=Harpoc´rates= (_4 syl._), the god of silence. Cupid bribed him with a rose not to divulge the amours of Venus. Harpocratês is generally represented with his second finger on his mouth. He also symbolized the sun at the end of winter, and is represented with a cornucopia in one hand and a lotus in the other. The lotus is dedicated to the sun, because it opens at sunrise and closes at sunset. I assured my mistress she might make herself quite easy on that score [i.e. _my making mention of what was told me_], for I was the Harpocrates of trusty valets.—Lesage, _Gil Blas_, iv. 2 (1724). =Harriet=, the elder daughter of Sir David and Lady Dunder, of Dunder Hall. She was in love with Scruple, whom she accidentally met at Calais; but her parents arranged that she should marry Lord Snolts, a stumpy, “gummy” old nobleman of five-and-forty. To prevent this hateful marriage, Harriet consented to elope with Scruple; but the flight was intercepted by Sir David, who, to prevent a scandal, consented to the marriage, and discovered that Scruple, both in family and fortune, was a suitable son-in-law.—G. Colman, _Ways and Means_ (1788). =Harriet= [=Mowbray=], the daughter of Colonel Mowbray, an orphan without fortune, without friends, without a protector. She marries clandestinely Charles Eustace.—J. Poole, _The Scapegoat_. =Harriot= [RUSSET], the simple, unsophisticated daughter of Mr. Russet. She loves Mr. Oakly, and marries him, but becomes “a jealous wife,” watching her husband like a lynx, to find out some proof of infidelity, and distorting every casual remark as evidence thereof. Her aunt, Lady Freelove, tries to make her a woman of fashion, but without success. Ultimately, she is cured of her idiosyncrasy.—George Colman, _The Jealous Wife_ (1761). =Harriet= (_Shattuck_), superannuated tailoress who, with her blind sister, lives in the little house in which she was born. It leaks and shakes in the wind, and they are often hungry, but when they are removed to a “Home,” they steal away and walk fourteen miles back to the old house.—Mary E. Wilkins, _A Humble Romance_ (1887.) =Harris= (_Mrs._), a purely imaginary character, existing only in the brain of Mrs. Sarah Gamp, and brought forth on all occasions to corroborate the opinions and trumpet the praises of Mrs. Gamp, the monthly nurse. _Harris_, one of the trio of invalids who go up the Thames in quest of health. Their adventures are the theme of Jerome K. Jerome’s _Three Men in a Boat_ (1889). =Harrises= (_The_), family who live and die in the faith that, to be a born Harris is a career in itself. They are not rich, or learned, or accomplished, but eminently respectable, and clad in simple egotism as with a garment.—Annie Sheldon Coombs, _As Common Mortals_ (1886).