Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/18

 10 HOUDIN of the Hermitage which her sister-in-law Mine. d'Epinay had fitted up for Rousseau, she renew- ed her acquaintance with the latter, whom she had previously met in her relative's house in Paris. He fell in love with her, ami idealized her in his Julie, ou la nouvelle Helo'ise, describ- ing the vicissitudes of his passion and of his relation with her in his Confessions; but the countess protested against his exaggerations, and according to Rousseau's account as well as her own she remained faithful to her lover Saint-Lambert, although she felt much flat- tered by Rousseau's admiration. She had fine hair, but was far from handsome. When Saint- Lambert became idiotic in his old age she nursed him. Her husband, who died some 10 years before her lover, never lost his regard for her. Her son became a lieutenant general, and his three sons acquired eminence respec- tively in civil and military life and in literature. HDl'DI.V, Robert, a French conjurer, born in Blois, Deo. 6, 1805, died there in June, 1871. His father, a watchmaker, gave him a good education at the college of Orleans, and at 18 years of age placed him in a lawyer's office ; but having an extraordinary taste for mechan- ics, his father consented that ho should learn watchmaking. While engaged in this occupa- tion, the perusal of works on natural magic and a friendship formed with a travelling con- jurer inspired him with an inclination for jug- gling. Having married, he went to Paris and engaged in his trade. He employed himself for a year in reconstructing a complicated ma- chine, and so overstrained his mind as to lose all mental power for five years. After recov- ering he devoted himself for some time to ma- king mechanical toys and automata, and at the Paris exhibition of 1844 obtained a medal for several curious figures of this kind. In 1845 he opened a series of exhibitions in juggling which became famous throughout Europe, and in 1848 he performed with great success in England. In 1855, at the great Paris exhi- bition, ho gained the gold medal for his sci- entific application of electricity to clocks, and shortly after relinquished his exhibition to his brother-in-law Hamilton, retiring with a for- tune to Blois. In 1856 the French government, finding that the Arabs in Algeria were fre- quently stirred up to rebellion by the pre- tended miracles of their marabouts or priests, invited Houdin to visit that colony, and if pos- sible excel the magicians in their own tricks. He completely succeeded, passing through sev- eral very singular adventures while so doing. In 1857 ho published Robert Houdin, sa -Die, sea osuvres, son thedtre, and in 1859 bis Confidences, which has been translated into English (Phila- delphia, 1859). In 1861 he published Les tri- ckeries des (frees devoiles, exposing the cheats of gamblers. HIM !>!, Jean Antoiae, a French sculptor, born in Versailles, March 20, 1741, died in Paris, July 15, 1828. Having gained the first prize for sculpture in the royal academy at Pa- HOUGHTON ris, he passed ten years in Rome, and finished, among other works, the statue of St. Bruno in the church of Sta. Maria degli Angeli. Re- turning to Paris, he executed during the next 15 years admirable busts of Rousseau, Diderot, D'Alembert, Gluck,Turgot, Franklin, Mirabeau, and many other distinguished men ; statues of Voltaire and Tourvillo; the "Diana" for the empress of Russia; tho "Shivering Woman," and other works, which placed him in the first rank of French sculptors, and procured his ad- mission to the academy. He made at this time tho statue of a muscular skeleton of tho human body, which he afterward reproduced in smaller size, and which has been often copied and used for the artistic study of anatomy. In 1785 he accompanied Franklin to the United States, to prepare the model for the statue of Washing- ton ordered by the state of Virginia, and passed two weeks at Mount Vernon for that purpose. The statue, bearing the sculptor's legend, fait par Houdon, citayen francais, 1788, in the hall of the capitol at Richmond, according to the testimony of Lafayette and other personal friends of Washington, is the best representation of him ever made. Among his later works were busts of Napoleon and Josephine and other celebrities of the first empire, and the statue of Cicero in the Lux- embourg palace. HOUGHT01V, a N. W. county of the upper peninsula of Michigan, bounded N. W. by Lake Superior, indented on the N. E. by Keweenaw bay, and drained by Sturgeon river and other streams; area, about 2,000 srj. m. ; pop. in 1870, 13,879. The surface is uneven and rocky, tho N. W. portion consisting of the upper half of Keweenaw point, a peninsula lying between Lake Superior and Keweenaw bay, through which runs the Mineral range, and which con- tains Torch lake and Portage lake, discharging into the bay. Silver and iron ore are found, but the great wealth of the county is in its copper mines, which are situated in the Mineral range near Portage lake, the most productive being the Calumet and Hecla mine on the N. border. According to the census of 1870, there were 11 copper mines, employing 2,961 hands, and producing $3,231,888 worth of ore. The product of 1872 was 12,602 tons (four fifths of the product of the Lake Superior region), of which the Calumet and Hecla mine yielded 9,800 tons. The ore is in a nearly pure state. Tho chief productions in 1870 were 8,595 bushels of oats, 22,040 of potatoes, and 703 tons of hay. There were 3 manufactories of clothing, 2 of iron" castings, 1 of machinery. 1 of sonp and candles, 12 of copper (milled and smelted), 4 of tin, copper, and shoet-iron ware, 4 breweries, 2 planing mills, and 5 saw mills. Capital, Houghton. HOUGHTON, Richard Monckttra Milnes, lord, an English author, born in Yorkshire, June 19, 1809. He graduated at Trinity college, Cam- bridge, in 1831, entered parliament as member for Pontefract in 1837, and represented that