Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 27.djvu/364

 4to.  ‘The Reward of Murder, or a Relation of the Penitent Behaviour of Rose Warne of Lynn, a condemned Malefactor,’ n.d.  ‘The Open Door, or a Vindication of the Extent of Christ's Death, in Answer to John Owen,’ n.d.  ‘A Brief Discovery of some Pieces of close Idolatry in some pretending to Religion, with Independents and Presbyterians,’ n.d.

 HORNE, RICHARD HENRY or HENGIST (1803–1884), author, born in London on 1 Jan. 1803, was educated at Sandhurst, with the view of entering the East India Company's service. Receiving no appointment, he became a midshipman in the Mexican navy, and served in the war against Spain. He was present at the siege of Vera Cruz and the taking of the fortress of San Juan Ulloa. Swimming in the bay of Vera Cruz, he had a narrow escape from a shark. At the restoration of peace he went (after recovering from an attack of yellow fever) to the United States, where he visited some of the Indian encampments. On one occasion he was shipwrecked in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and on another he broke two of his ribs near the Falls of Niagara. He returned to England from Nova Scotia in a timber vessel. On the voyage the crew mutinied, and later the ship took fire. In the ‘Monthly Repository,’ under the signature ‘M. I. D.,’ he wrote an account of his early experiences. He began his literary career in 1828 by contributing a poem, ‘Hecatompylos,’ to the ‘Athenæum.’ In 1833 he published ‘Exposition of the False Medium and Barriers excluding Men of Genius from the public,’ advocating the establishment of a Society of English Literature and Art, ‘for the encouragement and permanent support of men of superior ability in all departments of human genius and knowledge.’ This was followed in 1834 by ‘Spirit of Peers and People: a National Tragicomedy.’ Between July 1836 and June 1837 he edited the ‘Monthly Repository.’ In 1837 appeared two impressive tragedies, ‘Cosmo de Medici’ and ‘The Death of Marlowe;’ the former was reprinted in 1875, with the addition of some miscellaneous poems, and the latter (in one act) passed through several editions. A curious tract, ‘The Russian Catechism, with Explanatory Notes,’ was published in or about 1837. In 1839 Horne began a correspondence with Elizabeth Barrett (afterwards Mrs. Browning), which continued until 1846. ‘Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, addressed to Richard Hengist Horne,’ was published in 1877, 2 vols. He contributed in 1840 an Introduction to Black's translation of ‘Schlegel's Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature,’ and in the same year published ‘Gregory VII, a Tragedy,’ with a prefatory ‘Essay on Tragic Influence.’ In 1841 he contributed an introduction and three of the modernised poems to ‘Poems of Geoffrey Chaucer Modernised,’ and published ‘The History of Napoleon,’ 2 vols. About this time he was engaged as commissioner to report on the employment of children and young persons in mines and manufactures. Mrs. Browning's ‘Cry of the Children’ was inspired by Horne's report. In 1843 appeared ‘Orion, an Epic Poem, in ten Books,’ the work by which he is chiefly known. It passed through six editions in 1843, and five followed later. Attention was attracted to it from the fact that the first three editions were issued at a farthing. There are eloquent passages in ‘Orion,’ but the praise accorded to it by Edgar Allan Poe and others was far in excess of its merits. ‘A New Spirit of the Age,’ 1844, republished in the same year (2 vols.), is a very interesting collection of critical essays on distinguished contemporaries. Mrs. Browning and Robert Bell assisted Horne in this work, which was illustrated with well-executed portraits. Two stories for children, ‘The Good-natured Bear’ and ‘Memoirs of a London Doll, written by herself, edited by Mrs. Fairstar’ (afterwards republished together), appeared in 1846, to which year belongs ‘Ballad Romances.’ At this time Horne was writing much on many subjects. Among his fugitive pieces may be mentioned ‘The Life of Van Amburgh, the Brute Tamer, by Ephraim Watts, Citizen of New York,’ and ‘Gottlieb Einhalter, or the Philanthropic Assassin’ (which appeared in ‘Howitt's Journal,’ and was republished under the title of ‘Murder Heroes’). In 1847 he married Miss Foggo, but he was not fitted to lead a domestic life. ‘Judas Iscariot,’ a tragedy in two acts, was published in 1848, and republished in a collection of ‘Bible Tragedies,’ 1881. ‘The Poor Artist,’ 1850 (2nd ed. 1871), is attractive; but ‘The Dreamer and the Worker,’ 2 vols., 1851, a story with a moral, is of slender interest. In 1852 Horne went with William Howitt to Australia, where he served as commander of the gold escort in Victoria, 1852, commissioner of crown lands for the gold fields, 1853–4, territorial magistrate, 1855, &c. ‘Australian Facts and Prospects, to which is prefixed the Author's Australian Autobiography,’ London, 1859, written in Melbourne, is full of shrewd observation and entertaining 