Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 26.djvu/369

 Hieron popular that many congregations, as well as the Inns of Court, desired to have him ‘settled’ as their minister. From the dedication to one of his sermons he appears at one time to have been employed by the Earl of Pembroke. His ministry at Modbury was most successful, and he was one of the preachers at a weekly lecture established by Sir Ferdinando Gorges [q. v.] at Plympton, and was a voluminous author in spite of chronic illness. Fuller says that he was ‘a powerful preacher in his printed works.’ He died at Modbury in 1617, and was buried in the church. His funeral sermon, preached by ‘T. B.,’ was published in 1618. He was inclined to puritanism, though he strictly conformed to the church of England. Samuel Hieron (d. 1687), one of the ejected ministers of 1662, was his grandson. Another Samuel Hieron (d. 1616), fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, became vicar of Trumpington in 1588, of Kendal in 1591, and of Enfield in 1598, and rector of Tokenham, Wiltshire, from 1610 till his death in July 1616. He was incorporated D.D. of Oxford July 1598 (, Fasti, ed. Bliss, i. 279).

Besides many sermons Hieron published: 1. ‘The Preacher's Plea’ (a dialogue between a minister and a layman), 1604. 2. ‘An Answere to a Popish Ryme, lately scattered abroad in the West Parts, and much relyed upon by some simply-seduced,’ 1604, 4to; 2nd edit. 1608. 3. ‘The Dignitie of the Scripture together with the Indignity which the unthankfull World offereth thereunto,’ &c., 1607, 4to. 4. ‘A Helpe unto Devotion; containing certain Moulds or Formes of Prayer, fitted to severall occasions,’ 8th edit. 1616, 12mo. His works were published in folio in 1614, and were reprinted with additions in two volumes in 1624–5, together with a ‘Life of the Author by Robert Hill, D.D., Rector of St. Bartholomew, Exchange, London.’ A third edition appeared in 1635, in 2 vols. The following anonymous works are also attributed to Hieron: (1) ‘A short Dialogue proving that the Ceremonies and some other Corruptions now in question are defended by no other Arguments than such as the Papists have hitherto used and our Protestant writers have long since answered,’ &c., 1605. (2) ‘A Defence of the Minister's Reasons for Refusal of Subscription to the Booke of Common Prayer, and of Conformity in answer to Mr. T. Hutton, Dr. W. Covel, and Dr. T. Sparke,’ 1607. This work was printed in Holland and sent over packed with other goods; the booksellers refused to sell it on account of its pronounced opinions, and the edition was therefore given away, copies being sent to the writer's adversaries, the bishops, and the universities. The author, however, was never discovered. Second and third parts of this work were published in 1608, but the authorship of all seems very uncertain (see, ii. 272).

 HIFFERNAN, PAUL (1719–1777), miscellaneous writer, was born in or near Dublin in 1719. His parents, intending him for the priesthood of the Roman catholic church, sent him to a classical school in Dublin. When very young he went with other Irish students to the university of Montpellier, where he claims to have made the acquaintance of Rousseau and Marmontel. At Montpellier, apparently forsaking theology, he graduated M.B. He removed to Paris, studying, or more probably idling there for several years, and acquiring a knowledge of Italian. The statement that he remained in France for seventeen years is a manifest exaggeration. He returned to Dublin by 1748, with a view to practising medicine, but gave way to indolence and dissipation. The character he bore is indicated in a coarse lampoon which professes to give an account of his death on 17 Oct. 1748. In 1750 he published in Dublin a political serial entitled ‘The Tickler,’ in opposition to Dr. Charles Lucas [q. v.]; he also wrote plays and fugitive pieces.

Hiffernan came to London towards the end of 1753. In 1754 he issued a few numbers of ‘The Tuner,’ intended as a vehicle for dramatic and literary criticism, and better written than most of his productions. On 24 April 1756 a farce by him called ‘Maiden Whim’ was first acted at Drury Lane Theatre (, Hist. Stage, iv. 457). It was again performed, under the new title of ‘The Lady's Choice,’ for Hiffernan's benefit, with Henry Jones's ‘Earl of Essex,’ at Covent Garden on 20 April 1759 (ib. p. 566). On 1 April 1761 Hiffernan's farce, ‘The New Hippocrates,’ was put on the stage of Drury Lane after a performance of ‘Every Man in his Humour,’ with Garrick as Kitely and a song by Mrs. Clive (ib. p. 611). The farce was a failure, and was never published. On 6 April 1768 was performed at Drury Lane Hiffernan's ‘National Prejudice,’ a farce said to be an adaptation of Favart's ‘Englishman in Bordeaux’ (ib. v. 168). In 1774 Hiffernan, at the request of the actor Reddish, added a first and fifth act to an unfinished tragedy by Henry Jones (1720?–1770) called ‘The Cave of Idra.’ Hiffernan