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

Hellebore (3syl), celebrated in maniacal cases.

And melancholy cures by sovereign hellebore.
   —Drayton: Polyolbion, xiii. (1613).

Hellespont. Leander used to swim across the Hellespont to visit Hero, a priestess of Sestos. Lord Byron and lieutenant Ekenhead repeated the feat, accomplishing it in seventy minutes; the distance is four miles (allowing for drifting).

He could, perhaps, have passed the Hellespont,
As once (a feat on which ourselves we prided)
Leander, Mr. Ekenhead, and I did.
   —Byron: Don Juan, ii. 105 (1819).

Hellicanus, the able and honest minister of Pericleêes, to whom he left the charge of Tyre during his absence. Bei ng offered the crown, Hellicanus nobly declined the offer, and remained faithful to the prince throughout.—Shakespeare: pericles Prince of Tyre (1608).

Helmet of Invisibility. The helmet of Perseus rendered the wearer invisible. This was in reality the “Helmet of Hadês;” and after Perseus had slain Medusa he returned it, together with the winged sandals and magic wallet. The “gorgon’s head” he presented to Minerva, who placed it in the middle of her ægis. (See Invisibility.)

Mambrino’s helmet had the same magical power, though don Quixote, even in his midsummer madness, never thought himself invisible when he donned the barber’s basin.

Heloise. La Nouvelle Héloïse, a romance by Jean Jacques Rousseau (1761).

Helvetia, Switzerland, modernized Latin for Ager Helvetiorum.

England’s glory and Helvetia’s charms.
   —Campbell: Pleasures of Hope, i. (1799).

The Helvetian Mountains, the Swiss Alps.

Twas sunset, and the ranz-dez-vaches was sung.
And lights were o’er th’ Helvetian Mountains Hung,
That tinged the lakes like molten gold below.
   —Campbell: Theodoric (1824).

Hemera, sister of prince Memnon, mentioned by Dictys Cretensis. Milton, in his Il Penseroso, speaks of “prince Memnon’s sister” (1638).

Hemjunah, princess of cassimir’, daughter of the sultan Zebenezer; betrothed at the age of 13 to the prince of Georgia. As Hemjunah had never seen the prince, she ran away to avoid a forced marriage, and was changed by Ulin the enchanter into a toad. In this form she became acquainted with Misnar sultan of India, who had likewise been transformed into a toad by Ulin. Misnar Was disenchanted by a dervise, and slew Ulin; whereupon the princess recovered her proper shape, and returned home. A rebellion broke out in Cassimir, but the “angel of death” destroyed the rebel army, and zebenezer was restored to his throne. His surprise was unbounded when he found that the prince of Georgia and the sultan of India were one and the same person; and Hemjunah said, “Be assured, O sultan, that I shall not refuse the hand of the prince of Georgia, even if my father commands my obedience.”—Sir C. Morell [J. Ridley]: Tales of the Genii (“Princess of Cassimir,” viii., 1751).

Hemlock. Socratês the Wise and Phocion the Good were both by the Athenians condemned to death by hemlock juice, Socratês, at the age of 70 (B.C. 399) and Phocion at the age of 85 (B.C. 317).

Hempskirke, a captain serving under Wolfort the usurper of the earldom of Flanders.—Fletcher: The Beggars’ Bush (1622).

Hen and Chickens (The) the Pleiades. Called in Basque Oiloa Chituekin (same meaning).—Miss Frere: Old Deccan Days, 27.