HER'CI 1,E:;, in mythology, one of the most celebrated personages of antiquity, believed to he the son of Jupiter and A lennon , the daughter of Elcctryon, king of Myeeme. The history :Lad wonderful exploits of this hero are su well known, that it would be superfluous to dwell up on them here. There is, perhaps, no sub ject connected with antiquity to the right comprehension of which such formidable difficulties are presented ; and hence the numerous attempts that have been made to separate truth from fiction in the his tory of Hercules, by divesting it of the mythological traditions with which it had been encumbered by all the writers of antiquity. In some shape or another, all the profane nations of antiquity seem to have possessed a divinity to whom they attributed an extraordinary degree of bodily strength, combined with indomita ble perseverance and coral energy in pros ecuting and overcoming difficult achieve ments. The reader will at once recog
nize, as belonging to this class, the Baal of the Syrians, the Melkarth of i'hvenici:t, and the Rama of libido:tan; who, like the Grecian Hercules, outstripping in bodily and intellectual endowments the great mass of the people of the rude era in which they lived, achieved a multi plicity of deeds which were looked upon as altogether miraculous, and which pro cure 1 for their authors empire and do minion during their lives, and after death it place :1 mum the gods.
EREDIrAMENTS, in law, lands, tenements, and whatever immovable things a person nay have to himself anti his heirs, by way of inheritance; and which, if not otherwise bequeathed, de seend to him who is next heir, and not to the executor, as chattels do.