Chapter Helena to Henneberg of H by Brewer's Readers Handbook

off, leaving her to roam whither she listed. She was taken up by the satyrs, who made her their dairy- woman, and crowned her queen of the May.—Spenser: Faërie Queene, iii. 9, 10 (1590).

Heliotrope renders the bearer of it invisible. Boccaccio calls it a stone, but Solinus says it is the herb so called. (See Invisibility.)

Amid this dread exuberance of woe
Ran naked spirits, winged with horrid fear;
Nor hope had they of crevice where to hide,
Or heliotrope to charm them out of view.
   —Dante: Inferno, xxiv. (1300).

Hellotrope is stone of such extraordinary virtue that the bearer of it is effectually concealed from the sight of all present.—Boccaccio: Decameron (day viii. 3).

Viridi Colore es t gemma heliotropion, non ita acuto sed nubilo magis et represso, stellis puniceis superspersa. Causa nominls de effectu lapidis est et potestate. Dejecta in labris æneis radios solis mutat sanguineo repercussu, utrague aqua splendorem aëris abjicit et avertit. Etiam illud posse dicitur, ut herba eiusdem nominis mixta et præcantationibus legitimis consecrata eum, a quocunque gestabitur, subtrahat visibus ob viorum.—Solinus: Geog., xl.

Hel Keplein, a mantle of invisibility, belonging to the dwarf-king Laurin. (See Invisibility.)—The Heldenbuch (thirteenth century).

Hell, according to Mohammedan belief, is divided into seven compartments: (1) for Mohammedans, (2) for Jews, (3) for Christians, (4) for Sabians, (5) for Magians, (6) for idolaters, (7) for hypocrites. All but idolaters and unbelievers will be in time released from torment.

Hell, Dantê says, is a vast funn el, divided into eight ci rcles, with ledges more or less rugged. Each circle, of course, is narrower th an the one above, and the last goes down to the very centre of the earth. Before the circles begin, there is a neutral land and a limbo. In the neutral land wander those not bad enough for hell nor good eno ugh for heaven; in the limbo, those who knew no sin but were not baptized Christians. Coming then to hell prope r, circle 1, he says, is compassed by the river Acheron, and in this division of inferno dwell the spirits of the heathen philosophers. Circle 2 is presided over by Minos, and here are the spirits of those guilty of carnal and sinful love. Circle 3 is guarded by Cerberus, and this is the region set apart for gluttons. Circle 4, presided over by Plutus, is the realm of the avaricious. Circle 5 contains the Stygian Lake, and here flounder in deep mud those who in life put no restraint on their anger. Circle 6 (in the city of Dis) is for those who did violence to men by force or fraud. Circle 7 (in the city of Dis)is for suicides. Circle 8 (also in the city of Dis) is for blasphemers and heretics. After the eight circles come the ten pits or chasms of Malebolgê , the last of which is in the centre of the earth, and here, he says, is the frozen river of Cocytus. (See Inferno.)

Hell Fire Clubs. Several clubs bearing this significant title existed in London during the early part of the eighteenth century. Little is known of their constitution and proceedings, but Robert Lloyd (1737–1764), author of The Actor and certain other fugitive poems, was a member of one of them. They were suppressed.

Hell Kettles, three black pits of boiling heat and sulphurous vapour, on the banks of the Skern, in Northumberland.

The Skern … spieth near her bank
Three black and horrid pits, which for their sulpherous [sic]sweat
“Hell Kettles” rightly called.
   —Drayton: Polyolbion, xxix. (1622).

N.B.—One of the caverns is 19 feet 6 inches deep, another is 14 feet deep, and the third is 17 feet. These three communicate with each other. There is a fourth 5½ feet deep, which is quite separate from the other three.

Hell Paved with Good Intentions,—A Portuguese Proverb.

… saying “they meant well.”
‘Tis pity “that such meanings should pave hell.”
   —Byron: Don Fuan,, viii. 25(1821).