=Handy= (_Sir Abel_), a great contriver of inventions which would not work, and of retrograde improvements. Thus “his infallible axletree” gave way when it was used, and the carriage was “smashed to pieces.” His substitute for gunpowder exploded, endangered his life, and set fire to the castle. His “extinguishing powder” might have reduced the flames, but it was not mixed, nor were his patent fire-engines in workable order. He said to Farmer Ashfield: “I have obtained patents for tweezers, toothpicks, and tinder-boxes ... and have now on hand two inventions, ... one for converting saw-dust into deal boards, and the other for cleaning rooms by steam-engines.” _Lady Nelly Handy_ (his wife), formerly a servant in the house of Farmer Ashfield. She was full of affectations, overbearing, and dogmatical. Lady Nelly tried to “forget the dunghill whence she grew, and thought herself the Lord knows who.” Her extravagance was so great that Sir Abel said his “best coal-pit would not find her in white muslin, nor his India bonds in shawls and otto of roses.” It turned out that her first husband, Gerald, who had been absent twenty years, reappeared and claimed her. Sir Abel willingly resigned his claim, and gave Gerald £5000 to take her off his hands. _Robert Handy_ (always called _Bob_), son of Sir Abel by his first wife. He fancied he could do everything better than any one else. He taught the post boy to drive, but broke the horse’s knees. He taught Farmer Ashfield how to box, but got knocked down by him at the first blow. He told Dame Ashfield he had learned lace-making at Mechlin, and that she did not make it in the right way; but he spoilt her cushion in showing her how to do it. He told Lady Handy (his father’s bride) she did not know how to use the fan, and showed her; he told her she did not know how to curtsey, and showed her. Being pestered by this popinjay beyond endurance, she implored her husband to protect her from further insults. Though light-hearted, Bob was “warm, steady, and sincere.” He married Susan, the daughter of Farmer Ashfield.—Th. Morton, _Speed the Plough_ (1798). =Hanging Judge= (_The_), Sir Francis Page (1718-1741). The earl of Norbury, who was chief justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland from 1820 to 1827, was also stigmatized with the same unenviable title. =Hannah.= The friend of the Quaker widow in the garden after her husband’s funeral—“the single heart that comes at need.”—Bayard Taylor, _The Quaker Widow_. _Hannah_, housekeeper to Mr. Fairford, the lawyer.—Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.). =Hannah Thurston.= A country girl, a Quaker by birth and breeding, whose Madonna face and nobility of character win the regard of a wealthy citizen of the world, a travelled man who yet does not sympathize with Hannah’s “progressive” ideas on the subject of woman’s suffrage, etc. He marries her and converts her.—Bayard Taylor, _Hannah Thurston_, (1868.)