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HOWARD HOWE. 



and witnessed previously to his release first roused 

 his attention to the subject of his future researches. 

 U'lit'ii he reached England, he was induced to lay 

 before the commissioners of the sick and hurt office 

 the information he had gained, and his communica- 

 tion was well received. At Cardington, where he 

 then resided, he indulged the benevolence of his 

 disposition in building cottages for the peasantry, 

 establishing schools tor gratuitous instruction, and 

 other plans for the encouragement of industry among 

 the lower orders. Horticulture at this time was his 

 principal amusement; and he also made some experi- 

 mental researches in natural philosophy, and com- 

 municated them to the Royal Society, of which he 

 was a member. In 1773, he served in the office of 

 sheriff for the county of Bedford. In applying to 

 the necessary duties of this station, the subject of 

 prison discipline came under his notice ; and, finding 

 that many abuses existed in the management of 

 jails, lie resolved to devote his time to the investi- 

 gation of the means of correcting them. With this 

 view he visited most of the English county jails 

 and houses of correction, and in March, 1774, he laid 

 the result of his inquiries before the house of com- 

 mons, for which he received a vote of thanks. In 

 1775 and 1776, he visited many of the continental 

 prisons, as well as those of Scotland and Ireland; 

 and the substance of his investigations appeared in a 

 work he published in 1777, entitled the State of the 

 Prisons in England and Wales, with Preliminary ob- 

 servations, and an Account of some Foreign Prisons 

 (4to). In 1778, he repeated his visit to the continent, 

 and extended his tour into Italy. After his return from 

 this journey, he made a fresh survey of the prisons 

 throughout the British empire, to which he added an 

 examination of the public hospitals ; and the result 

 of his inquiries was communicated to the public in an 

 Appendix to the former work, published in 1780 

 (4to). In 1781 and 1782, he made a tour through 

 the northern parts of Europe, including Denmark, 

 Sweden, Russia, and Poland. In 1783, he visited 

 Spain and Portugal ; and, having again surveyed the 

 prisons of his own country, he printed in 1784, a 

 second Appendix, comprising the additional infor- 

 mation he had obtained ; and at the same time was 

 published a complete edition of his State of the 

 Prisons, with all the supplementary matter. 



A new subject now engaged his attention, namely, 

 the management of lazarettos, and the means of pre- 

 venting the communication of the plague and other 

 contagious diseases. In order to obtain accurate 

 information, he went to Smyrna, where he knew that 

 the plague prevailed, for the purpose of proceeding 

 to Venice, with a foul bill of health, that he might be 

 subjected to all the regulations of quarantine in the 

 lazaretto, and thus become experimentally acquainted 

 with them. On his return home, through Vienna, 

 he was introduced to the emperor, Joseph II., whose 

 curiosity was excited by the fame of Howard's phil- 

 anthropic investigations. In 1789, he published an 

 Account of the principal Lazarettos in Europe, with 

 various papers relative to the Plague, together with 

 farther Observations on some Foreign Prisons and 

 Hospitals, with additional Remarks on the Present 

 State of those of Great Britain and Ireland (4to). 

 At the end of this work he announced an intention of 

 revisiting Russia and European Turkey, and extend- 

 ing his travels into Asia. In pursuance of this plan, 

 he set off from London in the summer of 1789, and 

 proceeded through Germany to Petersburg and Mos- 

 cow. The greatest respect was everywhere paid to 

 his exalted merit, and he seemed to be regarded as 

 the general censor of the discipline and manage- 

 ment of prisons and hospitals, which were thrown 

 open for his inspection as a friendly monitor and 



public benefactor. He had taken up Ins residence Rl 

 the town of Cherson, a Russian settlement on the 

 Black sea. A malignant fever prevailed there, and, 

 having been prompted by humanity to visit a patient 

 labouring under the contagious disease, he received 

 the infection, and died in consequence, Jan. 20, 

 1790. He was interred in the vicinity of Cherson v 

 and every respect was shown to his memory by the 

 Russian authorities. A cenotaph is erected in St 

 Paul's cathedral, exhibiting his statue in a Roman 

 garb, executed by Bacon. 



The eulogium pronounced on Howard, by Edmund 

 Burke, in his speech at Bristol, previously to the 

 election, in 1780, must not be omitted : " I can- 

 not," said the orator, " name this gentleman without 

 remarking that his labours and writings have done 

 much to open the eyes and hearts of mankind. He 

 has visited all Europe, not to survey the sumptuous- 

 ness of palaces, or the stateliness of temples ; not to 

 make accurate measurements of the remains of 

 ancient grandeur, nor to form a scale of the curiosity 

 of modern art; not to collect medals, or collate ma- 

 nuscripts; but to dive into the depths of dungeons; 

 to plunge into the infection of hospitals; to survey 

 the mansions of sorrow and pain; to take the gauge 

 and dimensions of misery, depression and contempt; 

 to remember the forgotten, to attend to the neglected, 

 to visit the forsaken, and to compare and collate the 

 distresses of all men in all countries. His plan is 

 original; and it is as full of genius as it is of human- 

 ity. It was a voyage of discovery; a circumnaviga- 

 tion of charity. Already the benefit of his labour is 

 felt, more or less, in every country; I hope he will 

 anticipate his final reward, by seeing all its effects 

 fully realized in his own. He will receive, not by 

 retail, but in gross, the reward of those who visit the 

 prisoner; and he has so forestalled and monopolized 

 this branch of charity, that there will be, I trust, 

 little room to merit by such acts of benevolence 

 hereafter." 



HOWE, RICHARD, earl, a celebrated English 

 admiral, was the third son of Emanuel, second vis- 

 count Howe, and was born in 1725. After having 

 received the rudiments of a liberal education at Eton, 

 his strong predilection for the sea induced his father 

 to place him, at the age of fourteen, in quality of a 

 midshipman, on board the Severn, in which ship he 

 sailed with Anson for the Pacific, and continued 

 going through the usual gradations of the service 

 under that admiral, till 1745, when, though only 

 twenty years of age, he obtained the command of the 

 Baltimore sloop of war. After having distinguished 

 himself on many occasions, he sailed, as commander- 

 in-chief, to the Mediterranean, in 1770, with the 

 rank of rear-admiral of the blue, from which step he 

 proceeded to those of rear-admiral of the white, and 

 vice-admiral of the blue. On the breaking out of 

 the war with France, lord Howe sailed for the coast 

 of America, with a squadron destined to act against 

 D'Estaign, who commanded the French force in that 

 quarter, and on his return was raised, in 1782, to an 

 English earldom. In the course of the same year, he 

 sailed to the relief of Gibraltar, which he effected in 

 spite of the combined fleets of the enemy. In 1783, 

 he accepted the post of first lord of the admiralty, 

 which, with a partial intermission, he continued to 

 hold until 1793, when, on the breaking out of the 

 war with France, he took the command of the British 

 fleet, and, bringing the enemy to an action on the 

 first of June, 1794, he obtained over them a decisive 

 victory. The rank of general of marines, and the 

 vacant garter, both conferred on this successful com- 

 mander in the course of the next year, were the con- ' 

 summation of his honours. In 1797, lord Howe 

 exerted himself with great success to quell the 





