HOWE. 105 



I have asked you several questions." Howe answered: "I don't like questions." 

 Says a contemporary: "Howe was undaunted as a rock, and as silent, the charac- 

 teristics of his whole race." "Howe never made a friendship except at the mouth 

 of a cannon." Howe was thorough. His most important success was with a large 

 fleet whose maneuvers he planned with great detail and completeness. He was 

 a great tactician, but not so much of a fighter as Nelson. He was a rigid disciplin- 

 arian. Howe was patient, was without great personal ambitions, and never sought 

 pension or remuneration. 



Howe was fearless. To a lieutenant who came to him in perturbation saying 

 "the ship is on fire close to the magazine; but don't be frightened, we shall get it 

 under control shortly," Howe replied, "Frightened, sir! What do you mean? 

 I never was frightened in my life." He was composed under suspense. Once in 

 a stormy night, when there was danger of the ships running afoul of each other, 

 a captain who had spent a sleepless night asked him how he had slept. Lord Howe 

 replied that "he had slept perfectly well, for as he had taken every possible pre- 

 caution he could before dark, he laid himself down with a conscious feeling that 

 everything had been done which it was*in his power to do for the safety of the 

 ships . . . and this conviction set his mind at ease." The stimulus of impending 

 battle, even at the age of 70, revived the fires of youth ; he displayed an animation 

 of which he would hardly have been thought capable at his age. 



He felt deeply, as hypokinetics are wont to do; so he resented the treat- 

 ment he had received while in America from the British ministry. His brother 

 William, commander in chief of the British forces in America in the early part of 

 the Revolution, resigned his command at about the same time with the same feeling. 



His elder brother, George Augustus, ranked third in the naval list and was 

 killed in the Ticonderoga expedition of 1758. Howe was a fighter, if necessary. 

 He came of fighting stock, but he was at his best as tactician and administrator. 

 His father was governor of the Barbados; his father and his father's father were 

 members of Parliament. 



FAMILY HISTORY OF RICHARD, EARL HOWE. 



II (F F F F), Sir Richard Grubham Howe. 13 (F F M F), Emanuel Scrope, Earl of 

 Sunderland. 



II 1, Prince Rupert. II 3 (F F F), Sir John Howe. II 4 (F F M), Anabella Scrope, a 

 natural daughter, who was afterwards legalized by an act of Parliament. II 5, John, Earl of 

 Rutland. II 7 (F M F), Lord William Allington. 



III 1, Ruperta, a natural daughter. Fraternity of F F: III 2, Emanuel Howe. Ill 3, 

 John Howe, member of Parliament. Ill 4, Charles Howe. Ill 6, Lady Anabella. Ill 7 (F F), 

 Scrope Howe (born 1648), was a member of Parliament and was created Baron Clenarolly and 

 Viscount Howe. Ill 8 (F M), Juliana. Ill 9 (M F), Baron Kielmansegge. Ill 10 (M M), 

 Countess of Darlington, mistress of George I. 



IV 3 (F), Emanuel Scrope, second Viscount Howe, was a member of Parliament and in 

 1732 was appointed governor of the Barbados, where he died. IV 4 (M), Mary Sophia Char- 

 lotte. IV 5 (consort's F), Colonel Chiverton Hartop, of Walby. 



Fraternity of Propositus: V 1, George Augustus, third Viscount Howe, was third on the 

 naval list in the attack on the French in America. V 2, William, fifth Viscount Howe (died 1814), 

 held the rank of lieutenant colonel general and was hi command in America, but relinquished his 



command to General Clinton. V 3, Howe, was "a clever, eccentric woman: well known 



in London society." V 4 (Propositus), RICHARD, EARL HOWE. V 5 (consort), Mary Hartop. 



VI 1, Robert, sixth Earl of Cardigan. VI 2, Penelope Cooke. VI 3, Sir John Gore, admiral 

 of the Royal Navy. VI 5, Hon. Penn Assheton Curzon. Children of Propositus: VI 6, Sophia 



