HOWITT

WILLIAM (1792-1899)  , English author, was born on the 18th of December 1792 at Heanor, Derbyshire . His parents were Quakers, and he was educated at the Friends' public school at Ackworth, Yorkshire . In 1814 he published a poem on the " Influence of Nature and Poetry on National Spirit." He married, in 1821, Mary Botham (1799–1888), like himself a Quaker and a poet . William and Mary Howitt collaborated throughout a long literary career, the first of their joint productions being The Forest Minstrels and other Poems (1821) . In 1831 William Howitt produced a work for which his habits of observation and his genuine love of nature peculiarly fitted him . It was a history of the changes in the face of the out-side world in the different months of the year, and was entitled The Book of the Seasons, or the Calendar of Nature (1831) . His Popular History of Priestcraft (1833) won for him the favour of active Liberals and the office of alderman in Nottingham, where the Howitts had made their home . They removed in 1837 to Esher, and in 1840 they went to Heidelberg, primarily foe the education of their children, remaining in Germany for two yetrts . In 1841 William Howitt produced, under the pseudonym of " Dr Cornelius," The Student Life of Germany, the first of a series of works on German social life and institutions . Mary Howitt devoted herself to Scandinavian literature, and between 1842 and 1863 she translated the novels of Frederika Bremer and many of the stories of Hans Andersen . With her husband she wrote in 1852 The Literature and Romance of Northern Europe . In June of that year William Howitt; with two of his sons, set sail for Australia, where he spent two years in the goldfields .

The results of his travels appeared in A Boy's

cotton mills, oil mills, rope-works, iron-works and engineering works . Sibpur Engineering College lies on the outskirts of the town . There is a hospital, with a department for Europeans, and Howrah forms a suburban residence for many people who have their place of business in Calcutta . The DISTRICT OF HOWRAH extends southwards down the right bank of the Hugli to the confluence of the river Damodar . For revenue purposes it is included within the district of Hugli Its area is 510 sq. m.; pop . (1901) 850,514, showing an increase of I I % in the decade . In addition to the two steam tramways and the East Indian railway, the district is crossed by the high-level canal to Midnapore, which communicates with the Hugli at Ulubaria . The manufacturing industries of Howrah extend beyond the city into the district . One or two systems of draining low-lying lands are maintained by the government .