Under the associated names of husband and wife an interesting work was brought out in 1.852, The Literature and Romance of Northern Europe: constituting a complete History of the Literature of Sweden, Denmark, Nonvay, and Iceland, in 2 vols. In June of that year Howitt, with two sons and some friends, set sail for Australia, where he spent two of the most trying years of his life, working in the gold diggings, and visiting Melbourne, Sydney, and other towns. Some account of the novel situations in which he was himself placed is given in A Soy’s Adventures in the Wilds of Australia (1854). Shortly afterwards he returned to the suburbs of London, on this occasion to Highgate, and narrated more elaborately his experiences in Land, Labour, and Gold; or Two Years in Victoria, with Visits to Sydney and Van Diemcn’s Land, 2 vols., 1855, a work which speedily became popular, the condition of the Australian colonies being then almost totally unknown in England. A further account of Australian life was given in 1857 in Tallangdta, the Squatter’s Home, 3 vols. The year before Howitt had commenced The Illustrated History of England for Messrs Cassell, the sixth and last volume of which appeared in 1861. While this work was in pro gress he wrote in 1859 A Country Book of Amusements, and, in connexion with Mrs Hall and others, The Boy’s Birthday Book, and in 1860 The Man of the People, 3 vols. From 1861 to 1864 Mr and Mrs Howitt were occupied on The Ruined Abbeys and Castles of Great Britain, issuing, before its completion, The Wye, its Ruined Abbeys and Castles (1863); and the same year Howitt printed a series of Letters on Transportation, and the Cruelties Practised under the Game Laws, and a work of great research, The History of the Supernatural in all Ages and Rations, and in all Churches, Christian and Pagan, demonstrating a Universal Faith, 2 vols. To a man with the mental de velopment of Howitt the miraculous became at all times an absorbing speculation; and he adds to these pages "his own conclusions from a practical examination of the higher phenomena through a course of seven years." " If," he reasons, "you crush the supernatural you must crush the universe." Other works from Howitt’s pruliiic pen were Sargent’s Peculiar (1864); The History of Discovery in Australia, &c., 2 vols., 1865; The Ruined Abbeys of the Border (1865), and of Yorkshire (1865), jointly with his wife; Woodburn Grange, a story of English country life, 3 vols., 1867; The Northern Heights of London, an anti quarian and topographical description of Hampstead, Highgate, &c., 1869; The Mad War-Planet, and other Poems, 1871; The Religion of Rome, 1873. Suffering from bronchitis, Howitt had now made Home his winter residence, passing the summer in Tyrol. He died at Rome on the 3il of March 1879.
HOWRAH, the largest and most important town in the district of Hooghly, Bengal, arid the headquarters of the magisterial district of Howrah, is situated on the right bank of the Hooghly river, opposite Calcutta, and forms a suburb of that city. Since 1785 it has risen from a small village to a town, with a magistrate, subordinate judge, &c., of its own. The total area of Howrah and suburbs within municipal limits is 11-05 square miles; the population in 1872 numbered 97,784, of whom 54,098 were males and 43,686 females (Hindus, 79,335; Mahometans, 16,611; Christians, 1484; others, 354). The municipal income in 1871-72 was 13,994. The town is lighted with gas; it contains several large and important dockyards, and is also the Bengal terminus of the East Indian Railway. Mills and manufactories of various sorts are rapidly developing. Communication with Calcutta is carried on by means of ferry steamers, and by a massive pontoon bridge, which was opened for traffic in 1874. Howrah is a suburban residence for many people who have their places of business in Calcutta. Sibpur. one of the suburbs of Howrah, situated opposite Fort-William, a small village at the commencement of the century, is now a flourishing little town. To the south of Sibpur are the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Bishop’s College.
HÖXTER (Latin, Huxaria], a town of Prussia, capital of a circle in the government district of Minden, province of Westphalia, is situated on the Weser at its confluence with the Grube and the Schelpe, and on a branch line of the Westphalian Railway, 2^ miles S.W. of Holxniinden. It is the seat of a provincial office and of a circle court, and possesses an Evangelical and a Catholic church, a synagogue, a gymnasium, a building-school, and a hospital. The Weser is crossed by a stone bridge about 500 feet in length, erected in 1833. On the Brunsberg adjoining the town there is an old watch-tower said to be the remains of a fortress built by Bruno, brother of Wittekind. Near Hoxter is the castle, formerly the Benedictine monastery, of Corvey (see Corvey). The principal manufactures of the town are linen, cotton, cement, and gum, and there is also a considerable shipping trade. The population in 1875 was 5645.
Hoxter in the time of Charlemagne was a villa regia, and was the scene of a battle between him and the Saxons. Under the protection of the monastery of Corvey, founded in 816, it gradually increased in prosperity. Ultimately it asserted its independence and joined the Hansa League. It suffered severely during the
