HAeNDEL, musical composer, born at Halle; distinguished for his musical ability from his earliest years; was sent to Berlin to study when he was 14; began his musical career as a performer at Hamburg in 1703; produced his first opera in 1704; spent six years in Italy, devoting himself to his profession the while; came, on invitation, to England in 1710, where, being well received, he resolved to remain, and where, year after year—­as many as nearly fifty of them—­he added to his fame by his diligence as a composer; he produced a number of operas and oratorios; among the latter may be noted his “Saul,” his “Samson,” and “Judas Maccabaeus,” and pre-eminently the “Messiah,” his masterpiece, and which fascinates with a charm that appeals to and is appreciated by initiated and uninitiated alike (1684-1759).

HANG-CHOW (800), a Chinese town, a treaty-port since the recent war with Japan; is at the mouth of the Tsien-tang at the entrance of the Imperial Canal, 110 m.  SW. of Shanghai; it is an important literary, religious, and commercial centre; has flourishing silk factories, and is noted for its gold and silver ware.

HANGING GARDENS, THE, OF BABYLON, one of the seven wonders of the world, had an area of four acres, formed a square, were a series of terraces supported by pillars sloping upwards like a pyramid and seeming to hang in air; they are ascribed to Semiramis.

HANIF, name given to a Mohammedan or an Arab of rigidly monotheistic belief.

HANKOW (750), a Chinese river-port, at the confluence of the Han and Yangtsze Rivers; it is properly an extension of the large towns Wu-chang and Han-yang; there is a considerable amount of shipping; tea is the principal article of export, and a large trade is carried on with the inland provinces.

HANLEY (85), a busy manufacturing town in the “Potteries,” 18 m.  N. of Stafford; coal and iron are wrought in the neighbourhood.

HANMER, SIR THOMAS, Speaker of the House of Commons; elected in 1713, discharged the duties of the office with conspicuous impartiality; published an edition of Shakespeare (1677-1746).

HANNAY, JAMES, a novelist and critic, born in Dumfries; spent his boyhood in the navy, on quitting which he settled in London and took to letters; was for a time editor of the Edinburgh Courant, a Tory paper, and subsequently consul at Barcelona, where he died; he knew English literature and wrote English well (1827-1873).

HANNIBAL, the great Carthaginian general, son of HAMILCAR (q. v.); learned the art of war under his father in Spain; subjugated all Spain south of the Ebro by the capture of the Roman allied city of Saguntum, which led to the outbreak of the Second Punic War and his leading his army through hostile territory over the Pyrenees and the Alps into Italy; defeated the Romans in succession at the Ticinus, the Trebia, and Lake Trasimenus, to the extirpation of the army sent against him; passed the Apennines and descended into Apulia,