Obscure languages (such as Innok, Quichua, Greenland) and local dialects (Lexique étymologique du Breton moderne; Le Dialecte Alaman de Colmar) also claimed his attention. Le Langage Martien is a curious book. It contains a discussion of some 40 phrases (amounting to about 300 words), which a certain Mademoiselle Hélène Smith (a well-known spiritualist medium of Geneva), while on a hypnotic visit to the planet Mars, learnt and repeated and even wrote down during her trance as specimens of a language spoken there, explained to her by a disembodied interpreter.
HENRY, WILLIAM (1775–1836), English chemist, son of
Thomas Henry (1734–1816), an apothecary and writer on
chemistry, was born at Manchester on the 12th of December
1775. He began to study medicine at Edinburgh in 1795,
taking his doctor’s degree in 1807, but ill-health interrupted his
practice as a physician, and he devoted his time mainly to
chemical research, especially in regard to gases. One of his
best-known papers (Phil. Trans., 1803) describes experiments
on the quantity of gases absorbed by water at different temperatures
and under different pressures, the conclusion he reached
(“Henry’s law”) being that “water takes up of gas condensed
by one, two or more additional atmospheres, a quantity which,
ordinarily compressed, would be equal to twice, thrice, &c. the
volume absorbed under the common pressure of the atmosphere.”
Others of his papers deal with gas-analysis, fire-damp, illuminating
gas, the composition of hydrochloric acid and of ammonia,
urinary and other morbid concretions, and the disinfecting
powers of heat. His Elements of Experimental Chemistry (1799)
enjoyed considerable vogue in its day, going through 11 editions
in 30 years. He died at Pendlebury, near Manchester, on the
2nd of September 1836.
HENRYSON, ROBERT (c. 1425–c. 1500), Scottish poet, was
born about 1425. It has been surmised that he was connected
with the family of Henderson of Fordell, but of this there is
no evidence. He is described, on the title-page of the 1570
edition of his Fables, as “scholemaister of Dunfermeling,”
probably of the grammar-school of the Benedictine Abbey
there. There is no record of his having studied at St Andrews,
the only Scottish university at this time; but in 1462 a “Master
Robert Henryson” is named among those incorporated in the
recently founded university of Glasgow. It is therefore likely
that his first studies were completed abroad, at Paris or Louvain.
He would appear to have been in lower orders, if, in addition
to being master of the grammar-school, he is the notary Robert
Henryson who subscribes certain deeds in 1478. As Dunbar
(q.v.) refers to him as deceased in his Lament for the Makaris,
his death may be dated about 1500.
Efforts have been made to draw up a chronology of his poems; but every scheme of this kind, is, in a stronger sense than in the case of Dunbar, mere guess-work. There are no biographical or bibliographical facts to guide us, and the “internal evidence” is inconclusive.
Henryson’s longest, and in many respects his most original and effective work, is his Morall Fabillis of Esope, a collection of thirteen fables, chiefly based on the versions of Anonymus, Lydgate and Caxton. The outstanding merit of the work is its freshness of treatment. The old themes are retold with such vivacity, such fresh lights on human character, and with so much local “atmosphere,” that they deserve the credit of original productions. They are certainly unrivalled in English fabulistic literature. The earliest available texts are the Charteris text printed by Lekpreuik in Edinburgh in 1570 and the Harleian MS. No. 3865 in the British Museum.
In the Testament of Cresseid Henryson supplements Chaucer’s tale of Troilus with the story of the tragedy of Cresseid. Here again his literary craftsmanship saves him from the disaster which must have overcome another poet in undertaking to continue the part of the story which Chaucer had intentionally left untold. The description of Cresseid’s leprosy, of her meeting with Troilus, of his sorrow and charity, and of her death, give the poem a high place in writings of this genre.
The poem entitled Orpheus and Eurydice, which is drawn from Boethius, contains some good passages, especially the lyrical lament of Orpheus, with the refrains “Quhar art thow gane, my luf Erudices?” and “My lady quene and luf, Erudices.” It is followed by a long moralitas, in the manner of the Fables.
Thirteen shorter poems have been ascribed to Henryson. Of these the pastoral dialogue “Robene and Makyne,” perhaps the best known of his work, is the most successful. Its model may perhaps be found in the pastourelles, but it stands safely on its own merits. Unlike most of the minor poems it is independent of Chaucerian tradition. The other pieces deal with the conventional 15th-century topics: Age, Death, Hasty Credence, Want of Wise Men and the like. The verses entitled “Sum Practysis of Medecyne,” in which some have failed to see Henryson’s hand, is an example of that boisterous alliterative burlesque which is represented by a single specimen in the work of the greatest makers, Dunbar, Douglas and Lyndsay. For this reason, if not for others, the difference of its manner is no argument against its authenticity.
The MS. authorities for the text are the Asloan, Bannatyne, Maitland Folio, Makculloch, Gray and Riddell. Chepman and Myllar’s Prints (1508) have preserved two of the minor poems and a fragment of Orpheus and Eurydice. The first complete edition was prepared by David Laing (1 vol., Edinburgh, 1865). A more exhaustive edition in three volumes, containing all the texts, was undertaken by the Scottish Text Society (ed. G. Gregory Smith), the first volume of the text (vol. ii. of the work) appearing in 1907. For a critical account of Henryson, see Irving’s History of Scottish Poetry, Henderson’s Vernacular Scottish Literature, Gregory Smith’s Transition Period, J. H. Millar’s Literary History of Scotland, and the second volume of the Cambridge History of English Literature (1908). (G. G. S.)
HENSCHEL, GEORGE [Isidor Georg] (1850– ), English
musician (naturalized 1890), of German family, was born at
Breslau, and educated as a pianist, making his first public
appearance in Berlin in 1862. He subsequently, however, took
up singing, having developed a fine baritone voice; and in 1868
he sang the part of Hans Sachs in Meistersinger at Munich.
In 1877 he began a successful career in England, singing at the
principal concerts; and in 1881 he married the American
soprano, Lilian Bailey (d. 1901), who was associated with him
in a number of vocal recitals. He was also prominent as a conductor,
starting the London symphony concerts in 1886, and both
in England and America (where he was the first conductor of
the Boston symphony concerts, 1881) he took a leading part in
advancing his art. He composed a number of instrumental
works, a fine Stabat Mater (Birmingham festival, 1894), &c.,
and an opera, Nubia (Dresden, 1899).
HENSELT, ADOLF VON (1814–1889), German composer,
was born at Schwabach, in Bavaria, on the 12th of May 1814.
At three years old he began to learn the violin, and at five the
pianoforte under Frau v. Fladt. On obtaining financial help
from King Louis I. he went to study under Hummel in Weimar,
and thence in 1832 to Vienna, where, besides studying composition
under Simon Sechter, he made a great success as a concert
pianist. In order to recruit his health he made a prolonged tour
in 1836 through the chief German towns. In 1837 he settled
at Breslau, where he had married, but in the following year he
migrated to St Petersburg, where previous visits had made him
persona grata at Court. He then became court pianist and
inspector of musical studies in the Imperial Institute of Female
Education, and was ennobled. In 1852 and again in 1867 he
visited England, though in the latter year he made no public
appearance. St Petersburg was his home practically until his
death, which took place at Warmbrunn on the 10th of October
1889. The characteristic of Henselt’s playing was a combination
of Liszt’s sonority with Hummel’s smoothness. It was full of
poetry, remarkable for the great use he made of extended
chords, and for his perfect technique. He excelled in his own
works and in those of Weber and Chopin. His concerto in F
minor is frequently played on the continent; and of his many
valuable studies, Si oiseau j’étais is very familiar. His A minor
trio deserves to be better known. At one time Henselt was
second to Rubinstein in the direction of the St Petersburg
Conservatorium.
