HAMELN 454 HAMILTON burg, which lived by its shipping in- terests, suffered heavily owing to the blockade. Vessels rotted in the docks and desolation marked the once flourishing port. Since the Peace of 1919 Hamburg is fast regaining her old supremacy among German ports. HAMELN (ha'meln), a town and formerly a fortress of Hanover, Prussia, on the We^er; 25 miles S. W. of Han- over. It presents a mediaeval appear- ance, having many houses and buildings surviving from the Gothic and Renais- sance periods of architecture. The chain bridge which here crosses the Weser was completed in 1839, and is about 840 feet in length. The chief employments of the people are machine making, iron found- ing, wool spinning, fish breeding, brew- ing, and the manufacture of leather, paper, artificial manure, and chemicals. In the earliest times Hameln belonged to the Abbey of Fulda, and was a mem- ber of the Hanseatic Confederation. It suffered severely during the Thirty Years' War. With this town is con- nected the well-known legend of the Piper (or Ratcatcher) of Hameln, who in 1284 freed the town from rats through the mystic charm of his pipe. Pop. about 22,000. HAMERTON, PHILIP GILBERT, an English writer on art; born in Laneside, Lancashire, England, Sept. 10, 1834. He commenced his career as an art-critic by contributing to the "Fine Arts Quarter- ly," the "Fortnightly" and the "Satur- day Review." He produced a volume of poems on "The Isles of Loch Awe" (1855), and "A Painter's Camp in the Highlands, and Thoughts About Art" (1862). In 1868 he published "Etching and Etchers" and "Contemporary French Painters," and a continuation, "Painting in France After the Decline of Classicism." After 1869 he edited the "Portfolio," an art journal. Other pub- lications are: "The Intellectual Life" (1873) ; "Human Intercourse" (1884) ; "The Graphic Arts" (1882); "Land- scape" (1885); "Portfolio Papers" (1889); "French and English" (1889), and a couple of novels. He died Nov. 6, 1894. HAMES. an old Lincolnshire, Eng- land, name for a flail, an instrument for threshing or beating grain from the ear by hand. The old saying, "to set the thames on fire," takes its origin from this word, and has nothing what- ever to do with the river Thames. HAMILCAR (ha-mil'kar) , the name of several Cathaginian generals, of vhoro the most celebrated was Hamilcar, surnamed Barca (the lightning), the father of the great Hannibal. While quite a young man he was appointed to the command of the Carthaginian forces in Sicily, in the 18th year of the first Punic War, 247 B. c, when the Romans were masters of almost the whole island. For two years he defied all the efforts of the Romans to dislodge him; but the Carthaginian admiral, Hanno, having been totally defeated off the Agates, 241 B. c, he reluctantly consented to evacuate Sicily. A revolt of the returned troops, joined by the native Africans, was successfully repressed by Hamilcar. He then entered on a series of campaigns in Spain, where he founded a new em- pire for Carthage. Here he passed nine years, and had brought the whole south- ern and eastern part of the country under Carthaginian rule when he was slain in battle against the Vettones, 229 B. C. His great design of making Spain a point of attack against Rome was ably carried out by his son Hannibal. HAMILTON, a town in the Bermu- das, of which it is the capital. It is on the Great Bermuda, and was founded in 1790. Pop. (1918) 2,627. HAMILTON, a city and county-seat of Butler co., O.; on both sides of the Great Miami river and on the Miami and Erie canal, the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis, and the Cincin- nati, Hamilton and Dajrton and the Ohio Electric railroads; 25 miles N. of Cincinnati. The river affords extensive water power for the manufacture of railroad supplies, machinery, wagons and carriages, boots and shoes, flour, iron, bank-vaults, ropes, saws, etc., be- sides paper, woolen, cotton, and sawmills. The city has 2 National banks, and its institutions include Notre Dame Academy, the Hamilton Children's Home, the Mercy Hospital, a court house, public schools, electric lights, and street rail- ways, daily and weekly newspapers, and public high school. Pop. (1910) 35,279; (1920) 39,675. HAMILTON, a city of Ontario, Canada, the capital of Wentworth co. It is on the Burlington Bay, and on the Grand Trunk, the Canadian Pacific, and the Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo rail- roads. It has an excellent harbor and has steam communication with lake ports, and an important trade with the Maritime Provinces. It is the center of an important fruit growing region of west Ontario. Abundant water power is furnished from the Decew Falls, 35 miles southeast of the city. It is also supplied with natural gas from the Wei-
