CHAPTER II

LIFE, TO THE DEATH OF HOWARD'S SECOND WIFE

Change of Residence-Foreign Tour-Capture by French Privateer-Experiences in a French Prison-Howard elected F.R.S. - Settles at Cardington-Second Marriage -Anecdotes of Mrs. Howard Removal to Watcombe -Return to Cardington-Birth of a Son and Death of Mrs. Howard.

T

HE death of Mrs. Howard led to the breakup of the house at Stoke Newington. Howard in characteristic fashion distributed his furniture among his dependents and poorer neighbours, and in after years his old gardener delighted to tell how, on this occasion, he received as his "dividend" a bedstead and bedding, a table, six chairs, and a scythe, in addition to a guinea for a single day's work, probably in removing furniture. For a time Howard took lodgings in St. Paul's Churchyard, but being now free to indulge his taste for roving and his desire to see foreign countries, it was not long before he started once more upon his travels. Shortly before this, there

8

had taken place the great earthquake of 1755, whereby Lisbon was laid in ruins; and Howard, moved probably by curiosity rather than any philanthropic design of relieving distress, determined to visit the scene of the calamity and to make a tour in Portugal. He failed, however, to reach the country, for the Hanover, the packet in which he sailed, was captured by a French privateer, and taken into Brest. The account of Howard's experiences on this occasion must be given in his own words, as he refers to the incident in a note in his book on Prisons, in order to illustrate the sufferings of prisoners of war.

"Before we reached Brest I suffered the extremity of thirst, not having for above forty hours one drop of water, nor scarcely a morsel of food. In the castle at Brest I lay six nights upon straw, and observed how cruelly my countrymen were used there and at Morlaix, whither I was carried next; during two months I was at Carhaix upon parole, I corresponded with the English prisoners at Brest, Morlaix, and Dinnan: at the last of these towns were several of our ship's crew, and my servant. I had sufficient evidence of their being treated with such barbarity that many hundreds had perished, and that thirty-six were buried in a hole at Dinnan in one day. When I came to England, still on parole, I made known to the Commissioners of Sick and Wounded Seamen the sundry particulars which gained their attention and thanks. Remonstrance was made to the French Court; our sailors had redress; and those that were in the three prisons, mentioned above, were brought home in the first cartel-ships." 1

In addition to the account of his sufferings, contained in this note, a few details are added by Brown. At Brest the prisoners were kept for a considerable time without nourishment; at last a joint of mutton was thrown into the filthy dungeon, which the prisoners were obliged to tear to pieces and gnaw like dogs. At Carhaix, where he spent two months on parole, the person at whose house he lodged supplied him, though an utter stranger, with both clothes and money-for he had been stripped of his belongings at Brest. And when at length he was allowed to return to England it was only upon his promise that he would once more return to captivity, should the English Government refuse to exchange him for a French naval officer.2

It is curious that at this early period, many years before his philanthropic labours began, Howard should thus have experienced in his own person something of the sufferings which he was to spend his later years in alleviating. The incident, however, stands by itself, and can hardly be said to have affected his career. It is true that, in the note already referred to, he says that the sufferings which he endured on this occasion "perhaps increased" his "sympathy with the unhappy people" whose condition he was then investigating. But the fact that seventeen years were allowed to elapse before he entered on his philanthropic labours is sufficient proof that these sufferings of his were in no sense the moving cause of his subsequent efforts for the relief of distress.

It must have been shortly before, or immediately after, the adventure just related that Howard was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, on May 20, 1756. His scientific attainments do not appear to have been anything exceptional. But he was interested in meteorology and kindred subjects, and his exact mind delighted in close observation and the collection of statistics. His contributions, however, to the Transactions of the Society were neither numerous nor important. The earliest appears in the volume for 1764, and consists of a short letter "On the Degree of Cold observed at Cardington in the Winter of 1763." Two others are found in later volumes, "On the Heat of the Waters at Bath," and "On the Heat of the Ground on Mount Vesuvius."

On his return to England from his captivity Howard's first care, as his own words show, was to make representations concerning the state of the prisoners of war, to the Commissioners for the Sick and Wounded Seamen. This done, an exchange was effected with a French officer, and as soon as he was at liberty he settled down on his estate at Cardington, and proceeded to enlarge and improve the house, intending to make it his home for life. Two years later, in 1758, he married again. The lady of his choice was Miss Henrietta Leeds, daughter of Edward Leeds, Esq. of Croxton, in Cambridgeshire. The marriage was well. calculated to make Howard a happy man. Indeed, in after years, he is said to have frequently referred to the few years of his union with his wife as the only years of true enjoyment that he had ever spent. The tastes of husband and wife were similar, and Mrs. Howard delighted to second her husband's efforts to improve the condition of the tenants upon his estate. The few stories that are preserved of her indicate great gentleness and simplicity of character. Howard himself, we are told, used in later years to describe how before their marriage he had suggested to her that "to prevent all altercations about those little matters which he had observed to be the chief grounds of uneasiness in families," the decision on any question that might arise should rest with him. To this the lady seems readily to have assented, and, to judge from the disposition of the two parties, there is little doubt