Part 247 (2/2)

&c. (1809-1885).

HOUNSLOW (13), a town of Middles.e.x, 10 m. SW. of London; railways have done away with its importance as a posting town; in the vicinity are gunpowder mills, barracks, and the famous Hounslow Heath.

HOURI, a beautiful maiden who, according to the Mohammedan faith, awaits the advent of a pious Moslem in Paradise.

HOUSTON, SAMUEL, President of the Texan Republic, born in Virginia; was adopted by a Cherokee Indian, and rose from the rank of a common soldier to be governor of Tennessee in 1827; as commander-in-chief in Texas he crushed the Mexicans, won the independence of Texas, and became the first President of the new republic in 1836; subsequently represented Texas in the United States Senate; was elected governor and deposed in 1861 for opposing secession (1793-1863).

HOUYHN'HNMS, an imaginary race of horses in ”Gulliver's Travels”

endowed with reason.

HOVEDEN, ROGER OF, chronicler, born at Howden, Yorks.h.i.+re; held an appointment in Henry II.'s household; was engaged in various missions to the monastic houses, and in 1189 became an itinerant justice; his well-known Chronicle begins where Bede's ends, 732, and continues down to 1201.

HOWARD, CATHERINE, fifth wife of Henry VIII., granddaughter of the Duke of Norfolk; was married to Henry in 1540 after his divorce from Anne of Cleves; two years later she was found guilty of immoral conduct prior to her marriage, and was executed (1520-1542).

HOWARD, JOHN, a noted philanthropist, born at Hackney, Middles.e.x; was left in easy circ.u.mstances at his father's death; a bitter experience as a French prisoner of war and observations made whilst acting as sheriff of Bedfords.h.i.+re roused him to attempt some reform of the abuses and misery of prison life; he made a tour of the county jails of England, and the ma.s.s of information which he laid before the House of Commons in 1774 brought about the first prison reforms; he continued his visitations from year to year to every part of the United Kingdom and to every quarter of the Continent; during 1785-87 he made a tour of inspection through the princ.i.p.al lazarettos of Europe, visited plague-smitten cities, and voluntarily underwent the rigours of the quarantine system; he died at the Crimea whilst on a journey to the East; he published at various times accounts of his Journeys; his deep piety, cool sense, and single-hearted devotedness to his one great object won him universal respect throughout Europe (1727-1790).

HOWE, JOHN, a Puritan divine, born at Loughborough; was educated at Oxford and Cambridge, took orders, and became the outspoken and universally respected chaplain to Cromwell; after the Restoration he was ejected from the Church by the Act of Uniformity; subsequently he was in turn domestic chaplain to Lord Ma.s.sarene in Ireland, and pastor of a Dissenting congregation in London; for some years he settled in Utrecht, but in 1687 returned to England after the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, and became a leader of the Dissenters; he published a number of works which display a powerful, philosophic, and earnest mind; his ”The Good Man the Living Temple of G.o.d” remains a masterpiece of Puritan theology; he was a man of exceptional strength of character, and it was said that he could awe Cromwell into silence and Tillotson into tears (1630-1706).

HOWE, RICHARD, EARL, admiral, born in London, son of an Irish viscount; first saw service under Anson against the Spaniards; distinguished himself during the Seven Years' War; in 1783 became First Lord of the Admiralty, and was created an earl; during the French War in 1793 he commanded the Channel Fleet, and gained ”the glorious first of June” victory off Ushant (1726-1799).

HOWELL, JAMES, an English writer, whose ”Familiar Letters” have won a permanent place in English literature, born in Abernant, Carmarthens.h.i.+re; travelled for many years on the Continent in a business capacity; entered Parliament in 1627; was for some years a Royalist spy, and suffered imprisonment at the Fleet; at the Restoration he was created Historiographer-Royal; his works are numerous, but his fame rests upon his entertaining ”Instructions for Foreigne Travell” and his graceful and witty ”Familiar Letters” (1593-1666).

HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN, a popular American novelist, the son of a Swedenborgian journalist, born at Martin's Ferry, Ohio; adopted journalism as a profession, produced a popular Life of Lincoln, and from 1861 to 1865 was Consul at Venice; resuming journalism he became a contributor to the best American papers and magazines, and was for a number of years editor of the _Atlantic Monthly;_ an excellent journalist, poet, and critic, it is yet as a novelist--witty, graceful, and acute--that he is best known; ”A Chance Acquaintance,” ”A Foregone Conclusion,” ”A Modern Instance,” ”An Indian Summer” are among his more popular works; _b_. 1837.

HOWITT, WILLIAM, a miscellaneous writer, who, with his equally talented wife, MARY HOWITT (1799-1888) (_nee_ Botham), did much to popularise the rural life of England, born, a Quaker's son, at Heanor, Derbys.h.i.+re; served his time as a carpenter, but soon drifted into literature, married in 1821, and made many tours in England and other lands for literary purposes; was a voluminous writer, pouring out histories, accounts of travel, tales, and poems; amongst these are ”Rural Life in England,” ”Visits to Remarkable Places,” ”Homes and Haunts of the Poets,” &c. (1792-1879). His wife, besides collaborating with him in such works as ”Stories of English Life,” ”Ruined Abbeys of Great Britain,”

wrote poems, tales, &c., and was the first to translate the fairy-tales of Hans Andersen.

HOWRAH or HAURA (130), a flouris.h.i.+ng manufacturing town on the Hooghly, opposite Calcutta, with which it is connected by a floating bridge.

HOY, a steep, rocky islet in the Orkney group, about 1 m. SW. of Mainland or Pomona, remarkable for its huge cliffs.

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