Hillard, George

STILLMAN, orator and litterateur, was born in Maine in 1808, graduated at Harvard in 1828, and five years later was admitted to the Boston bar. In 1852 he delivered the funeral oration on Daniel Webster, and was afterward one of the editors of the Jurist, and of the Boston Courier. He edited the Poetical Works of Spenser, and his Six Months in Italy has been highly praised by foreign critics. H. also edited a series of School Readers, which have been extensively used. Died in 1879. Hill-forts. ( Anc . History .) Many ancient cities grew out of places of refuge or strongholds on elevations, known in modern historical literature as hill-forts, and common in the unsafe conditions of life in early times. As an instance may be named Athens, whose origin lay in the use of the hill of the Acropolis as a hill-fort by the more ancient people of Attica. Rome similarly had its origin in a stronghold on the hills of the Tiber. Traces of such strongholds exist throughout Europe, ranging in date of use from remote prehistoric to early historic times. These forts existed on elevations capable of easy defence, the selected site being enclosed and fortified, sometimes the whole hill-top, at others its most defensible portion being walled in. In some cases these forts, though situated in a hilly country, stand on lower ground, offering opportunities for culture or pas turage. Their walls are usually of earth or stone, these being rarely mingled in the construction. The forts of Gaul at the period of the Roman invasion were often strong and extensive, the walls built of loose masonry, but the stones bound together in the exposed portions by great logs of wood laid longitudinally and transversely, and aiding greatly in resisting the strokes of the battering-ram. At Burghead, in Scotland, is a similar dry stone wall strengthened by logs of oak. It is the only instance of this kind known in Scotland, a country in which hill-forts are more numerous than elsewhere in Europe. These are known as "duns" in the north, and as "camps" in the south. "Dun" is a prefix to various Scottish names, and Edinburgh itself was originally Dun Edin. Hill-forts are by no means confined to Europe. The earthworks of the Mound Builders of the Mi i ippi Valley, included many examples of this kind, and the Indian villages at present located on the summits of the mesas of New Mexico and Arizona are existing examples of a mode of defence practiced through all ages. The dwellings of the cliff-dwellers, while not properly hill-forts, arose in response to the same nece ity. Hills borough, in Kansas , a post-village of Marion co., 10 m. W. of Marion, on A., T. & S. Fé R.R.; has manufactures of butter and cheese. Pop . (1895) 649. Hinckley, in Minnesota , a post-village of Pine co., 77 m. N. of St. Paul, on Gt. Nor. and St. P. & Duluth R.Rs. has lumber mills. Pop . (1895) 589.