Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol III (1901).djvu/18

 and at the Strand, under J. W. Hammond in 1837, was Winkle in a piece called 'Pickwick.' Many years later he played Mr. Pickwick in Albery's play at the Lyceum. The same year he acted with Macready at Covent Garden, and he participated in the original performance of the 'Lady of Lyons' (15 Feb. 1838). He also played Mark Antony in 'Julius Cæsar.' Joining the Haymarket under Webster, he remained there without a break in his engagement for the almost unprecedented term of forty years. Among innumerable original parts were: Brandon in Lovell's 'Look before you Leap' on 29 Oct. 1846, Ernest de Fonblanche in the 'Housed Lion' on 15 Nov. 1847, Lord Arden in Lovell's 'Wife's Secret' on 17 Jan. 1848. His characters included Fazio, Sir George Airy in the 'Busy Body,' Lord Townley in the 'Provoked Husband,' Archer in the 'Beaux' Stratagem,' Benedick, Joseph Surface, Sir Anthony Absolute, Sir Peter Teazle, Malvolio, Jaques, Macduff, Harry Dornton. He used to state that there were pieces (such as the 'Lady of Lyons') in which, during his gradual rise, he had played every male part from the lowest to the highest. On 16 Aug. 1879, at the Vaudeville, he was the first Rev. Otho Doxey in Richard Lee's 'Home for Home,' and played Farren's part of Clench in the 'Girls.' Soon afterwards he took (Sir) Henry Irving's role of Digby Grant in a revival of Albery's 'Two Roses.' On 26 Dec. 1881, as Mr. Furnival in same piece, he appeared at the Lyceum, with which his closing years were connected. Here he played characters such as Old Capulet, Antonio in 'Much Ado about Nothing' and 'Twelfth Night,' Germeuil in 'Robert Macaire,' Farmer Flamborough in 'Olivia,' Burgomaster in 'Faust,' and very many others. He accompanied Sir Henry Irving to America, where he died on 10 March 1896. He was a thoroughly conscientious actor, and an exceptionally worthy and amiable man, whose one delight was to cultivate his garden at Isleworth. His son. Henry A. Hutchinson Howe, musical and theatrical critic on the 'Morning Advertiser,' predeceased him, dying on 1 June 1894, aged sixty-one. [Personal recollections; The Player, 12 May 1860; Pascoe's Dramatic List; Scott and Howard's Blanchard ; Scott's From the Bells to King Arthur; Era Almanack, various years; Sunday Times, various years; Theatrical Notes, 1893.]  HUCHOWN (fl. 14th cent.), the author of several romances in the old alliterative verse, is described by Wyntoun as 'Huchown of the Awle Ryale' (in one MS. 'Auld Ryall'). Wyntoun eulogises him as 'cunnand in literature,' and ascribes to him three romances, 'The Gret Gest of Arthure,' 'The Awntyre of Gawane,' and 'The Pystyll of Swete Susan.' Of these 'The Pystyll of Swete Susan' can be identified beyond dispute. It exists in five manuscripts (two in the British Museum, one in the Bodleian library, a fourth at Cheltenham, and a fifth at Ripley), and was published in Laing's 'Select Remains,' 1822, and, besides several times by German editors, by the Scottish Text Society in 'Scottish Alliterative Poems' from the five manuscripts ed. F. J. Amours, 1896-7. Further, by means of an exhaustive comparison with the 'Pystyll,' Dr. Trauttnann (Der Dichter Huchown und seine Werke in Anglia, 1877) has established the identification of 'The Gest of Arthure' with the non-rhyming alliterative poem 'Morte Arthure' preserved in the Thornton MS. at Lincoln, and published, ed. Halliwell, 1847, and by the Early English Text Society, ed. E. Brock, 1865. The identification of 'The Awntyre of Gawaine' is still, however, a matter of dispute. Mr. F. J. Amours (Scottish Alliterative Poems) argues with some plausibility for the rhyming alliterative poem, 'The Awntyres of Arthure at the Terne Wathelyne,' preserved in the Thornton MS., in the Douce MS. in the Bodleian Library, and in the Ireland MS. at Hale, Lancashire, and published by Pinkerton from the Douce MS. in 'Scottish Poems,' 1792, under the title 'Sir Gawain and Sir Galaron of Galloway,' by David Laing in 'Select Remains,' 1822 (2nd ed. 1885) ; by the Bannatyne Club, ed. Sir F. Madden, 1839 ; by the Camden Society, ed. Robson, 1842 ; and by the Scottish Text Society in 'Scottish Alliterative Poems,' ed. F. J. Amours, 1896-7. This conclusion cannot, however, be regarded as more than probable; and there is even a possibility that it maybe the non-rhyming 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,' which is poetically of great merit. As to the identity of the poet himself, since his name was Huchown (French Huchon), it has generally been supposed that he was the 'gude Sir Hew of Eglyntoun' mentioned in Dunbar's 'Lament for the Makeris.' A Sir Hugh of Eglinton, who flourished between 1348 and 1375, was married to Egidia, half sister of Robert II, and was for some years auditor of accounts. The name of no other Sir Hew of Eglinton occurs in public documents in the fourteenth century, and notwithstanding some ingenious arguments to the contrary, there is absolutely no reason for refusing to accept this Sir Hew as the poet referred to by Dunbar, and 