Chapter H to Hagring of H by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

These horses are sometimes vicious private horses sold for "hacks" or worn-out coach-horses, and cheap animals with broken wind, broken knees, or some other defect.

"The knights are well horsed and the common people and others on litell hakeneys hackneys and geldynges." - Froissart.

Hackum (Captain). A thick-headed bully of Alsatia, impudent but cowardly. He was once a sergeant in Flanders, but ran from his colours, and took refuge in Alsatia, where he was dubbed captain. (Shadwell: Squire of Alsatia.)

Haco I His sword was called Quern-Biter [foot-breadth ]. (See Sword.)

Haddock According to tradition, it was a haddock in whose mouth St. Peter found the stater (or piece of money), and the two marks on the fish's neck are said to be the impressions of the apostle's finger and thumb. It is a pity that the person who invented this pretty story forgot that salt-water haddocks cannot live in the fresh water of the Lake Gennesaret. (See John Dory and Christian Traditions.)

"O superstitious dainty, Peter's fish,
How com'st thou here to make so goodly dish?"
Metellus: Dialogues (1603).

Hades (2 syl.). The places of the departed spirit till the resurrection. It may be either Paradise or "Tartarus."
    It is a great pity that it has been translated "hell" nine or ten times in the common version of the New Testament, as "hell" in theology means the inferno. The Hebrew sheol is about equal to the Greek haides, that is, a, privative, and idein, to see.

Hadith [a legend ]. The traditions about the prophet Mahomet's sayings and doings. This compilation forms a supplement to the Koran, as the Talmud to the Jewish Scriptures. Like the Jewish Gemara, the Hadith was not allowed originally to be committed to writing, but the danger of the traditions being perverted or forgotten led to their being placed on record.

Hadj The pilgrimage to Kaaba (temple of Mecca), which every Mahometan feels bound to make once at least before death. Those who neglect to do so "might as well die Jews or Christians." These pilgrimages are made by caravans well supplied with water, and escorted by 1,400 armed men for defence against brigands. (Hebrew, hag, the festival of Jewish pilgrimages to Jerusalem.)

"The green turban of the Mussulman distinguishes the devout hadji who has been to Mecca." - Stephens: Egypt, vol. i. chap. xvii. p. 240.

Hadji A pilgrim, a Mahometan who has made the Hadj or pilgrimage to the Prophet's tomb at Mecca. Every Hadji is entitled to wear a green turban.

Hæmony Milton, in his Comus, says hæmony is of "sovereign use 'gainst all enchantments, mildew, blast, or damp." Coleridge says the word is hæma-oinos (blood-wine), and refers to the blood of Jesus Christ, which destroys all evil. The leaf, says Milton, "had prickles on it," but "it bore a bright golden flower." The prickles are the crown of thorns, the flower the fruits of salvation.
   This interpretation is so in accordance with the spirit of Milton, that it is far preferable to the suggestions that the plant agrimony or alyssum was intended, for why should Milton have changed the name? (Greek, haima, blood.) (See Comus, 648-668.)
   Dioscorides ascribes similar powers to the herb alyssum, which, as he says, "keepeth man and beast from enchantments and witching."

Hæmos A range of mountains separating Thrace and Mæsia, called by the classic writers Cold Hæmos. (Greek, cheimon, winter; Latin, hiems; Sanskrit, hima.)

"O'er high Pieria thence her course she bore,
O'er fair Emathia's ever-pleasing shore;
O'er Hæmus' hills with snows eternal crown'd,
Nor once her flying foot approached the ground." Pope: Homer's Iliad, xiv.