Chapter Hoole to Howard of H by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Hoole to Howard

Hoole, John (1727-1803).—Translator, son of a watchmaker and inventor, was born in London, and was in the India House, of which he rose to be principal auditor (1744-83). He translated Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered (1763), and Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso (1773-83), as well as other works from the Italian. He was also the author of three dramas, which failed. He is described by Scott as “a noble transmuter of gold into lead.”

Hope, Thomas (1770-1831).—Novelist and writer on art, was a wealthy merchant of Amsterdam, of Scotch descent, his family having emigrated to Holland in the 17th century. In early life he spent much time in travel, studying architecture, and collecting objects of art. Returning, he settled in London, and occupied himself in arranging his vast collections. In 1807 he published a work on Household Furniture and Decoration, which had a great effect in improving the public taste in such matters. This was followed by two magnificent works, On the Costume of the Ancients (1809), and Designs of Modern Costumes (1812). Up to this time his reputation had been somewhat that of a transcendent upholsterer, but in 1819 he astonished the literary world by his novel, Anastasius; or, Memoirs of a Modern Greek, a work full of imagination, descriptive power, and knowledge of the world. This book, which was published anonymously, was attributed to Byron, and only credited to the author on his avowing it in Blackwood’s Magazine. Hope also wrote a treatise on the Origin and Prospects of Man, and Essays on Architecture. He was a munificent and discerning patron of rising artists.

Horne, Richard Henry Or Hengist (1803-1884).—Eccentric poet, was born in London, and educated at Sandhurst for the East India Company Service, but failed to get a nomination. After a youth of adventure, partly in the Mexican Navy, he returned to England, and began in 1828 a highly combative literary career with a poem, Hecatompylos, in the Athenæum. His next appearance, The False Medium (1833), an exposition of the obstacles thrown in the way of “men of genius” by literary middlemen, raised a nest of hornets; and Orion, an “epic poem,” published 1843 at the price of one farthing, followed. His plays, which include Cosmo de Medici (1837), The Death of Marlowe (1837), and Judas Iscariot, did not add greatly to his reputation. In The New Spirit of the Age (1844), he had the assistance of Mrs. Browning. Though a writer of talent, he was not a poet.

Horne, Thomas Hartwell (1780-1862).—Theologian, educated at Christ’s Hospital, was for a time in the law, but became a great biblical scholar, and in 1818 published Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures (1818), in consideration of which he was admitted to orders without the usual preliminaries, and in 1833 obtained a benefice in London and a prebend in St. Paul’s, and was senior assistant in the printed books department of the British Museum (1824-60). He wrote an Introduction to the Study of Bibliography (1814), and various other works, but he is chiefly remembered in connection with that first mentioned, which was frequently reprinted, and was very widely used as a text-book both at home and in America.

Houghton, Richard Monckton Milnes, Ist Lord (1809-1885).—Poet, son of Robert (known as “single- speech”) Milnes, born in London, and educated privately and at Cambridge He sat in the House of Commons for Pontefract from 1837-63, when he was raised to the Peerage. His interests were, however, mainly literary and philanthropic. and it was said of him that he “knew everybody worth knowing at home and abroad;” and his sympathies being of the widest, he was able to bring together the most opposite extremes of life and opinion. He championed the cause of oppressed nationalities, and of the slave. He published many vols. of poetry, among which were Poetry for the People (1840), and Palm Leaves (1848). He also wrote a Life of Keats, and various books of travels. Though he had not the depth of mind or intensity of feeling to make a great poet, his verse is the work of a man of high culture, graceful and refined, and a few of his shorter poems—such as The Beating of my own Heart, and Strangers Yet, strike a true note which gained for them wide acceptance.

Howard, Edward (died 1841).—Novelist, a sea-comrade of Captain Marryat, and as sub-ed. assisted him in conducting the Metropolitan Magazine. He wrote several sea novels, of which Rattlin the Reefer, sometimes attributed to Marryat, is the best known. Others were Outward Bound and Jack Ashore.