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JAMES HOWELL (c. 1594-1666)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 839 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JAMES See also:HOWELL (c. 1594-1666)  , See also:British author, who came of an old Welsh See also:family, was See also:born probably at Abernant, in See also:Carmarthenshire, where his See also:father was See also:rector . From the See also:free See also:grammar school at See also:Hereford he went to Jesus See also:College, See also:Oxford, and took his degree of B.A. in 1613 . About 1616 he was steward in See also:Sir See also:Robert Mansell's See also:glass-See also:works in Broad See also:Street, and was commissioned to go abroad to procure the services of See also:expert workmen . It was not till 1622 that he returned, having visited See also:Holland, See also:France, See also:Spain and See also:Italy . With the intention of utilizing to better purpose his knowledge of See also:continental See also:languages and methods, he See also:left the glass business and applied for a See also:diplomatic See also:post . Failing to obtain this, he was for a See also:short See also:time See also:tutor in a nobleman's family . At the See also:close of 1622 he was sent on a See also:special See also:mission to See also:Madrid to obtain redress for the seizure of an See also:English See also:vessel, but, owing to the presence at the See also:Spanish See also:court of See also:Prince See also:Charles and the See also:duke of See also:Buckingham to arrange a See also:marriage between the prince and the infanta of Spain, the negotiations had to be broken off . He made many See also:friends among the prince's See also:retinue, and, after his return in 1624, applied for employment to the duke of Buckingham, but without success . In 1626 he became secretary to See also:Lord See also:Scrope, Lord See also:President of the See also:North at See also:York, and retained the See also:office under Scrope's successor, See also:Thomas See also:Wentworth . In 1627 he was elected M.P. for See also:Richmond; in 1632 he was sent as secretary to the See also:embassy of the See also:earl of See also:Leicester to See also:Denmark; and in 1642 the See also:king appointed him one of the clerks of the privy See also:council . In 1643 he was committed to the See also:Fleet See also:prison by the See also:parliament, according to his own See also:account, on suspicion of royalist leanings, or, as See also:Anthony a See also:Wood says, for See also:debt . Whatever the See also:reason, he remained in prison until 1651 .

He had acquired considerable fame by his allegorical AevSpaayla: See also:

Dodona's See also:Grove, or the Vocall See also:Forest, published in 164o, and his Instructions for Forreine Travell (1642), which has been described as the first continental handbook; and now he was driven to maintain himself by his See also:pen . He edited and supplemented (165o) See also:Cotgrave's See also:French and English See also:dictionary, compiled See also:Lexicon Tetraglotton, or an English, French, See also:Italian and Spanish Dictionary (See also:London, 166o), translated various works from Italian and Spanish, wrote a See also:life of See also:Louis XIII. and issued a number of See also:political See also:pamphlets, varying the point of view somewhat to suit the changes of the time . Among these tracts may be mentioned a rather malicious Perfect Description of the See also:People and See also:Country of See also:Scotland, which was revived by See also:John Wilkes and printed in the North Briton during the agitation directed against Lord See also:Bute . In 166o he asked for the See also:place of clerk of the privy council; and, though this was not granted' him, the post of historiographer royal was created for him . In 1661 he applied for the office of tutor in See also:foreign languages to the infanta See also:Catherine of See also:Braganza, and in 1662 published an English Grammar translated into Spanish . He was buried in the See also:Temple See also:Church on the 3rd of See also:November 1666, having realized to the last his favourite See also:motto, " Senesco non segnesco." All See also:Howell's writings are imbued with a certain simplicity and quaintness . His elaborate allegories are forgotten; his linguistic labours, of value in their time, are now superseded; but his Letters, the Epistolae Ho-elianae (four volumes issued in 1645, 1647, 165o and 1655), are still See also:models of their See also:kind . Their See also:dates are often fictitious, and they are, in nearly every See also:case, evidently written for publication . See also:Thackeray said that the Letters was one of his bedside books . He classes it with See also:Montaigne and says he scarcely ever tired of " the artless prattle " of the " priggish little clerk of King Charles's council." The Epistolae have been frequently edited, notably by J . See also:Jacobs in 189o, with a commentary (1891), and See also:Agnes Repplier (1907) .

End of Article: JAMES HOWELL (c. 1594-1666)
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