Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/159

Rh History of Henry the Great (Henry IV. of France). His next production was his Miseries of the Princes of the House of Medici, printed in 1638. In 1642 he published the masterpiece of his life, his Dutch History, a magnificent performance, to the perfecting of which he had given fifteen years of labour. Hooft died on a visit to Prince Frederick Henry at the Hague on the 21st of May 1647, and was buried in the New Church at Amsterdam. Hooft is one of the most brilliant figures that adorn Dutch literature at its best period. He was the first writer to introduce a modern and European tone into belles lettres, and the first to refresh the sources of native thought from the springs of antique and Renaissance poetry. His lyrics and his pastoral of Cranida are strongly marked by the influence of Tasso and Sannazaro ; his later tragedies belong more exactly to the familiar tone of his native country. Bat high as Hooft stands among the Dutch poets, he stands higher, he holds perhaps the highest place, among writers of Datcli prose. His historical style has won the warmest eulogy from so temperate a critic as Motley, and his letters are the most charming ever published in the Dutch language. After Yondel, he may on the whole be considered the most considerable author that Holland has produced.

1em  HOOGEVEEN (i.e., High Fen or Moor), a village and commune of the Netherlands in the province of Drenthe, about 12 miles north-east of Meppel on the railway opened in 1870 between that town and Groningen. The village contains a Reformed church, erected in 1652 and restored in 1766 and 1801, a small but handsome synagogue, a poorhouse dating from 1810, and a library belonging to the local branch of the society Tot nut van t Alyemeen; and among the industrial establishments of the commune are timber yards, sail factories, block factories, tanneries, brick-works, gin distilleries, and breweries. Hoogeveen was founded in 1625 by Baron van Eichten, and i L ne following year it was erected into a lordship winch lasted till 1795. The population of the commune, which was 7339 in 1840, had risen to 10,763 in 1874.  HOOGHLY, or. The Hooghly river is the most westerly and commercially the most important channel by which the Ganges enters the Bay of Bengal. It takes its distinctive name near the town of Santipur, about 120 miles from the sea. The stream now known as the Hooghly re presents three western deltaic distributaries of the Ganges viz.,—(1) the Bhagirathi, (2) the Jalangi, and (3) part of the Matabhanga. The Bhagirathi and Jalangi unite at Nadiya. above the point of their junction with the lower waters of the Matabhanga, which has taken the name of the Churni before the point of junction and thrown out new distributaries of its own. These three western distributaries are known as &quot;The Nadiya Rivers,&quot; and are important, not only as great highways for internal traffic, but also as the headwaters of the Hooghly. Like other deltaic distribu taries, they are subject to sudden changes in their channels, and to constant silting up. The supervising and keeping- open of the Nadiya rivers has, therefore, formed one of the great tasks of fluvial engineering in Bengal. Proceeding south from Santipur, with a twist to the east, the Hooghly river divides Murshidabad from Hooghly district, until it touches the district of the Twenty-Four Parganas in 22 57 30&quot; N. lat. and 88 27 15&quot; E. long. It then proceeds almost due south to Calcutta, next twists to the south-west, and finally turns south, entering the Bay of Bengal in 21 41 N. lat. and 88 E. long. In the 40 miles of its course that are above Calcutta, the channels of the Hooghly are under no supervision, and the result is that they have silted up and shifted to such an extent as to be no longer navigable for sea-going ships. Yet it was upon this upper section that all the famous ports of Bengal lay in olden times. From Calcutta to the sea (about 80 miles) the river is a record of engineer ing improvement and success. A minute supervision, with steady dredging and constant readjustment of buoys, now renders it a safe waterway to Calcutta for ships of the largest tonnage. Much attention has also been paid to the port of Calcutta. For its trade, shipping, and adminis tration, see.

1em  HOOGHLY, a British district in the lieutenant-governor ship of Bengal, lying between 22 13 45&quot; and 23 13 15&quot; N. lat., and between 87 47 and 88 33 E. long. The area, including the magistracy of Howrah, amounted in 1878 to 1467 square miles. It forms the south-eastern portion of the Bardwan division, and is bounded N. by the district of Bardwan, E. by the Hooghly river, separating it from the districts of Nadiya and the Twenty-Four Parganas; S. by the Rupmirdyan, separating it from Midnapur ; and W. by the same river, separating it from Midnapur, and by Bardwan district. The district is flat, with a gradual ascent to the north and north-west. The scenery along the high-lying bank of the Hooghly has a quiet beauty of its own, presenting the appearance of a connected series of orchards and gardens, interspersed with factories, villages, and temples. The principal rivers are the Hooghly, the Damodar, and the Rupnarayan. The Damodar is the only large river which intersects the district. As in other deltaic districts, the highest land lies nearest the rivers, and the lowest levels are found midway between two streams. There are in con sequence considerable marshes both between the Hooghly and the Damodar and between the latter river and the Rupnarayan.

