: 'l 



HOWE, REV. JOHN. 



HOWE, EARL. 



602 



in tie south of Europe, more especially as a safeguard against the 

 plague. Danger or disgust never turned Mm from his path ; but on 

 this occasion he went without even a servant, not thinking it right, 

 for convenience sake, to expose another person to such a risk. Quitting 

 Ensland in 1785, he travelled through the south of France and Italy 

 to Malta, Zante, and Constantinople ; whence he returned to Smyrna, 

 while the plague was raging, for the purpose of sailing from an 

 infected port to Vtnice, where he might undergo the utmost rigour of 

 the quarantine system. He returned to England in 1787, resumed his 

 home tours, and in 1789 published the result of his late inquiries in 

 another important volume, entitled 'An Account of the principal 

 Lazarettos in Europe, &c., with additional Remarks on the Present 

 State of the Prisons in Great Britain and Ireland.' The same summer 

 he renewed his course of foreign travels, meaning to go into Turkey 

 and the east through Russia. He had however proceeded no farther 

 than the Crimea when a rapid illness, which he himself believed to be 

 an infectious fever, caught in prescribing for a lady, put an end to his 

 life on the 20th of January 1790. He was buried at Dauphiny, near 

 Chcrson, and the utmost respect was paid to his memory by the 

 Russian government. The intelligence of his death caused a profound 

 feeling of regret in his native country, and men of all classes and 

 parties vied in paying their tribute of reverence to his memory. A 

 marble statue by Bacon of ' the philanthropist ' was erected in St. 

 Paul's Cathedral by a public subscription. 



Mr. Howard's piety was deep and fervent, and his moral character 

 most pure and simple. His education had been neglected, so that his 

 literary acquirements were small ; neither were his talents brilliant. 

 But he was fearless, single-minded, untiring, and did great things by 

 devoting his whole energies to one good object. The influence of 

 disinterestedness and integrity is remarkably displayed in the ready 

 access granted to him even by the most absolute and most suspicious 

 governments, in the respect invariably paid to his person, and tho 

 weight attached to his opinion and authority. He was strictly 

 economical in his personal expenses, abstemious in his habits, and 

 capable cf going through great fatigue; both his fortune and his con- 

 stitution were freely spent in the cause to which his Ufa was devoted. 

 The only blemish which has ever been suggested as resting upon his 

 memory is in connection with his conduct to his son. Mr. Howard 

 was a strict, and lias not escaped the charge of being a severe parent. 

 The son, unhappily, in youth fell into dissolute habits, which being 

 carefully concealed from the father, and consequently unchecked, 

 brought on a disease which terminated in insanity. He survived bis 

 father nine yearn, dying on the 24th of April 1799; but he remained 

 till his dtath a hopeless lunatic. The question of Howard's alleged 

 harshness to his son has been thoroughly investigated and effectually 

 disproved. (See Dixon's ' Life of Howard.') That his devotion to 

 the great philanthropic object to which he gave up his life may not 

 have interfere'! with hU paternal duties it is of course impossible to 

 affirm; bat that John Howard was an affectionate and kind-hearted 

 father, as well as a single-minded benefactor to his specirs, there can 

 now be no reasonable doubt. 



{Lira of John //(/ward, by Aikin and Dixon.) 



HOWE, REV. JOHN, a distinguished nonconformist, was born on 

 the 17th of May 1630, at Loughborough, in Leicestershire, where his 

 father was the incumbent of the parish church, but having become a 

 nonconformist, he was ejected from his living, and retired to Ireland. 

 He did not remain long there, but returned to England, and settled 

 in tho town of Lancaster, where John Howe received his rudimentary 

 instruction from his father. He was afterwards educated at Christ's 

 College, Cambridge, where he took the degree of B.A. From Cam- 

 brige he removed to Brazenose College, Oxford, of which he became 

 the bible-clerk in 1648, and where he again took hia degree of B.A., 

 January 18, 1649. He was made a demy of Magdalen College by the 

 parliamentary visitors, and was afterwards chosen a fellow. On the 

 9th of July 1652 he took the degree of M.A. After having been 

 ordained by a nonconformist divine, assisted by others, he became a 

 minister at Great Torrington, in Devonshire. In 1654 ho married, 

 and toon afterwards Cromwell appointed him his domestic chaplain. 

 He gave some offence to the Protector by one of his sermons, in which 

 he censured certain opinions about divine impulses and special 

 impressions in answer to prayer, but retained his situation till 

 Cromwell's death, and afterwards till tho deposition of Richard 

 Cromwell. He then resumed and continued bis ministry at Great 

 Torrington till tlie Act of Uniformity, August 1662, obliged him to 

 restrict his preaching to private houses. He went to Ireland in 1671, 

 where he resided as chaplain to the family of Lord Massarene till in 

 1675 he accepted an invitation to become the minister of a congre- 

 gation in London. In August 1685 he went to the continent with 

 Lord Wharton, and in 1686 became one of the preachers to the 

 English church at Utrecht When James II. published the ' declara- 

 tion for liberty of conscience ' he returned to London, where he died 

 April 2nd, 1 705. John Howe not only ranks as one of the most eminent 

 of the Puritan divines, but was a man of great general learning, a good 

 classical and Hebrew scholar, acquainted with the modern languages, 

 and of superior manners and accomplishments. His 'Works' were 

 published in 1724, 2 volt folio, with a Life by Dr. Calamy the younger. 

 They have since been republished, ' The Whole Works of the Rev. 

 John Howe, M.A.,' 7 Tols. 8vo, London, 1810-16, with an eighth vol., 



containing a Memoir and additional works, and again ' Tho Works of 

 the Rev. John Howe, M.A., as published during his lifr, comprising 

 the whole of the Two Folio Volumes, ed. 1724, with a Life of the 

 Author, by the Rev. J. P. Hewlett,' 3 vols. 8vo, London, 1848. Tho 

 more important of his works are the following : ' The Living Temple, 

 or a designed Improvement of that Notion that a good Man is the 

 Temple of God,' in 2 parts. ' A Treatise on Delighting in God,' in 

 2 parts. ' The Blessedness of the Righteous opened, and further 

 recommended from the Consideration of the Vanity of this Mortal 

 Life,' in Two Treatises. ' The Principles of the Oracles of God,' in a 

 Series of Lectures. ' Life of John Howe, M.A., with an. Analysis of 

 his Writings, by Henry Rogers,' 12uio, London, 1836. 



HOWE, RICHARD, EARL, the second son of Emanuel Scropa 

 Howe, governor of Barbadoes, and Mary Sophia Charlotte, daughter 

 of Baron Kielmansegge, master of the horse to George I. when 

 elector of Hanover, was born in 1725. At the age of fourteen he left 

 Eton, and joined the Severn, one of the squadron which, under the 

 command of Commodore Anson, was sent to make war upon the 

 western coasts of Spanish America. On his return he received an 

 appointment in the BurforJ, one of the fleet destined to the West 

 Indies ; where his behaviour in an action was such as to hasten his 

 promotion, and he was made lieutenant of the Comet in 1745. His 

 name is first publicly mentioned in the account of the siege of Fort 

 William, when he was in command of the Baltimore. Shortly after 

 he joined the Greyhound frigate (Captain Noel), and, with her assist- 

 ance, engaged two French ships at Loch Nouy, but did not succeed 

 in capturing them : Commander Howe was wouudsd in the head. 

 On his arrival in England he was raised to the rank of Captain, and 

 at the request of Rear- Admiral Knowles, was sent to join his squadron 

 on the Jamaica station, where he arrived too late for the action off 

 the Havanna, 2nd of October 1748 ; the Cornwall, which had severely 

 suffered in the action, was sent home under his orders. In 1751 

 Captain Howe obtained a commission for the Glory, of 44 guns, 

 destined for Africa, and on his return from thence, wus successively 

 appointed to the Mary yacht and the Dolphin frigate, in which he 

 acquired much valuable knowledge of the navigation on the Barbary 

 shores. In 1755 the command of the Dunkirk, 60 gun*, was given 

 to him, and he sailed with Admiral Boscawen. The fleet took up a 

 position off Cape Race, Newfoundland, in order to intercept the 

 French fleet. The fogs enabled the main body of the enemy to 

 escape ; but two ships, the Llys and the Alcide, struck to Captain 

 Howe. Thus commenced the Seven Years' War. 



In 1756 Howe was employed in tha Channel service; during the 

 following ytar he commanded the Magnanime, under Sir Edward 

 Hawke, but the expedition proved unsuccessful, except in taking a 

 fort on the island of Aix. On the 1st of June 1758 he hoiatod his 

 flag in the Ks.-ex, as commodore of the fleet destined to blockade 

 Brest. Contrary winds forced them to put back, a month after their 

 departure from St. Helen's ; but sailing a second time, with the Duke 

 of York on board the Essex, he reached Cherbourg, and instantly 

 reduced it : after this he landed the troops in St. Lunaire bay to 

 attack St. Malo, an object which they abandoned in order to engage 

 with the French at Martignon, where many English were killed while 

 endeavouring to embark. On this occasion Howe distinguished him- 

 self by his coolness and intrepidity. In 1753 he married Mary, 

 daughter of Chiverton Hartop of Welby ; and Bonn after, losing his 

 brother Viscount Howe, he succeeded to his title and estate. In 

 1769 Lord Howe was re-appointed to the Magnanime, and on the 

 20th of June engaged with the squadron under M. de Conflans, in 

 which Howe took the Tbe'se'e and the Formidable. His reputation 

 was now to high that George II. complimented him by saying that 

 " his life had been one continued series of services to his country." 



After he had been again afloat in the Princess Amelia, he returned 

 home ; and peace being proclaimed, Howe occupied a seat at the 

 Board of Admiralty for two years, and then filled the important office 

 of Treasurer of the Navy, and was returned to parliament for Dart- 

 mouth. Except in questions that regarded naval administration, he 

 took little part in the business of the house. In October 1770, he 

 was promoted to be Rear-Admiral of the Blue, and commancier-iu- 

 chief in the Mediterranean. In 1776 he sailed on board the Eagle 

 for North America. He was successful in a brilliant action with 

 D'Estaing's squadron off Rhode Island, which he quitted September 

 1 778, and on the 30th of October landed at St. Helen's. On a change 

 of ministers, his friends, who came into power, appointed him Admiral 

 of the Blue, and to the command of the Victory; but failing in his 

 attempt to intercept the West Indian traders, he soon returned to 

 Spithead. He was then sent to relieve Gibraltar, which he accom- 

 plished, and arrived in England on the 14th of November. Lord 

 Keppel having resigned his office, Lord Howe succeeded him as First 

 Lord of the Admiralty. He quelled, in his own person, a mutiny on 

 board the Janus. In three months he was obliged to resign, on, 

 another change of ministry, which restored Lord KeppeL At this 

 time he was created Earl Howe, in acknowledgment of his service*, 

 with remainder of the barony of Langar to his eldest daughter. Ou 

 the 22nd of June 1790 he was appointed to the command of tho 

 Channel fleet, with the additional and peculiar distinction of beiu^ 

 ordered by his majesty to hoist the union at the main, on board the 

 Queen Charlotte of 100 guns; but after cruising about in a fruitless 



