Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/116

104 to prevent him from becoming counsel for accused persons. Having been one of the judges who acted as assessors to the peers in the Convention parliament, he took a leading part in arranging the constitutional change by which William III. was called to the throne, and after his accession he was appointed lord chief-justice of the king s bench. His merits as a judge are the more apparent and the more remarkable when contrasted with the qualities displayed by his unworthy predecessors in office. In judicial fairness, legal knowledge and ability, clearness of statement, and unbending integrity he has had few if any superiors on the English bench. Over the civil rights of his countrymen lie exercised a jealous watchfulness, more especially when presiding at the trial of state prosecutions, and he was especially careful that all accused persons should be treated with fairness and respect. He is, however, best known for the firmness with which he upheld his own prerogatives in opposition to the authority of the Houses of Parliament. On several occasions his physical as well as his moral courage was tried by extreme tests. Having been requested to supply a number of police to help the soldiery in quelling a riot, he assured the messenger that if any of the people were shot he would have the soldiers hanged, and proceeding himself to the scene of riot he was successful in preventing blood shed. A still more signal proof of his courage is said to have been given in the Aylesbury case. He declared in favour of the Aylesbury burgesses, who had been committed to Newgate for complaining about the non-registry of their votes. On this account his commitment was moved by the Tories, but the result of the motion is uncertain. There is a tradition, however, which whether true or not is equally a tribute to his integrity, that the House of Commons summoned him to appear before them, and that when, on his disregarding the summons, the speaker him self made his appearance, Holt told him that unless he returned to his chair within five minutes he would have him sent to Newgate. While steadfast in his sympathies with the Whig party, Holt maintained on the bench entire political impartiality, and always held himself aloof from political intrigue. On the retirement of Somers from the chan cellorship in 1700 he was offered the great seal, but declined it. His death took place 3d March 1710, and he was buried in the chancel of Redgrave church, where a fine monument in white marble was erected by his brother to his memory.

1em  HÖLTY, (1748–1776), German poet, and one of the founders of the &quot; Hainbund,&quot; was born at Mariensee in Hanover, December 21, 1748. His father, who was a pastor, was three times married, and Holty was the eldest of his ten children. His second wife, Holty s mother, died in 1758, and her children were tenderly brought up by the third wife, together with her own large family. In his ninth year, Holty, till then a beautiful and lively child, was smitten with smallpox, and was for some time nearly blind. On his recovery, his features and dis position were altered, and he was through life plain, silent, and awkward. From an early age he was an inveterate lover of solitude and books. He was taught at home by his father, besides the ordinary school branches, Latin, French, and Hebrew, and at the age of sixteen was sent to the public school of Celle. On leaving Celle three years later, he went as a theological student to Gottingen, where, however, he devoted his leisure hours to the study of the English and Italian poets, and began his own literary career. The appearance of some of his verses in a Gottingen weekly paper, especially those on the death of Munchhausen, brought his name before the public, and he was shortly afterwards admitted as a member of the &quot;German Society.&quot; He now made the acquaintance of Biirger, Miller, Voss, Boie, the brothers Stolberg, and other poets, in conjunction with whom he formed in 1772 the famous poetical brother hood known as the &quot; Hainbuud.&quot; The next two years were spent by Holty in this brilliant and enthusiastic company; and, with the assistance of a scholarship and a post in the philological seminary in Gottingen, he suc ceeded in making a scanty livelihood by teaching English and Greek and by making translations. In 1774, having abandoned the intention of entering the church, he accom panied his friend Miller to Leipsic, where he remained for a year in the hopes of obtaining a private tutorship. The penniless young poet had for some time been silently attached to a lady, who about this time married some more eligible suitor. His health now began to cause him anxiety s and symptoms of consumption, inherited from his mother, made their appearance. His prospects were further altered by the death of his father in 1775 ; and Holty found him self not only thrown entirely on his own resources, but obliged in some measure to assist his family. Towards the end of 1775 he settled in Hanover, to be near his physician Zimmermann and his friend Boie, and there he died in his twenty-eighth year, September 1, 1776. Holty was a writer of ballads, idylls, elegies, and odes. His conceptions, if not lofty, are always graceful, his style finished, his language and rhythm faultless. He was from the first one of the shining lights of the &quot; Hainbund,&quot; and during his short career became one of the most popu lar of German lyric poets. Many of his songs have become folk-songs, and his ballads have been ranked with those of Burger.

1em  HOLYHEAD (Welsh, Caer-Gybi, the fort of Gybi), a market-town and parliamentary borough of Anglesey, North Wales, is situated on a small island on the western extremity of the county and at the terminus of the Chester and Holyhead Railway, 24 miles from Bangor. It is con nected with the mainland by an embank inent three quarters of a mile long, over which pass both the railway and the coach road. Underneath the bridge in the centre the tide rushes with great velocity. The town, formerly a small fishing village, has since the reign of William III. acquired importance as the station of the mail packets for Dublin, and it now possesses a magnificent harbour of refuge begun in 1847, and formally opened in September 1873. The original plan included the erection of a north breakwater 5360 feet in length from the coast-line, and also of an east breakwater 2000 feet in length, but the scheme of the east breakwater, of which the chief object was to cover the Platter s and Skinner s Rocks, was subsequently abandoned, and their positions were marked instead by buoys. On account of the number of vessels which began to take ad vantage of the shelter that was being provided for them it was also resolved to lengthen the northern breakwater in a north-easterly direction by 2000 feet, and subsequently by 500 feet more, making its total length 7860 feet. By these additions a sheltered roadstead of 400 acres in extent was obtained, besides the enclosed area of 267 acres. The breakwater consists of a rubble mound, upon which is erected 