HARCOURT, SIR WILLIAM VERNON, statesman, born, a clergyman’s son, at Nuneham Park, Oxfordshire; was highly distinguished at Cambridge, and in 1854 was called to the bar; was a Q.C. in 1866, and professor of International Law at Cambridge (1869-87); he won considerable repute by his articles in the Saturday Review and his “Historicus” letters to the Times, and in 1868 entered Parliament, representing Oxford in the Liberal interest; in 1873 he became Solicitor-General, and received a knighthood; he was a vigorous opponent of the Disraeli Government, and on the return of the Liberals to power in 1880 became Home Secretary; under Mr. Gladstone in 1886, and again in 1892, he held the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer; he staunchly supported Mr. Gladstone in his Home Rule policy; became leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons on Mr. Gladstone’s retirement, a post which for party reasons he resigned in 1899; b. 1827.

HARDENBERG, FRIEDRICH VON.  See NOVALIS.

HARDENBERG PRINCE VON, a Prussian statesman, born in Hanover; after service in Hanover and Brunswick entered that of Prussia under William II., and became Chancellor of State under William III.; distinguished himself by the reforms he introduced in military and civic matters to the benefit of the country, though he was restrained a good deal by the reactionary proclivities of the king (1750-1822).

HARDICANUTE, king of England and Denmark, the son of Canute and his successor on the Danish throne; was king of England only in part till the death of his brother Harold, whom he survived only two years, but long enough to alienate his subjects by the re-imposition of the Danegelt; d. 1642.

HARDING, JOHN, or HARDYNG, an English rhyming chronicler in the reign of Edward IV.; had been a soldier, and fought at Agincourt (1378-1465).

HARDING, STEPHEN, a Benedictine monk, born in Devonshire, of noble descent, a born ascetic, who set himself to restore his order to its primitive austerity; retired with a few others into a dismal secluded place at Citeaux, and became abbot; was joined there by the great St. Bernard, his kindred, and followers, to the great aggrandisement of the order; d. 1134.

HARDINGE, HENRY, VISCOUNT, a distinguished soldier and Governor-General of India, born at Wrotham, Kent; joined the army in 1798, and served through the Peninsular and Waterloo campaigns, but wounded at Ligny he was unable to take part in the final struggle with Napoleon; he now turned his attention to politics; was Secretary of War under Wellington, and subsequently twice Chief Secretary for Ireland; in 1844 he was appointed Governor-General of India, and later distinguished himself under Gough in the first Sikh War; a viscountship and pension followed in 1845, and seven years later he succeeded Wellington as Commander-in-Chief of the British army (1785-1856).