HICKS-BEACH, SIR MICHAEL EDWARD, Conservative politician, born in London; educated at Eton and Oxford, and in 1864 entered Parliament; took office as Under-Secretary for Home Affairs under Disraeli, and in 1874 became Secretary for Ireland; four years later he was Lord Carnarvon’s successor at the Colonial Office, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons in 1885, Secretary for Ireland in 1886, President of the Board of Trade in 1888, and in 1895, on the formation of a Coalition Ministry, again became Chancellor of the Exchequer; b. 1837.

HIERAPOLIS, 1, an ancient city of Syria Cyrrhestica, now in ruins, situated between Antioch and Mesopotamia, 14 m.  W. of the Euphrates; had considerable commercial importance, and was famous for its great temple of Astarte. 2, A city of ancient Phrygia, 5 m.  N. of Laodicea; the birthplace of Epictetus, and where Paul founded a church; was celebrated for its hot springs.

HIERO I., tyrant of Syracuse; broke the naval power of Etruria by victory over the Etruscan fleet near Cannae, 474 B.C.; was an enlightened patron of men of letters, many of whom he entertained at his court, AEschylus, Pindar, and Simonides among the number; d. 467 B.C.

HIERO II., king of Syracuse, for near half a century the steadfast friend and ally of the Romans; unlike his namesake he was averse to display, and was accustomed to appear in public in the garb of a common citizen; he ruled his country well; d. 216 B.C. at the age of 92.

HIERONYMUS.  See JEROME.

HIGDEN, RALPH, author of the “Polychronicon”; was a Benedictine monk, who spent his long life in St. Werburgh’s monastery, Chester; the work with which his name is associated is an account of the world down to the end of Edward III.’s reign, but the chronicle of the last 50 years is supposed to have been written by other hands; Caxton published a translation made by John Trevisa; d. about 1307.

HIGGINS, MATTHEW JAMES, essayist, wrote under the nom de plume of “Jacob Omnium,” born at Benown, Ireland; was educated at Eton and Oxford, and spent many years in European travel; his numerous papers, which appeared in the leading magazines and newspapers, were principally directed against social abuses, and are characterised by a humour and pungent irony not unlike his friend Thackeray’s (1810-1868).

HIGGINSON, THOMAS WENTWORTH, an American author and abolitionist, born at Cambridge, Massachusetts; graduated at Harvard, and took orders, but resigned in 1858 to devote himself to politics in the anti-slavery interest; during the Civil War he commanded the first regiment of freed slaves; subsequently he resumed literary work, and in 1880 became a member of the Massachusetts Legislature; he wrote a “History of the United States,” “Army Life in a Black Regiment,” &c.; b. 1823.

HIGH CHURCH, that section of the Episcopal Church in England who attach supreme importance to the administration of word and sacrament by clergy duly ordained, and regarded by them as such, the sole divinely appointed media of divine grace.