HEARNE

hearne, thomas (1678-1735), english antiquary, was born in july 1678 at littlefield green in the parish of white waltham, berkshire. having received his early education from his father, george hearne, the parish clerk, he showed such taste for study that a wealthy neighbour, francis cherry of shottesbrooke (c. 1665-1713), a celebrated nonjuror, interested himself in the boy, and sent him to the school at bray "on purpose to learn the latin tongue." soon cherry took him into his own house, and his education was continued at bray until easter 1696, when he matriculated at st edmund hall, oxford. at the university he attracted the attention of dr john mill (1645-1707), the principal of st edmund hall, who employed him to compare manuscripts and in other ways. having taken the degree of b.a. in 1699 he was made assistant keeper of the bodleian library, where he worked on the catalogue of books, and in 1712 he was appointed second keeper. in 1715 hearne was elected architypographus and esquire bedell in civil law in the university, but objection having been made to his holding this office together with that of second librarian, he resigned it in the same year. as a nonjuror he refused to take the oaths of allegiance to king george i., and early in 1716 he was deprived of his librarianship. however he continued to reside in oxford, and occupied himself in editing the english chroniclers. having refused several important academical positions, including the librarianship of the bodleian and the camden professorship of ancient history, rather than take the oaths, he died on the 10th of june 1735. hearne's most important work was done as editor of many of the english chroniclers, and until the appearance of the "rolls" series his editions were in many cases the only ones extant. very carefully prepared, they were, and indeed are still, of the greatest value to historical students. perhaps the most important of a long list are: benedict of peterborough's (benedictus abbas) _de vita et gestis henrici ii. et ricardi i._ (1735); john of fordun's _scotichronicon_ (1722); the monk of evesham's _historia vitae et regni ricardi ii._ (1729); robert mannyng's translation of peter langtoft's _chronicle_ (1725); the work of thomas otterbourne and john whethamstede as _duo rerum anglicarum scriptores veteres_ (1732); robert of gloucester's _chronicle_ (1724); j. sprott's _chronica_ (1719); the _vita et gesta henrici v._, wrongly attributed to thomas elmham (1727); titus livy's _vita henrici v._ (1716); walter of hemingburgh's _chronicon_ (1731); and william of newburgh's _historia rerum anglicarum_ (1719). he also edited john leland's _itinerary_ (1710-1712) and the same author's _collectanea_ (1715); w. camden's _annales rerum anglicarum et hibernicarum regnante elizabetha_ (1717); sir john spelman's _life of alfred_ (1709); and w. roper's _life of sir thomas more_ (1716). he brought out an edition of livy (1708); one of pliny's _epistolae et panegyricus_ (1703); and one of the acts of the apostles (1715). among his other compilations may be mentioned: _ductor historicus, a short system of universal history_ (1704, 1705, 1714, 1724); _a collection of curious discourses by eminent antiquaries_ (1720); and _reliquiae bodleianae_ (1703). hearne left his manuscripts to william bedford, who sold them to dr richard rawlinson, who in his turn bequeathed them to the bodleian. two volumes of extracts from his voluminous diary were published by philip bliss (oxford, 1857), and afterwards an enlarged edition in three volumes appeared (london, 1869). a large part of his diary entitled _remarks and collections, 1705-1714_, edited by c. e. doble and d. w. rannie, has been published by the oxford historical society (1885-1898). _bibliotheca hearniana_, excerpts from the catalogue of hearne's library, has been edited by b. botfield (1848). see _impartial memorials of the life and writings of thomas hearne by several hands_ (1736); and w. d. macray, _annals of the bodleian library_ (1890). hearne's autobiography is published in w. huddesford's _lives of leland, hearne and wood_ (oxford, 1772). t. ouvry's _letters addressed to thomas hearne_ has been privately printed (london, 1874). hearse (an adaptation of fr. _herse_, a harrow, from lat. _hirpex_, _hirpicem_, rake or harrow, greek [greek: arpae], a vehicle for the conveyance of a dead body at a funeral. the most usual shape is a four-wheeled car, with a roofed and enclosed body, sometimes with glass panels, which contains the coffin. this is the only current use of the word. in its earlier forms it is usually found as "herse," and meant, as the french word did, a harrow (q.v.). it was then applied to other objects resembling a harrow, following the french. it was then used of a portcullis, and thus becomes a heraldic term, the "herse" being frequently borne as a "charge," as in the arms of the city of westminster. the chief application of the word is, however, to various objects used in funeral ceremonies. a "herse" or "hearse" seems first to have been a barrow-shaped framework of wood, to hold lighted tapers and decorations placed on a bier or coffin; this later developed into an elaborate pagoda-shaped erection of woodwork or metal for the funerals of royal or other distinguished persons. this held banners, candles, armorial bearings and other heraldic devices. complimentary verses or epitaphs were often attached to the "hearse." an elaborate "hearse" was designed by inigo jones for the funeral of james i. the "hearse" is also found as a permanent erection over tombs. it is generally made of iron or other metal, and was used, not only to carry lighted candles, but also for the support of a pall during the funeral ceremony. there is a brass "hearse" in the beauchamp chapel at warwick castle, and one over the tomb of robert marmion and his wife at tanfield church near ripon.