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a solid central wall of massive masonry rising to a height of 38 feet 9 inches above low water. On the wall there is a promenade sheltered on the sea side by a parapet. The breakwater is terminated by a head 150 feet long and 50 feet wide, on which is erected a lighthouse. The whole cost of the works was 1,479,538. In 1873 works were commenced by the railway company for extending the old harbour and increasing the length of the quay to 4000 feet. They were opened by the prince of Wales in June 1880. The cost has been nearly half a million sterling. Upon the pier of the old harbour there is an arch of Mona marble, commemorative of the visit of George IV. in 1821 on his way to Ireland. The church, an old embattled building, is said to occupy the site of an ancient monastery founded by St Gybi about 610; and in the south porch there is a rude figure of the patron saint under a canopy. The churchyard is surrounded by a wall 6 feet thick, supposed by some to be of Roman construction. The town possesses assembly-rooms and baths. On the rock south of the harbour is an obelisk erected in memory of Captain Skinner, commander of the steam packet, who in 1833 lost his life by being washed overboard. About 2 miles from the town, Pen-Caer-Gybi, or the hill of Holyhead, rises perpendicularly from the sea to the height of 700 feet, affording a fine view of the town and harbour, arid the irregularities of the rock-bound coast. On the sides of the hill there are traces of an exten sive British fortification, and on the summit are remains of a circular building, which in all probability was a Roman watch-tower. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in the coasting trade and in shipbuilding. Holyhead unites with Beaumaris in returning a member to parliament. The population of the parliamentary borough in 1871 was 8131.

Holyhead Harbour.

HOLY ISLAND, or Lindisfarne, an irregularly shaped island in the North Sea, 10 miles S.S.E. of Berwick, and 2 miles from the coast of Northumberland, in which county it is included. It is joined to the mainland at low water by flat sands, over which a track, marked by wooden posts and practicable for vehicles, leads to the island. The parish of Holy Island includes Fenham and Goswick townships on the mainland, and had in 1871 a population of 876. The area of the island is about 1000 acres, of which about 400 are under cultivation, producing abundant crops of barley, oats, turnips, carrots, and potatoes. The northern part consists chiefly of barren sand-hills on which rabbits and eider-ducks breed. There are several fresh springs on the island, and in the north-east is a lake of 6 acres. Lime, quarried and burned on the island, is exported chiefly to Dundee. Four vessels are engaged in the trade. Rabbits, fish, cattle, corn, and potatoes are also exported. At the south-west angle is the little fishing village, formerly much larger, which is now a favourite summer watering-place. Salmon, cod, haddocks, crabs, lobsters, and herrings are the principal fish taken. There are two churches and a national school on the island. The population of the island proper in 1871 was 553.

Holy Island derives its name from a monastery founded on it in 635 by Oswald, king of Nortliumbria, which, after being plundered and destroyed by the Danes in the three preceding centuries, was restored by the Normans in 1082 as a cell of the Benedictine monastery at Durham. Its ruins, still extensive and now carefully preserved, justify Scott s description of it as a " solemn, huge, and dark-red pile." Holy Island was also an episcopal see (finally transferred to Durham), of which St Cuthbert was consecrated bishop in 685. The castle, situated to the east of the village, on a basaltic rock about 90 feet high, dates from a very early period. In 1646 it was garrisoned by parliament, and in 1715 an abortive attempt was made by two Jacobites to hold it for the Pretender.

HOLYOKE, a city of Hamden county, Massachusetts, is situated on the west bank of the Connecticut river, crossed there by a bridge, and on the Connecticut River railroad and the Holyoke and Westfield branch of the New Haven and Northampton line, 8 miles north of Springfield. It is well supplied with schools and churches, and has three hotels and a public library. It was a small village until 1849, when the construction of a dam across the river supplied it with water-power for its manufactories, which now include paper-mills, cotton-mills both for spinning and weaving, woollen-mills, planing-mills, a flour-mill, a wire- mill, and machine works. Originally the village was a part of Springfield, and in 1786 it was incorporated with West Springfield under the name of Ireland parish. It was incorporated into a town in 1850, and in 1873 it was made a city. The population, which in 1870 was 10,733, was 21,915 in 1880.

HOLY WATER (aqua benedicta, lustralis, exorcizata, aspersoria or aspersionis, dyiao-^uos, v8wp evAoyias), in Roman Catholic ritual, is a specially exorcized and conse crated mixture of salt and water, believed to possess, when duly sprinkled, peculiar potency as a remedy for sickness, mental or bodily, and as a protection to property. Accord ing to present usage prescribed in the Missal, it is prepared in the sacristy on Sunday by the priest who is to cele brate high mass (or by some other on whom the duty is devolved) : robed in alb and superpelliceum and wearing his stole, he first exorcizes the salt and the water separately; next he mixes the two in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; and finally he pronounces the prayer of con secration over the mixture. Thereupon he assumes his pluvial, goes to the altar, and takes from the deacon the aspergillum, with which he sprinkles the altar, himself, his assistants, and the congregation, meanwhile repeating the words of Ps. li. 7. The faithful who desire it are after wards permitted to carry a supply home with them for application to the sick and for similar purposes. Holy water is solemnly used, not only in the consecration of sacred objects, such as churches, churchyards, bells, images, vest ments, and the like, but also on various domestic occasions such as marriages and funerals. A holy-water stoup is placed at every church door and the faithful are expected