Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/338

326   HOYLE, or (1672–1769), the first systematizer of the laws of whist, and author of a book on game?, was burn in 1672. His parentage and place of birth are unknown, and few details of his life are recorded. For some time lie was resident in London, and partially supported himself by giving instruction in the game of vrhist. For the use of his pupils he drew up a Short Treatise on the game, which after circulating for some time in manu script was printed by him and entered at Stationers Hall in November 1742. The laws of Hoyle continued to be regarded as authoritative until 1864, since which time they have been gradually superseded by the new rules adopted by the Arlington and Portland clubs in that year. He also published rules for various other games, and his book on games, which includes the Short Treatise, has passed into many editions. The weight of his authority is indi cated by the phrase &quot; according to Hoyle,&quot; which, doubtless first applied with reference to whist, has gained currency as a general proverb. Hoyle died at Cavendish Square, London, August 29, 1769.  HRABANUS MAURUS MAGNENTIUS (–), archbishop of Mainz, and one of the most prominent teachers and writers of the Carolingian age, was born of noble parents at Mainz about. Less correct forms of his name are Rabanus and Rhabanus. At a very early age he was sent to Fulda, where he continued until, on attaining the canonical age, he received deacon’s orders ; in the, at the instance of Ratgar his superior, he went along with Haimon (afterwards of Halberstadt) to complete his studies at Tours under Alcuin, who in recognition of his diligence and purity gave him the surname of Maurus, after Maur the favourite disciple of Beneiict. Returning after the lapse of two to Fulda, he was entrusted with the principal charge of the sch &amp;gt;ol, which under his direction rose into a state of great efficiency for that age, and sent forth such pupils as Walafrid Strabo, Servatus Lupus of Ferrieres, and Otfrid of Weissenburg. At this period it is most probable that his Excerptio from the grammar of Priscian, long so popular as a text book during the Middle Ages, was compiled. In he was ordained a priest; but shortly afterwards, apparently on account of disagreement with Ratgar, he was compelled to withdraw for a time from Fulda. This &quot; banishment &quot; is understood to have occasioned the pilgrimage to Palestine to which he alludes in his commentary on Joshua. Returning to Fulda on the election of a new abbot (Eigil) in, he himself five afterwards  became superior. The duties of this office he discharged with efficiency and success until, when, in order to secure greater leisure for literature and for devotion, he resigned and retired to the neighbouring cloister of Peter s. In he was again constrained to enter public life by his election to succeed Otgar in the archbishopric of Mainz, which see he occupied for upwards of eight years. The principal incidents of historical interest belonging to this period of his life were those which arose out of his relations to Gottschalk; they may be regarded as thoroughly typical of that cruel intolerance which he shared with all his contemporaries, and also of that ardent zeal which was peculiar to himself; but they hardly do justice to the spirit of kindly benevolence which in less trying circumstances he was ever ready to display. He died at Winkel on the Rhine, February 4,. He is frequently referred to as Rabanus, but incorrectly.

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1em  HROSVITHA (frequently, and properly ), early mediaeval dramatist and chronicler, occupies a very notable position in the history of modern European literature. Her endeavours formed part of the literary activity by which the age of the emperor Otto the Great sought to emulate that of Charles the Great. The famous nun of Gandersheim has occasionally been confounded with her namesake, a learned abbess of the same convent, who must have died at least half a century earlier. The younger Hrosvitha was born in all probability about ; and, if the statement be correct that she sang the praises of the three Ottos, she must have lived to near the close of the century. Some time before  she entered the Benedictine nunnery of Gandersheim, a foundation which was confined to ladies of German birth, and was highly favoured by the Saxon dynasty. In Gerberga, daughter of Duke Henry of Bavaria, and therefore niece of the emperor Otto I., was consecrated abbess of Gandersheim, and the earlier literary efforts of the youthful Hrosvitha (whose own con nexion with the royal family appears to be an unauthenticated tradition) were encouraged by the still more youthful abbess, and by a nun of the name of Richarda. The literary works of Hrosvitha, all of which were as a matter of course in Latin, divide themselves into three groups. Of these the first and least important comprises eight narrative religious poems, in leonine hexameters or clistichs. Their subjects are the Nativity of the Virgin (from the apocryphal gospel of James, the brother of our Lord), the Ascension, and a series of legends of saints (Gandolph, Pelagius, Thcophilus, Basil, Denis, Agnes). Like these narrative poems, the dramas to which above all Hrosvitha owes her fame seem to have been designed for reading aloud or recitation by sisters of the convent. For though there are indications that the idea of their repre sentation was at least present to the mind of the authoress, the fact of such a representation appears to be an unwar rantable assumption. The comedies of Hrosvitha are six in number, being doubtless in this respect also intended to recall their nominal model, the comedies of Terence. They were devised on the simple principle that the world, the flesh, and the devil should not have all the good plays to themselves. The experiment upon which the young Christian dramatist ventured was accordingly, although not absolutely novel, audacious enough. In form the