The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-03-08 00:00:00

DEATH OF MR. VIM. HOW/TT.

The announcement of the death of this veteran Ziterateur
will be received with great regret by the many thousands
whose convictions he assisted to form, cnd whose leisure
hours he often amused. Dir. Howitt died on Monday in
Rome, of bronchitis. At his bedside stood his wile Mary,
their two daughters, and Mr. Watts, husband of the elder
daughter. For some years the howitts have made Rome
their winter residence, passing the summer at Pietonheitn,
in the Tyrol.—The 'limes, in noticing Mr. Howitt's death,
gives the following OULIIIIO of his literary career :

Nearly 60 years have paused away since the names
of William and Mary Howitt first heoainP known to
the reading public of this country. The career of the
Howitts, like that of most other members of the re-
public of letters, was not an eventful one. The father
of William Howitt was one of the middle plass of yeo-
men, who owntd and tilled a few acres of land at
Heanor, in Derbyshire, and who in middle life joined
on conviction the " Sppiety of Friends." William
Howitt was one of a large family of brothers, and was
born at Heanor in the year 1793, so that he was an oc:0:-
genarian and something more. Educated in local
schools belonging to the Qaatier sect, as a boy he was
fend of nature and of outdoor sports as well as of
literature, and thus obtained that knowledge of rural life.
with which he subafroently. made us familiar by his
writings. In 1823 he married a Quaker lady, 4les
Mary Batham, of tastes similar to his own, and in the
same year appeared their first joint production, a little
Volume entitled " :Forett Minstrelsy and other Poems."
For the firatfew years of th,eir aFried life they resided in
Derbyshire and at Nottingham, and beeame
ow at all events, frequent, contributors of verse and
prose to the serial ljt,O.ature of the day. 4 selection
of these, with a few additioilal peel, was published
in 1827 under the title of "The Desolation of Byam
and other Poems," During the next 10 or 12 years the
pens of the ligwitto were chiefly employed in writing
sundry works in prose, among Which the heat Icaown
are "The Book of the Seasons," ' The History of
Eriestcraft," and "Tales of the Pantika, or Traditions
of Aneient Tipies," Tha publication 9f his work on
" priestoraft "‘ lea to the election o r. Uqwitt WI an
alderman of Nottingham and bronght hm into contapt
with most of the active Liberals of that drty. Tn 1837
the Howitts moved to Esher in order to be nearer to
the metropolis and its literary circles. Here Mr.
tiovitt vote his "Rural Life of England," "Coloniza-
tion and ChiistranitY;P !` The pus, powitryx,"
and the first series of "Visits to nemarke.ble
From 1840 to 1842 they resided at Heidelberg, in :Ger-
many, for the benefit of the education of their chil-
dren and in the two following years Mr. Howitt
gave to the worl' ui " nrf,sl Life of Germany" and
"German Experiences."' A.boiit the saipe time he
published a translatien of "The Story of Peter
Schlrmikil," and in 1816 a political work on "The
This was followed in 1847 by
"The Hall and the Llarnhit, Or Sbenei aull'Obaraoters
l'he _ ear- _ f the Country ; "
of Country Life;" " B kOt
hisE i4;I4,ALi 84" 171314" au ut49f th e ugl4ch popt,.;
a three-volume novel, now well-nigh forgotten,
1.144 mp 'Porripgtop of the Deno ; " and (i.n cpp-
imiction with pie Wife) " Stories of laglish 4nd
Foreign Life," Bohn'i:llltistrated Library. From
1846 down to 1848 he edited the People's Journal; but
differences arose between the editor and publisher,
and Mr. Howitt published on his own account a rival
serial, called Howites Journal, which did not run,
however, to moro tp§a tee qr iglu; yolutmeu. Tn. 1853
Howitt, accompanied by his 'two sOnigmd a few
friends, made a voyage to Australia, where he remained
for upwards of two years, visiting Sydney, Melbourne
(where he had a brother settled as a physician), and
several of the "diggings," and undergoing many hard-
ships, gleaning sortie practical experience as a digger and