EOBERT**, called the Old, a celebrated Flemish painter of humorous conversations, of whom, though so universally known, we have no information as to the time in which he flourished, or the school in which he was taught. Though the taste of his compositions is but low, yet it ought to be considered that he took his subjects from nature; from persons in the meanest occupations, whose dress, actions, and manners, could not furnish the imagination with any ideas of elegance; and to express their passions and undisguised humours, seems to have been the utmost of his ambition. By frequenting fairs, merry-meetings, gaming-houses, and inns, he acquired a surprising power of connecting humorous circumstances. He designed and drew correctly, and his pictures have a strong effect from his accurate management of the chiaro obscuro. Some of his pictures have suffered from unskilful cleaners, and many things are sold as his which dishonour him; but his genuine works, well preserved, have a clearness and force equal to any of the Flemish artists.

**HEN.** See **PHASIANUS**, **ORNITHOLOGY Index**. **Guinea-HEN.** See **NUMIDA**, **ORNITHOLOGY Index**. **Hen-Bane.** See **HYOSCYAMUS**, **BOTANY and MATERIA MEDICA Index**.

**Hen-Harrier.** See **FALCO**, **ORNITHOLOGY Index**.

**Hen-Mould Soil**, in **Agriculture**, a term used by the husbandmen in Northamptonshire, and other counties, to express a black, hollow, spongy, and mouldering earth, usually found at the bottoms of hills. It is an earth much fitter for grazing than for corn, because it will never settle close enough to the grain to keep it sufficiently steady while it is growing up, without which, the farmers observe, it either does not grow well; or, if it seems to thrive, as it will in some years, the growth is rank, and yields much straw, but little ear. It is too moist, and to that is principally to be attributed this rankness of the crop in some years; and the occasion of its retaining so much moisture is, that it usually has a bed of stiff clay, which will not let the water run off into the under strata.

In some places they also give this name to a black, rich, and dense earth, with streaks of a whitish mould in many parts. This sort of hen-mould is usually found very rich and fertile.