HOWARD
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HOWARD
narrative, contrasted with that enthusiastic ardor which must have impelled him to his undertaking, were not less admired, and he was immediately regarded as one of the extraordinary characters of the age, and as the leader in all plans for ameliorating the condition of that v^rretched part of the community for whom he interested himself" (Aikin). In 1778 he imdertook another tour, revisited the celebrated Ifasp-houses of Holland, and continued his route through Belgium and Germany into Italy, whence he returned through Switzerland and France in 1779. In the same year he made another survey of Great Britain and Ireland. In these tours he extended his views to the investigation of hospitals. The residts were published in 1780, in an Appendix to '■ 77ie State of the Prisons in England and Wales" etc. Having travelled over nearly all the south of Europe, in 1781 he visited Denmark, Sweden, Russia, and Po- land, and in 1783 he went through Spain and Tortu- gal, continuing at intervals his home inquiries, and pub- lished in 1784 a second appendix, together with a new edition of the original work, in which the additional matter was comprised. The importance, both in pris- ons and hospitals, of preventing the occurrence or spread of infectious diseases, produced in ]\Ir. Howard a desire to witness the working and success of the Lazaretto sys- tem in the south of Europe, more especially as a safe- guard against the plague. Danger or disgust never turned him from his path, but on this occasion he went without even a servant, not thinking it right, for con- venience sake, to expose another person to such a risk. Quitting England in 1785, he travelled through the south of France and Italj' to Malta, Zante, and Constan- tinople, whence he retiurned to Smyrna, while the plague was raging, for the purjjose of sailhig from an infected port to Venice, where he might undergo the utmost rig- or of the quarantine system. He returned to England in 1787, resumed his home tours, and in 1789 published the result of his late inquiries in another important vol- ume, entitled An Account of the princijial Lazarettos in Europe, etc., icith additional Remarks on the present SluU- of the Prisons in Great Britain and Ii-eland. The same summer he renewed his course of foreign travels, mean- ing to go into Turkey and the East through Russia. He had, however, proceeded no farther than the Crimea when a rapid illness, which he himself believed to be an infectious fever, caught in prescribing for a lady, put an end to his life on the 20th of January, 1790. He re- quested that no other inscription should be put upon his grave than simply this, " Christ is my hope." He was buried at Dauphiny, near Cherson, and the utmost respect was paid to his memory' by the Russian govern- ment. The intelligence of his death caused a profound feeling of regret in his native country, and men of all classes and parties vied in paying their tribute of rever- ence to his memor)\ A marljle statue by Bacon of " the philanthropist" was erected in St. Paul's Cathedral by a public subscription.
JMr. Howard's piety was deep and fervent, and his moral character most piu-e and simple. His literar\' ac- quirements were small, neither were his talents brilliant ; but he was fearless, single-minded, untiring, and did great things by devoting his whole energies to one good object. The influence of disinterestedness and integrity is remarkably displayed in the ready access granted to him even by the most absolute and most suspicious gov- ernments, in the respect invariably paid to his person, and the weight attached to his opinion and authority. He was strictly economical in his personal expenses, ab- stemious in his habits, and capable of going through great fatigue ; both his fortune and his constitution were freely spent in the cause to which his life was devoted. The only blemish which has ever been suggested as restir.g upon his memory is in connection with his con- duct to his son. Mr. Howard was a strict, and has not escaped the charge of being a severe, parent. The son, unhappily, in youth fell- into dissolute habits, which be- ing carcfidly concealed from the father, and consequent-
ly unchecked, brought on a disease which terminated in insanity. He survived his father nine years, dying on the 24th of April, 1799 ; but he remained till his death a hopeless lunatic. The question of Howard's alleged harshness to his sen has been thoroughly investigated and effectually disproved. (See Dixon's Life of How- ard.') That his devotion to the great philanthropic ob- ject to which he gave up his life may not have inter- fered with his paternal duties, it is, of course, impossible to affirm : but that John Howard was an affectionate and kind-hearted father, as well as a single-minded ben- efactor to his species, there can now be no reasonable doubt. See English CyclojJcedia ; Aiken, Character and Services of John Howard (London, 1792, 8vo) ; Bro^^^l, Memoirs of John Hoivard (Lond. 1818, 4to) ; Dixon, JoAjj Howard and the Prison World of Europe (London, 1850, 12mo ; reprinted, with an introduction, bv the Rev. R. W. Dickinson, D.D., N. Y. 1854, 18mo) ; Field, Life of John Howard (Lond. 1850, 8vo) ; Skeats, History of the Free Churches of England, \i. 479.