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Milnes by his sympathy with continental liberalism, and in particular with the struggle of Italy against Austria. The pamphlet excited some controversy and much hostile criticism, which came to a head in a leading article in the ‘Morning Chronicle,’ written by George Smythe, afterwards Lord Strangford, whom, in December 1845, Peel had preferred to Milnes for the under-secretaryship for foreign affairs. Milnes, who was coarsely handled in the article, at once challenged the writer; but Smythe made an apology, and it was accepted.

Milnes had meanwhile continued his efforts as a writer. In December 1836 he had assisted Lord Northampton to prepare ‘The Tribute,’ a Christmas annual, for which he obtained contributions from his friends, in particular from Tennyson. After some hesitation, the latter sent Milnes the stanzas which afterwards formed the germ of ‘Maud.’ He published two volumes of verse in 1838, and a third in 1840. His poems excited some public interest, and a few of them became popular, especially when set to music. In the ‘Westminster Review’ he wrote a notice of the works of Emerson, who sent him a friendly acknowledgment. In the controversy over the anglo-catholic revival he supported the movement in his ‘One Tract More, by a layman’ (1841), a pamphlet which was favourably noticed by Newman (Apologia, ch. ii. note ad fin.) In the winter of 1842-3 he visited Egypt and the Levant, where he was commonly supposed to have had numerous adventures, and in 1844 he published his poetical impressions of the tour in a volume entitled ‘Palm Leaves.’ Milnes, who was always ready to assist any one connected with literature, at this time exerted himself to obtain a civil list pension for Tennyson, and he helped Hood in his last days, and on his death befriended his family. In 1848 he collected and arranged various papers relating to Keats, and published them as the ‘Life and Letters’ of the poet. Much of the material was presented to him by Keats's friend, Charles Armitage Brown [q. v.] The memoir, greatly abbreviated, was afterwards prefixed to an edition of Keats's poems, which Milnes issued in 1854. He also contributed several articles to the ‘Edinburgh Review,’ and took an interest in the management of the Royal Literary Fund.

On 30 July 1851 Milnes married the Hon. Annabel Crewe, younger daughter of the second Baron Crewe. They went to Vienna for the honeymoon, and proposed to visit Hungary; but the Austrian government refused the author of the pamphlet on the events of 1848 entrance into that kingdom. On his return Milnes resumed his literary work, and partly from disappointed expectations, partly from disagreement with either party, relinquished his practical interest in politics; he refused a lordship of the treasury offered him by Lord Palmerston, whom he now followed. He revised Gladstone's translation of Farini's ‘History of the Roman State;’ and in 1853 he and M. Van de Weyer, Belgian minister in London, established the Philobiblon Society, a small circle of eminent men at home and abroad, interested in rare books and manuscripts. Milnes edited its ‘Transactions.’ During the Crimean war he addressed meetings on behalf of Miss Nightingale's fund, and in September 1855 published in the ‘Times’ a poem on the English graves at Scutari. In 1857 he attended and spoke at the recently established Social Science Congress, over which he presided later on (1873) when it met at Norwich; and he warmly advocated the formation of mechanics' institutes and penny banks.

In July 1863 Milnes was at Palmerston's instance created Baron Houghton of Great Houghton, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Differences of opinion respecting the pronunciation of his new name were commemorated in J. R. Planché's poem in ‘Punch’ (, Lyra Elegantiarum, 1891, p. 376). In the House of Lords Houghton spoke against the condemnation by convocation of ‘Essays and Reviews,’ and in aid of the movement for legalising marriage with a deceased wife's sister. He was one of the few peers who eagerly supported the reform of the franchise, which he advocated at a meeting at Leeds, and, with John Bright, at a banquet at Manchester. To a volume of ‘Essays on Reform’ (1867) he contributed an article on ‘The Admission of the Working Classes as a part of the Social System.’ In 1866 he delivered the inaugural address at the opening of new rooms for the Cambridge Union Society. He was president of the group of liberal arts at the French Exhibition of 1867, when he spent some months in Paris, and met most of the leading statesmen of Europe. In 1869 he represented the Royal Geographical Society at the opening of the Suez Canal, and presented a report on his return. In 1873 he published, under the title ‘Monographs,’ interesting recollections of some friends, the Miss Berrys, Landor, Sydney Smith, Wiseman, and others; and in 1875 an edition of Peacock's novels, with a preface.

In his later years Houghton's social qualities were given the fullest play. Both at Fryston and in London, at 16 Upper Brook Street, he was constantly entertaining his distinguished friends; and he continued to