a term denoting any considerable eminence on the earth's surface. It is sometimes synonymous with the word mountain; though generally it denotes only the lesser eminences, the word mountain being particularly applied to the very largest. See MOUNTAIN, GEOLOGY Index.

Aaron, a poet of considerable eminence, the son of a gentleman of Malmesbury-abbey in Wiltshire, was born in 1685. His father's imprudence having cut off his paternal inheritance, he left Westminster school at 14 years of age; and embarked for Constantinople, to visit Lord Paget the English ambassador there, who was his distant relation. Lord Paget received him with surprise and pleasure, provided him a tutor, and sent him to travel: by which opportunity he saw Egypt, Palestine, and a great part of the east; and returning home with his noble patron, visited most of the courts of Europe. About the year 1709, he published his first poem entitled Camillus, in honour of the earl of Peterborough who had been general in Spain; and being the same year made master of Drury lane theatre, he wrote his first tragedy Elfred, or the Fair Inconstant. In 1710, he became master of the opera-house in the Hay-market; when he wrote an opera called Rinaldo, which met with great success, being the first that Mr Handel set to music after he came to England. Unfortunately for Mr Hill, he was a projector as well as poet, and in 1715 obtained a patent for extracting oil from beech-nuts; which undertaking, whether good or bad, miscarried after engaging three years of his attention. He was also concerned in the first attempt to settle the colony of Georgia; from which he never reaped any advantage; and in 1728 he made a journey into the Highlands of Scotland, on a scheme of applying the woods there to ship-building; in which he also lost his labour. Mr Hill seems to have lived in perfect harmony with all the writers of his time, except Mr Pope, with whom he had a short paper-war, occasioned by that gentleman's introducing him in the Dunciad, as one of the competitors for the prize offered by the goddess of Dulness, in the following lines:

"Then Hill essay'd; scarce vanish'd out of sight, "He buoys up infant, and returns to light; "He bears no token of the fabler streams, "And mounts far off among the Swans of Thames."

This, though far the gentlest piece of satire in the whole poem, and conveying at the same time an oblique compliment, roused Mr Hill to take some notice of it; which he did by a poem written during his peregrination in the north, entitled, "The Progress of Wit, a Caveat for the use of an eminent writer;" which he begins with the following eight lines, in which Mr Pope's too well known disposition is elegantly, yet very feverly characterized:

"Tuneful Alexis on the Thames' fair fide, "The Ladies play-thing, and the Muses pride; "With merit popular, with wit polite, "Easily tho' vain, and elegant tho' light; "Defiring and deserving others praisèd, "Poorly accepts a Fame he ne'er repays: "Unborn to cherish, sneakingly approves; "And wants the soul to spread the worth he loves."

The sneakingly approves, in the last couplet, Mr Pope was much affected by; and indeed through their whole controversy afterwards, in which it was generally thought that Mr Hill had much the advantage, Mr Pope seems rather to express his repentance by denying the offence, than to vindicate himself supposing it to have been given. Besides the above poems, Mr Hill, among many others, wrote one, called The northern fear, upon the actions of Czar Peter the Great; for which he was several years afterwards complimented with a gold medal from the empress Catharine, according to the Czar's desire before his death. He likewise altered some of Shake-speare's plays, and translated some of Voltaire's. His last production was Merope; which was brought upon the stage in Drury-lane by Mr Garrick. He died on the 8th of February 1749, as it is said, in the very minute of the earthquake; and after his decease four volumes of his works in prose and verse were published in octavo, and his dramatic works in two volumes.

Sir John, a voluminous writer, was originally bred an apothecary; but his marrying early, and without a fortune, made him very soon look around for other resources than his profession. Having, therefore, in his apprenticeship, attended the botanical lectures of the company, and being possessed of quick natural parts, he soon made himself acquainted with the theoretical as well as practical parts of botany: from whence being recommended to the late duke of Richmond and Lord Petre, he was by them employed in the inspection and arrangement of their botanic gardens. Assisted by the liberality of these noblemen, he executed a scheme of travelling over the kingdom, to collect the most rare and uncommon plants; which he afterward published by subscription: but after great researches and uncommon industry, this undertaking turned out by no means adequate to his expectation. The stage next presented itself, as a foil in which genius might stand a chance of nourishing: but after two or three unsuccessful attempts, it was found he had no pretensions either to the fock or buskin: which once more reduced him to his botanical pursuits, and his

business as an apothecary. At length, about the year 1746, he translated from the Greek, a small tract written by Theophratus, on Gems, which he published by subscription; and which, being well executed, procured him friends, reputation, and money. Encouraged by this, he engaged in works of greater extent and importance. The first he undertook was A General Natural History, in 3 vols. folio. He next engaged, in conjunction with George Lewis Scott, Esq. in furnishing a Supplement to Chambers's Dictionary. He at the same time started the British Magazine; and while he was engaged in a great number of these and other works, some of which seemed to claim the continued attention of a whole life, he carried on a daily essay, under the title of Inspector. Amidst this hurry of business, Mr Hill was so laborious and ready in all his undertakings, and was willing to exact an economy of his time, that he scarcely ever missed a public amusement for many years: where, while he relaxed from the severer pursuits of study, he gleaned up articles of information for his periodical works. It would not be easy to trace Mr Hill, now Dr Hill (for he procured a diploma from the college of St Andrew's), through all his various pursuits in life. A quarrel he had with the Royal Society, for being refused as a member, which provoked him to ridicule that learned body, in A Review of the Works of the Royal Society of London, 4to, 1751; together with his over-writing himself upon all subjects without reserve; made him sink in the estimation of the public nearly in the same pace as he had ascended. He found as usual, however, resources in his own invention. He applied himself to the preparation of certain simple medicines: such as the essence of water-dock, tincture of valerian, balsam of honey, &c. The well-known simplicity of these medicines made the public judge favourably of their effects, inasmuch that they had a rapid sale, and once more enabled the doctor to figure in that style of life ever so congenial to his inclination. Soon after the publication of the first of these medicines, he obtained the patronage of the earl of Bute, through whose interest he acquired the management of the royal gardens at Kew, with an handsome salary: and to wind up the whole of an extraordinary life, having, a little before his death, feasted an opportunity to introduce himself to the knowledge of the king of Sweden, that monarch invested him with one of the orders of his court, which title he had not the happiness of enjoying above two years. He died toward the close of the year 1775.