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HOW weakened (February, 1787), after an absence of sixteen months. He availed himself of the leisure which he now enjoyed to undertake a new and final inspection of the prisons of the three kingdoms, in which he found that marked improvements had already been made in the food and clothing of the prisoners, and in their management, discipline, and christian instruction. He also published at this period his great work on the "Principal Lazarettos of Europe." In the postscript to this volume he announced his intention of revisiting Russia, Turkey, and the eastern countries, in order to obtain more accurate and extensive views of the plague, though "not insensible," he says, "of the dangers that must attend such a journey. Trusting, however, in the protection of that kind Providence which has hitherto preserved me, I calmly and cheerfully commit myself to the disposal of unerring wisdom." He quitted England on his last philanthropic journey, 4th July, 1789; and after passing through Holland, part of Germany, and Prussia, he proceeded to St. Petersburg and Moscow, thence he went down to the coasts of the Black Sea, where a fierce struggle was at that time carried on between the Russians and the Turks. About the end of the year he reached Kherson, at the mouth of the Dnieper, which was destined to be the closing scene of his heroic labours. He there caught a malignant fever from a young lady whom he attended as a physician, which carried him off on the 20th of January, 1790. He was buried in a spot which he had selected near the village of Dauphigny, at a little distance from Kherson. A monument was soon afterwards erected to his memory in St. Paul's cathedral.

Howard was rather under the middle size, thin and spare in his make, with a sallow complexion, large features, a keen and penetrating eye, and a soft, gentle, and sweet demeanour. He was not possessed of genius or of commanding abilities; but he was remarkable for his modesty and humility, and especially for the calm and resolute perseverance with which he prosecuted the great work of his life. "Instead of doing what so many could do if they would," says Bentham, "what Howard did for the service of mankind was what scarce any man could have done, and no man would do but himself. In the scale of moral desert the labours of the legislator and the writer are as far below his, as earth is below heaven. His kingdom was of a better world: he died a martyr, after living an apostle."—J. T.  HOWARD,, a poet, dramatist, and politician of the restoration and revolution periods, but whom his connection with Dryden has mainly rescued from oblivion, was a son of Thomas, earl of Berkshire, and born in January, 1626. With his family he was faithful to the royal cause during the great Rebellion and Commonwealth times, suffering a long imprisonment in Windsor castle under Cromwell. After the Restoration he was knighted, and published a volume of poems, to which was prefixed a glowing panegyric in verse by Dryden, then commencing his literary struggle. Sir Robert befriended the poet, introduced him to his family, and Dryden married his sister. The prefatory letter of the Annus Mirabilis is addressed to him, and he and Dryden composed in company the "Indian Queen." He is the Crites of the Essay on Dramatic Poetry, and this introduction of him produced a controversy between the brothers-in-law on the relative advantages of rhyme and blank verse in the drama, but after an estrangement they became friends again. Sir Robert's high-flown style and his personal pretensions made him a butt. He is said to have been the original of Bilboa in the Rehearsal, and he was certainly ridiculed by Shadwell as Sir Positive At-Ale in the Sullen Lovers. He was a member of parliament, and auditor of the exchequer in Charles II.'s reign. At the Revolution he was a zealous whig, and in William III.'s first parliament distinguished himself by successfully opposing the decision of the peers to affirm the sentence passed upon Titus Gates. Of Sir Robert Howard's many plays, "The Committee" alone survived him. Of his poems, and' in spite of Dryden's panegyric, the chief characteristic is that assigned to them by Sir Walter Scott, "a freezing mediocrity." He was also the author of a "History of Edward and Richard II.," of a "History of Religion," and of some translations from Virgil and Statius. He died in September, 1678.—F. E.  HOWARD,, a musical composer, who began to flourish about 1740, and died in 1783, was a pupil of Dr. Pepusch at the Charter-house. His ballads, till eclipsed in popular favour by Arne's Vauxhall music, were among the stock pieces of all the theatres and public gardens. An imitation of Handel's overture in Alcina, the overture to the Amorous Goddess, was the work by which Howard chiefly established his reputation. In the science of music he was reputed learned, having especially devoted his attention to the rules of counterpoint.  HOWDEN,, Baron, the only son of the most reverend John Cradock, archbishop of Dublin, was born in 1762, and entered the army as a cornet in the 4th regiment of horse in 1777. By 1789 he had obtained the lieutenant-colonelcy of the 13th foot, which regiment he subsequently commanded in the West Indies. After acting as quartermaster-general in Ireland, he again went to the West Indies, and co-operated in the reduction of Martinique, St. Lucia, and Guadaloupe, and in the siege of Fort Bourbon. On his return to England he received the thanks of parliament for his share in these operations. In 1798 he became a major-general, and in 1803 he was appointed to the 71st regiment, from which he was promoted to the command of the 23rd light infantry in 1809. He was under the orders of Lord Lake at the battle of Vinegar Hill, and was wounded whilst serving with Cornwallis against the small French force, under the command of Humbert, that effected a landing at Killala. Sharing in the Egyptian campaign under Sir Ralph Abercrombie and Lord Hutchinson, he again received the thanks of parliament. In 1803 he was made a knight of the bath, and was next appointed commander-in-chief of the East India Company's forces in Madras. On Lord Lake's departure Howden remained for nearly a year in command of the whole Indian army. In 1808 he commanded the British army in Portugal before the arrival of Sir Arthur Wellesley, by whom he was superseded at Leyria, whilst marching against Marshal Soult at Oporto. After being for a short time governor of Gibraltar, he returned to England, and was subsequently appointed governor of the Cape of Good Hope. In 1819 he was created a peer of Ireland by the title of Baron Howden; and at the coronation of William IV. he was advanced to the peerage of the United Kingdom by patent dated September 10, 1831. He died in 1839.—W. J. P.  * HOWDEN,, second baron, an experienced diplomatist, was born in Dublin in 1799. Entering the army in 1815, he was aid-de-camp to the late duke of Wellington in 1817 and 1818. Sent to the East on a special mission by the British government, he was present and was wounded at the battle of Navarino. British commissioner at the siege of Antwerp, he was again wounded, though slightly. Despatched once more as British commissioner to accompany the Spanish armies in Navarre and the Basque provinces, in 1834 he received the cross of the military order of St. Ferdinand for his personal conduct at the affair of Artaza. In 1847 he was sent as envoy-extraordinary and minister-plenipotentiary to Brazil, and was charged at the same time with a special mission to the governments of Monte Video and Buenos Ayres. Lord Howden was British minister at Madrid between the May of 1850 and the March of 1858, and received the order of the bath for his services in that capacity. He is a major-general in the army, and was equerry to the late duchess of Kent. His lordship married in 1830 the daughter of Paul Count Skavronsky of Russia, grand-niece of Prince Potemkin. For these particulars we are indebted to Dod's Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage.—F. E.  HOWE,, was born in Gloucestershire in 1661, and frequented the court a great deal towards the close of the reign of Charles II. In 1686 a near relation of his being selected by King James as an ambassador to a foreign court, Charles Howe accompanied him on his mission. On the death of the ambassador. Howe discharged for some time the duties of the embassy, but declined to become his permanent successor, and returned to England. He married a lady of rank and fortune, who died in a few years, and the rest of Howe's life was spent in a pious retirement. He employed his leisure hours in the composition of a work which speedily became popular. It was entitled "Devout Meditations: or a collection of thoughts upon religious and philosophical subjects." It was at first published anonymously, but the author's name was given in the second edition. The work has been very warmly commended by Dr. Young, whose praise of it, however, is said to be exaggerated. Charles Howe died in 1745.—W. J. P.  HOWE,, an eminent nonconformist minister and theological writer of the time of the Commonwealth, born May 17, 1630, at Loughborough, Leicestershire; died April 2, 1705. John Howe was the son of a clergyman, vicar of Boston, 