Milman, "The first statue admitted to St. Paul's was not that of statesman, warrior, or even of sovereign; it was that of John Howard, the pilgrim, not to gorgeous shrines of saints and martyrs, not even to holy lands, but to the loathsome depths and darkness of the prisons throughout what called itself the civilised world. Howard first exposed to the shuddering sight of mankind the horrible barbarities, the foul and abominable secrets of those dens of unmitigated suffering. By the exposure, he at least let some light and air into these earthly hells. Perhaps no man has assuaged so much human misery as John Howard ; and John Howard rightly took his place at one corner of the dome of St. Paul's, the genuine Apostle of Him, among whose titles to our veneration and love, not the least befitting, not the least glorious, was that He went about doing good." 1 and the authorities of St. Paul's Cathedral is in the British Museum (Addit. MSS., 26055). 1 Milman's Annals of St. Paul's, p. 480. It is remarkable that no fewer than three of Howard's friends among Nonconformist ministers, Dr. Stennet, Mr. Palmer, and Mr. Bull, should have taken as the text of their funeral sermons for him, the words to which Dean Milman here refers: "Who went about doing good." The text which Howard himself had desired to be taken, if any funeral sermon was preached, was Ps. xvii. 16-" As for me, I will behold Thy presence in righteousness: and when I awake up after Thy likeness, I shall be satisfied with it." And from this Mr. Smith preached at Bedford. CHAPTER X PERSONAL TRAITS AND CHARACTERISTICS Howard's dislike to have his Portrait taken - Devices to escape Snapshots"- Portraits of Howard-Personal Appearance - Mode of Life - Humour-Anecdotes Love of Children-Relations with his Servants and his IT Conclusion. Tis hoped that the narrative which has been given will enable the reader to form some conception of what manner of man Howard was, but it may be well, in conclusion, to append a chapter giving some account of his personal appearance, and adding a few facts and anecdotes illustrative of his disposition and character. As to his personal appearance, there remain several descriptions of him, and not a few sketches to show us what he was like, although he had a singular dislike to having his portrait taken, and not only steadily refused to sit for it, but resorted to all kinds of whimsical expedients in the endeavour to baffle those artists who tried to sketch his features by stealth. The "snapshots" which these gentlemen took were numerous. He was not safe from them even at his devotions in church; and, as he said himself, it cost him "a great deal of trouble and some money to make this insignificant form and ugly face escape a power of draughtsmen, painters, etc., that were lying in wait" for him. The kind of shifts to which he had recourse, he thus explained to his friend Mr. Pratt, the author of The Triumph of Benevolence, a poem in honour of Howard's work. "I have detected a fellow at work upon this face of mine, ugly as it is, even as I have been walking in the streets of London; and, if a hackney-coach has been within call, I have popped into it, drawn up the blinds, and sat snug till I got to my own door, and then I have leaped out, and run into my own house, as if I was apprehensive a bailiff was at my heels. Nay, I have often had my door itself infested by a lurking artist, who was literally in wait to take me off. But one day, since my return, a trick I played one of these takers-off diverted me excessively. You must know I am a great gaper at the novelties that are continually presented at the print-shops in this great city; I was standing at that of Carrington Bowles, in St. Paul's Churchyard, the other day, to look at some |