Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 28.djvu/52

Howard act was passed empowering the erection of two penitentiary houses under the superintendence of three supervisors (19 Geo. III, c. 74, sec. 5). Howard, Fothergill, and Whatley, the treasurer of the Foundling Hospital, were appointed to carry out the experiment. They were, however, unable to agree about the site, and Fothergill dying in December 1780, Howard shortly afterwards sent in his resignation to Lord Bathurst (, Memoirs, pp. 309-10). At the beginning of 1780 Howard published an 'Appendix to the State of Prisons in England and Wales … containing a farther Account of Foreign Prisons and Hospitals, with additional Remarks on the Prisons of this Country,' Warrington, 4to. In the same year he brought out a cheaper edition of his 'State of the Prisons,' Warrington, 8vo, with which the new matter in the 'Appendix' was incorporated, and also published ' Historical Remarks and Anecdotes on the Castle of the Bastille. Translated from the French, published in 1774,' London, 8vo, a second edition of which appeared in 1784, London, 8vo. In the 'advertisement' to the translation Howard states that the sale of the original pamphlet had been strictly prohibited in France, and that he had, 'not without some hazard, brought it to England,' but that his object would be fully satisfied if the translation should 'in any degree tend to increase the attachment and reverence of Englishmen to the genuine principles of their excellent constitution.' During his continental tour, which began in May and ended in December 1781, Howard visited Denmark, Sweden, and Russia. In January 1782 he commenced his third general inspection of English prisons, and visited both Scotland and Ireland. In May of this year he gave evidence before a committee of the Irish House of Commons appointed to inquire into the state of the Irish gaols, and in the same year was created by diploma an honorary LL.D. of the university of Dublin (Register, 31 May 1782). In 1783 he inspected the penal and charitable institutions of Spain and Portugal, and made a fifth journey to Ireland. In 1784 he produced a second edition of his 'Appendix to the State of Prisons,' &c., Warrington, 4to, embodying the results of his further investigations both at home and abroad, the whole of which were also added to the third edition of his complete work, which was issued this year, Warrington, 4to. He republished at the same time a large sheet containing the criminal statistics of the Old Bailey sessions from 1749 to 1771, compiled by Sir S. T. Janssen, and originally published in 1772. In 1785 Howard determined to investigate the condition of the lazarettos, and the best means for the prevention of the plague. He set out on his expedition in November, and though permission to visit the lazaretto at Marseilles was refused him by the French government, he managed to inspect it in spite of the spies and the police. In order to obtain access to the Toulon arsenal he adopted the disguise of a fashionable Parisian. He afterwards visited Nice, Genoa, Leghorn, Pisa, Florence, Rome, and Naples. From Naples he proceeded to Malta, Zante, Smyrna, and Constantinople. Resolving to subject himself to the discipline of quarantine for the sake of verifying the information which he had obtained, Howard returned to Smyrna, where he purposely chose a vessel bound for Venice with a foul bill of health. After leaving Modon they had a smart skirmish with a Tunisian privateer, during which 'one of our cannon charged with spike-nails having accidentally done great execution, the privateer immediately, to our great joy, hoisted its sails and made off' (An Account of the principal Lazarettos, &c., p.22 n.) On reaching Venice Howard had to submit to quarantine, and was confined in two lazarettos for forty-two days. While there he heard with much distress of the subscription list which had been opened for the erection of a statue in commemoration of his services (Gent. Mag. 1786, pt. i. pp. 359-61, 447, pt. ii. passim), and of the mental derangement of his only child. Howard returned to England by way of Trieste and Vienna, having had at the latter place 'the honour of near two hours' conversation in private with the emperor.' In consequence of Howard's strong expressions of disapproval the committee of the 'Howardian Fund' (which had already amounted to over 1,500l.) were compelled to abandon their scheme during his lifetime. In March 1787 he commenced his fourth and final inspection of the English gaols, and in 1789 published 'An Account of the principal Lazarettos in Europe; with various Papers relative to the Plague: together with further Observations on some Foreign Prisons and Hospitals: and additional Remarks on the present State of those in Great Britain and Ireland,' Warrington, 1789, 4to; 2nd ed. 1791, 4to. In the same year he privately printed the 'Edict of the Grand Duke of Tuscany for the Reform of Criminal Law in his Dominions; translated from the Italian; together with the original,' Warrington, 1789, 8vo.

In July 1789 Howard set out on his last journey, and visited Holland, Germany, 