Chapter Herschel to Higden of H by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Herschel to Higden

Herschel, Sir John Frederick William (1792-1871)—of Sir William Herschel, the eminent astronomer and discoverer of the planet Uranus, was born at Slough, and educated at Cambridge, where he was Senior Wrangler and first Smith’s prizeman. He became one of the greatest of English astronomers. Among his writings are treatises on Sound and Light, and his Astronomy (1831) was for long the leading manual on the subject. He also published Popular Lectures and Collected Addresses, and made translations from Schiller, and from the Iliad.

Hervey, James (1714-1758).—Religious writer, Rector of Weston Favell, Northants, was the author of Meditations among the Tombs (1745-47), Theron and Aspasio, and other works, which had a great vogue in their day. They are characterised by over wrought sentiment, and overloaded with florid ornament. Hervey was a devout and unselfish man, who by his labours broke down a delicate constitution.

Hervey, John, Lord (1696-1743).—w riter of memoirs, was a younger son of the 1st Earl of Bristol. Entering Parliament he proved an able debater, and held various offices, including that of Lord Privy Seal. He was a favourite with Queen Caroline, and a dexterous and supple courtier. He wrote Memoirs of the Reign of George II., which gives a very unfavourable view of the manners and morals of the Court. It is written in a lively, though often spiteful style,. and contains many clever and discriminating character sketches. He was satirised by Pope under the name of “Sporus” and “Lord Fanny.”

Heylin, Peter (1600-1662).—Ecclesiastical writer, born at Burford, Oxon., was one of the clerical followers of Charles I., who suffered for his fidelity, being deprived under the Commonwealth of his living of Alresford, and other preferments. After the Restoration he was made sub-Dean of Westminster, but the failure of his health prevented further advancement. He was a voluminous writer, and a keen and acrimonious controversialist against the Puritans. Among his works are a History of the Reformation, and a Life of Laud (Cyprianus Anglicanus) (1668).

Heywood, John (1497-1580?).—Dramatist and epigrammatist, is believed to have been born at North Mimms, Herts. He was a friend of Sir Thomas More, and through him gained the favour of Henry VIII., and was at the Court of Edward VI. and Mary, for whom, as a young Princess, he had a great regard. Being a supporter of the old religion, he enjoyed her favour, but on the accession of Elizabeth, he left the country, and went to Mechlin, where he died He was famous as a writer of interludes, a species of composition intermediate between the old “moralities” and the regular drama, and displayed considerable constructive skill, and a racy, if somewhat broad and even coarse, humour. Among his interludes are The Play of the Wether (1532), The Play of Love (1533), and The Pardoner and the Frere. An allegorical poem is The Spider and the Flie (1556), in which the Spider stands for the Protestants, and the File for the Roman Catholics. Heywood was likewise the author of some 600 epigrams, whence his title of “the old English epigrammatist.”

Heywood, Thomas (d. 1650).—Dramatist. Few facts about him have come down, and these are almost entirely derived from his own writings. He appears to have been born in Lincolnshire, and was a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and an ardent Protestant. His literary activity extends from about 1600 to 1641, and his production was unceasing; he claims to have written or “had a main finger in” 220 plays, of which only a small proportion (24) are known to be in existence, a fact partly accounted for by many of them having been written upon the backs of tavern bills, and by the circumstance that though a number of them were popular, few were published Among them may be mentioned The Four Prentices of London (1600) (ridiculed in Fletcher’s Knight of the Burning Pestle), Edward IV. (2 parts) in 1600 and 1605, The Royal King and the Loyal Subject (1637), A Woman Killed with Kindness (1603), Rape of Lucrece (1608), Fair Maid of the Exchange (1607), Love’s Mistress (1636), and Wise Woman of Hogsdon (1638). Heywood also wrote an Apology for Actors (1612), a poem, Hierarchy of the Blessed Angels (1635), and made various translations. He was thoroughly English in his subjects and treatment, and had invention, liveliness, and truth to nature, but lacked the higher poetic sense, and of course wrote far too much to write uniformly well.