Chapter Howe to Hughes of H by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Hughes, John (1677-1720).—Essayist and dramatist, was a clerk in the Ordnance Office, then secretrayfor the Commission of the Peace. He contributed to the Spectator, Tatler, and Guardian, edited Spenser, and wrote several dramas, of which the best is The Siege of Damascus. It was his last, he having died on the first night of its performance. Addison thought so well of his dramatic talent that he requested him to write the conclusion of Cato. He, however, finished it himself. Hughes was a highly respectable person, and is affectionately commemorated by Sir Richard Steele.

Hughes, Thomas (1823?-1896).—Novelist and biographer, son of a Berkshire squire, was educated at Rugby and Oxford, and called to the Bar in 1848. Much the most successful of his books was Tom Brown’s School-days (1856), which had an immense popularity, and perhaps remains the best picture of English public-school life in the language. Its sequel, Tom Brown at Oxford (1861), was a comparative failure, but his Scouring of the White Horse deals in a charming way with his own countryside. He also wrote Lives of Alfred the Great, Bishop Fraser, and D. Macmillan, the publisher. Hughes devoted much attention to philanthropic work in conjunction with Kingsley and Maurice. In 1882 he was appointed a County Court Judge.