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 history, and his published lecture on ‘The Battle Line of History’ is one of his numerous attempts to popularise the study of history. During the latter part of his life he devoted himself chiefly to inquiries into the land laws and land system in England. He advocated a large reform in the real property laws of the country, a restriction of entail, and a reduction in the cost of land transfer. Hoskyns represented the city of Hereford in parliament from 1869 to 1874, but made no mark in the House of Commons, and died after a long and painful illness on 28 Nov. 1876. Hoskyns's writings recall the wit and humour of his ancestor, Serjeant [q. v.] The best testimony to the soundness of his views on agricultural matters is to be found in their gradual adoption by farmers and landlords. After the death of his first wife, 25 March 1842, Hoskyns married, on 9 July 1846, Anna Fane, daughter of Charles Milner Ricketts. Hoskyns published:
 * 1) ‘Annual Address delivered before the Warwickshire Natural History and Archæological Society,’ Warwick, 1848, 8vo.
 * 2) ‘A short Enquiry into the History of Agriculture in Ancient and in Modern Times,’ London, 1849, 8vo.
 * 3) ‘Talpa, or the Chronicles of a Clay Farm,’ London, 1852, 8vo; 4th edit., 1857.
 * 4) ‘Agricultural Statistics,’ London, 1856, 8vo.
 * 5) ‘The Battle Line of History, Lecture at Leominster,’ London, 1864, 8vo.
 * 6) ‘Occasional Essays,’ London, 1866, 8vo.
 * 7) ‘Land in England, Land in Ireland, and Land in other Lands,’ London, 1869, 8vo.
 * 8) ‘The Land Laws of England; Systems of Land Tenure in various Countries, published for the Cobden Club,’ 1870, republished 1870, 1881, 8vo.
 * 9) ‘A Catechism on the English Land System,’ London, 1873, 8vo.



HOSTE, WILLIAM (1780–1828), captain in the navy, descended from an inhabitant of Bruges, who sought a refuge in England in the sixteenth century, was the second son of Dixon Hoste, rector of Godwick and Tittleshall in Norfolk. He was born at Ingoldisthorpe, then the property of his father, on 26 Aug. 1780, and entered the navy in April 1793 on board the Agamemnon, and under the express care of Captain Nelson [see ], with whom he continued, almost without interruption, for the next five years, following him from the Agamemnon to the Captain, to the Irresistible, and to the Theseus, and being present in the two actions off Toulon, 14 March and 13 July 1795, in the battle off Cape St. Vincent, and, though not landed, at Santa Cruz. Continuing in the Theseus with Captain [q.v.], he was made lieutenant on 8 Feb. 1798; and after the battle of the Nile was promoted to the command of the Mutine brig in succession to Capel [see ], who left her at Naples, where Hoste was received with the utmost enthusiasm, the queen presenting him with a diamond ring, and sending two hundred guineas and six pipes of wine to the crew of the brig. From Naples he went on to Gibraltar and joined the fleet off Cadiz, where his promotion was confirmed 3 Dec. 1798. He continued to command the Mutine for the next three years, attached to the squadron under Nelson, till Nelson returned to England, and afterwards to the main fleet under Lord Keith, to whom he was comparatively unknown. With the impatience of twenty-one, he conceived that he was neglected, and that Keith must be his enemy. Nelson would seem to have shared his feelings, and wrote to Hoste's father (21 Nov. 1801) that his ‘son William has not had justice done him.’ On 7 Jan. 1802 Hoste was posted by Lord St. Vincent, first lord of the admiralty, but the promotion did not reach him till May; and meanwhile, being sent to Alexandria, he contracted a fever, followed by inflammation of the lungs, which left lasting ill effects behind it. From Alexandria he had gone to Athens, where he was nursed by Lady Elgin; and the news of his promotion, according to his own account, completely restored his health. At Malta he received his commission to the Greyhound frigate, which he expected to take home almost immediately; but the year slipped away while she was employed on the coast of Italy and at Gibraltar, and she did not return to England till April 1803.

In November 1804 Hoste was appointed to the Eurydice, in which he went out to Gibraltar, cruised on the coast of Africa as far as Goree, and, returning to Portsmouth, took out convoy to Malta. In September 1805 he joined the fleet off Cadiz, where Nelson, who treated him ‘as a son,’ moved him (13 Oct.) into the Amphion of 36 guns, ‘one of the finest and most desirable ships on the station.’ In the belief that there was no immediate prospect of action, Hoste was sent to Algiers with presents for the dey. He left the fleet on 15 Oct. and returned to Gibraltar on 9 Nov., when he heard of Trafalgar and of the death of his patron. ‘Not to have been in the battle,’ he wrote to his father, ‘is enough to make one mad; but to have lost such a friend besides is really sufficient to