Hieronymus. See Jerome, St.
Hierophant or Mystagogus (Gr. ifpo0avr»;e, HvarayioyuQ). I. The high-priest of Demeter who con- ducted the celebration of the Eleusinian Mysteries and initiated the candidates, being always one of the Eumol- pidfE, and a citizen of Attica. The office was for life, and regarded of high religious importance, and the hi- erophant was required to be of mature age, to be with- out physical defects, to possess a fine, sonorous voice suited to the character and dignity of tlie office, and was forbidden to marry, though that prohibition may have applied only to contracting marriage after his in- stallation. He was distinguished by a peculiar cut of his hair, by the strophion, a sort of diadem, and by a long purple robe. In the Mysteries he represented the Demiurge or World-creator, was the only authorized custodian and expositor of the unwritten laws (hence also styled ■7rpo(prjrt]g'), and the utterance of his name in the presence of the miinitiated was forbidden. II. The name is also given in the Greek Church to the prior of a monastery. — Chambers, s. v. ; Pierer, vili, 370 ; Smith, Diet. o/Grk. and Rom. Antiq. s.v. Eumolpid«; Brande, Diet, ii, 125. See also Hieromnejion. (J.W. M.)
Hiester, William, a minister of the German Re- formed Church, was bom in Berks County, Pa., Oct. 11, 1770. In youth he learned the trade of carpenter. He pursued his classical and theological studies with Rev. IJ.uiiel ^\'agner, of York, Pa, He was licensed and or- dained in 1799. For a short time he ser\^ed several congregations in Lancaster County, Pa., when he Avas called to Lebanon, Lebanon County, Pa., in which charge he labored till his death, Feb. 8, 1828. He is remem- bered in the German Reformed Church for Ids earnest pietj^, great zeal in his pastoral work, and the active in- terest he took in the establishment of its Theological Seminary. He preached both in the Cierman and Eng- lish languages. (H. H.)
Higden, Ranulph or Ralph, an English writer of the 14th centiu^', was a Benedictine monk of the monastery of St. Werberg, in Cheshire, who died at a ver>' advanced age in 1367 according to Bale, or in 1373 according to Pits. His Poli/chromcon, a chronicle of events from the Creation to A.D. 1357, was written originally in Latin, and translated into English in 1387 by John of Trevisa. From this translation Caxton made his version, and, continuing in an eighth book the Chronicle to 1460, published the whole under the title of The Poli/cronj/con, conteynyng the Baryvrjes and Dedes of many Times, in eyght Books, etc. (1482, fol.). Trevi- sa's translation " contains many rare words and expres- sions, and is one of the earliest specimens of English prose." The first volume of a new edition (containing also a translation by an unknown writer of the 15th century), edited by C. Babington, B.D., appeared in 1865. The Polychronicon is frequently cited by Eng- lish historians. Bale published the part relating to the Britons and Saxons in his Scriptores Quiiidecim, etc. (Oxford, 1691). Some have assigned the authorship of the Chester Mysteries (1382) to Higden, but on doubtful grounds. — Bale, Illust. Maj. Brit. Scrij)t. Summ.; Pits, Be ilbist. A nr/. Script. ; Hoefer, Nouv. Bioff. Generale, xxiv, 656 ; Herzog, Real-Encyklop. vi, 83 ; Westmiiister Rmew, July, 1865, p. 128. (J.W. M.)
Higgai'on (Heb. Mygayon', '^'''f}) occiu-s in Psa. xcii, 3, where, according to Gesenius, it signifies the
murmuring (Fiirst, low or solemn) tone of the harp, Sept. fttT i^Sijc tv Ki^cipif. In Psa. ix, 17, Iliggaion Selah is a musical sign, prob. for a pause in the instrumental in- terlude, Sept. ipci) Siu ipaXnarog ; and so Symn. Aqu. and Vulg. See Selah. In Psa. xix, 15 the term sig- nifies (and is rendered) meditation, in Lam. iii, 62 a de- vice. "Mendelssohn translates it meditation, thought, idea. Knapp {Die Psalmen) identifies it in Psa. ix, 17 with the Arabic i;!!! and Sifl, ' to mock,' and hence-his rendering 'What a shout of laughter!' (because the wicked are entrapped in their own snares) ; but in Psa. xcii, 4 he translates it by 'Lieder' (songs). R. David Kimchi likewise assigns two separate meanings to the word ; on Psa. ix, 17, he says, ' This aid is for us (a sub- ject of) meditation and thankfuhiess,' while in his com- mentary on the passage, Psa- xcii, 4, he gives to the same word the signification of melody, * This is the mel- ody of the hymn when it is recited (played) on the harp.' ' We wiU meditate on this forever' (Rashi, Com- nient. on Psa. ix, 17). In Psa. ix, 17, Aben Ezra's com- ment, on ' Higgaion Selah' is, ' this wiU I record in truth :' on Psa. xcii, 4 he says, ' Higgaion means the melody of the hymn, or it is the name of a musical in- strument.' It would seem, then, that Higgaion has two meanings, one of a general character implj-ing thought, irflection, from llStl (comp. "^j? "T^irtl, Psa. ix, 17, and nm hz) ibr CJIi.ini, Lam. iii, 62), and another in Psa. ix, 17, and Psa. xcii, 4, of a technical nature, bear- ing on the import of musical somids or signs well known in the age of David, but the precise meaning of which cannot at this flistance of time be determined" (Smith). See Psalms.