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 _b._ in Lincolnshire, and was a Fellow of Peterhouse, Camb., 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 _pub._ 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). H. 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. HIGDEN, RANULF or RALPH (_d._ 1364).--Chronicler, is believed to have been _b._ in the West of England, took the monastic vow (Benedictine), at Chester in 1299, and seems to have travelled over the North of England. His fame rests on his _Polychronicon_, a universal history reaching down to contemporary events. The work is divided into 7 books and, though of no great value as an authority, has an interest as showing the state of historical and geographical knowledge at the time. Written in Latin, it was translated into English by John of Trevisa (_q.v._) (1387), and printed by Caxton (1482), and by others. Another translation of the 15th century was issued in the Rolls Series. For two centuries it was an approved work. H. wrote various other treatises on theology and history.