900. He became a member of the National Academy of Design, the Society of American Artists, the Ten Americans, the American Water Colour Society, the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts, Paris, and the Secession Society, Munich.

HASSAN, a town and district of Mysore, India. The town dates from the 11th century and had in 1901 a population of 8241. The district naturally divides into two portions, the Malnad, or hill country, which includes some of the highest ranges of the Western Ghats, and the Maidan or plain country, sloping towards the south. The Hemavati, which flows into the Cauvery in the extreme south, is the most important river of the district. The upper slopes of the Western Ghats are abundantly clothed with magnificent forests, and wild animals abound. Among the mineral products are kaolin, felspar and quartz. The soil of the valleys is a rich red alluvial loam. The area is 2547 sq. m. Population (1901), 568,919, showing an increase of 11% in the decade. The district contains some of the most remarkable archaeological monuments in India, such as the colossal Jain image at Sravana Belgola (a monolith 57 ft. high on the summit of a hill) and the great temple at Halebid. Coffee cultivation has been on the increase of late years. The first plantation was opened in 1843, and now there are many coffee estates owned by Europeans and also native holdings. The exports are large, consisting chiefly of food-grains and coffee. The imports are European piece-goods, hardware of all sorts and spices. The largest weekly fair is held at Alur. A great annual religious gathering and fair, attended by about 10,000 persons, takes place every year at Melukot. The Southern Mahratta railway traverses the north-east of the district.

The real history of Hassan does not begin until the epoch of the Hoysala dynasty, which lasted from the 11th till the 14th century. Their capital was at Dwarasamundra (Dwaravati-pura), the ruins of which are still to be seen scattered round the village of Halebid. The earlier kings professed the Jain faith, but the finest temples were erected to Siva by the later monarchs of the line. While they were at the zenith of their power the whole of southern India acknowledged their sway.

HASSANĪA, an African tribe of Semitic stock. They inhabit the desert between Merawi and the Nile at the 6th Cataract, and the left bank of the Blue Nile immediately south of Khartum.

HASSĀN IBN THĀBIT (died 674), Arabian poet, was born in Yathrib (Medina), a member of the tribe Khazraj. In his youth he travelled to Hira and Damascus, then settled in Medina, where, after the advent of Mahomet, he accepted Islam and wrote poems in defence of the prophet. His poetry is regarded as commonplace and lacking in distinction.

His diwan has been published at Bombay (1864), Tunis (1864) and Lahore (1878). See H. Hirschfeld’s “Prolegomena to an edition of the Diwan of Hassan” in Transactions of Oriental Congress (London, 1892).

HASSE, JOHANN ADOLPH (1699–1783), German musical composer, was born at Bergedorf near Hamburg, on the 25th of March 1699, and received his first musical education from his father. Being possessed of a fine tenor voice, he chose the theatrical career, and joined the operatic troupe conducted by Reinhard Keiser, in whose orchestra Handel had played the second violin some years before. Hasse’s success led to an engagement at the court theatre of Brunswick, and it was there that, in 1723, he made his début as a composer with the opera Antigonus. The success of this first work induced the duke to send Hasse to Italy for the completion of his studies, and in 1724 he went to Naples and placed himself under Porpora, with whom, however, he seems to have disagreed both as a man and as an artist. On the other hand he gained the friendship of Alessandro Scarlatti, to whom he owed his first commission for a serenade for two voices, sung at a family celebration of a wealthy merchant by two of the greatest singers of Italy, Farinelli and Signora Tesi. This event established Hasse’s fame; he soon became very popular, and his opera Sesostrato, written for the Royal Opera at Naples in 1726, made his name known all over Italy. At Venice, where he went in 1727, he became acquainted with the celebrated singer Faustina Bordogni (born at Venice in 1700), who became the composer’s wife in 1730. The two artists soon afterwards went to Dresden, in compliance with a brilliant offer made to them by the splendour-loving elector of Saxony, Augustus II. There Hasse remained for two years, after which he again journeyed to Italy, and also in 1733 to London, in which latter city he was tempted by the aristocratic clique inimical to Handel to become the rival and antagonist of that great master. But this he modestly and wisely declined, remaining in London only long enough to superintend the rehearsals for his opera Artaserse (first produced at Venice, 1730). All this while Faustina had remained at Dresden, the declared favourite of the public and unfortunately also of the elector, nor was her husband, who remained attached to her, allowed to see her except at long intervals. In 1739, after the death of Augustus II., Hasse settled permanently at Dresden till 1763, when he and his wife retired from court service with considerable pensions. But Hasse was still too young to rest on his laurels. He went with his family to Vienna, and added several operas to the great number of his works already in existence. His last work for the stage was the opera Ruggiero (1771), written for the wedding of Archduke Ferdinand at Milan. On the same occasion a work by Mozart, then fourteen years old, was performed, and Hasse observed “this youngster will surpass us all.” By desire of his wife Hasse settled at her birthplace Venice, and there he died on the 23rd of December 1783. His compositions include as many as 120 operas, besides oratorios, cantatas, masses, and almost every variety of instrumental music. During the siege of Dresden by the Prussians in 1760, most of his manuscripts, collected for a complete edition to be brought out at the expense of the elector, were burnt. Some of his works, amongst them an opera Alcide al Bivio (1760), have been published, and the libraries of Vienna and Dresden possess the autographs of others. Hasse’s instrumentation is certainly not above the low level attained by the average musicians of his time, and his ensembles do not present any features of interest. In dramatic fire also he was wanting, but he had a fund of gentle and genuine melody, and by this fact his enormous popularity during his life must be accounted for. The two airs which Farinelli had to repeat every day for ten years to the melancholy king of Spain, Philip V., were both from Hasse’s works. Of Faustina Hasse it will be sufficient to add that she was, according to the unanimous verdict of the critics (including Dr Burney), one of the greatest singers of a time rich in vocal artists. The year of her death is not exactly known. Most probably it shortly preceded that of her husband.

HASSELQUIST, FREDERIK (1722–1752), Swedish traveller and naturalist, was born at Törnevalla, East Gothland, on the 3rd of January 1722. On account of the frequently expressed regrets of Linnaeus, under whom he studied at Upsala, at the lack of information regarding the natural history of Palestine,