Chapter Herculêes to Hermês Trismegistus of H by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Hermegild or Hermyngyld, wife of the lord-constable of Northumberland. She was converted by Constance, but was murdered by a knight whose suit and been rejected by the young guest, in order to bring her into trouble. The villainy being discovered, the knight was executed, and Constance married the king, whose name was Alla. Hermegild, at the bidding of Constance, restored sight to a blind Briton.—Chaucer: Canterbury Tales (“Man of Law’s Tale,” 1388).

(The word is spelt “Custaunce” 7 times, “Constance” 15 times, and “Constaunce” 17 times, in the tale.)

Hermegild, a friend of Oswald, in love with Gartha (Oswald’s sister). He was a man in the middle age of life, of counsel sage, and great prudence. When Hubert (the brother of Oswald) and Gartha wished to stir up a civil war to avenge the death of Oswald, who had been slain in single combat with prince Gondibert, Hermegild wisely deterred them from the rash attempt, and diverted the anger of the camp by funeral obsequies of a most imposing character. The tale of Gondibert being unfinished, the sequel is not known.—Davenant: Gondibert (died 1688).

Hermês, son of Maia; patron of commerce. Akenside makes Hermês say to the Thames, referring to the merchant-ships of England—

By you [ships] my function and my honoured name
Do I possess; while o’er the Bætic vale,
Or thro’ the towers of Memphis, or the palms
By sacred Ganges watered, I conduct
The English merchant.
   —Akenside: Hymn to the Naiads (1767).

(The Bætis is the Guadalquivir; and the Bætic vale, Granada and Andalucia.)

Hermês, the same as Mercury, and applied both to the god and to the metal. Milton calls quicksilver “volatil Hermês.”

So when we see the liquid metal fall,
Which chemists by the name of Hermês call.
   —Hoole’s Ariosto, viii.

Hermês (St.), same as St. Elmo, Suerpo Santo, Castor and Pollux, etc. An electric light, seen occasionally on ships’ masts.

“They shall see the fire which saylors call St. Hermes, fly uppon their shippe, and alight upon the toppe of the mast.”—De Loier: Treatise to Spectres, 67 (1605).

Hermês Trismegistus [“Hermês thrice-greatest”] the Egyptian Thoth, to whom is ascribed a host of inventions: as the art of writing in hieroglyphics, the first Egyptian code of laws, the art of harmony, the science of astrology, the invention of the lute and lyre, magic, etc. (twentieth century B. C.).

The school of Hermês Trismegistus,
Who uttered his oracles sublime
Before the Olympiads.
   —Longfellow: The Golden Legend (1851).