HOWIE, JOHN (1735-1793).--Biographer, a Renfrewshire farmer, who claimed descent from an Albigensian refugee, wrote Lives of the martyrs of Scotland from Patrick Hamilton, the first, to James Renwick, the last, under the title of _Scots Worthies_. The work of an unlettered man, it has considerable merit as regards both matter and style, and was long a classic among the Scottish peasantry as well as higher orders of the people. HOWITT, WILLIAM (1792-1879), HOWITT, MARY (BOTHAM) (1799-1888).--Miscellaneous writers. William H. was _b._ at Heanor, Derbyshire, and was apprenticed to a builder; Mary was _b._ at Coleford, Gloucestershire; they _m._ in 1821, and settled at Hanley, where they carried on business as chemists. Two years later they removed to Nottingham, where they remained for 12 years, and where much of their literary work was accomplished. Thereafter they lived successively at Esher, London, Heidelberg, and Rome, at the last of which they both _d._ Their literary work, which was very voluminous, was done partly in conjunction, partly independently, and covered a considerable variety of subjects--poetry, fiction, history, translations, and social and economical subjects. Useful and pleasing in its day, little of it is likely to survive. William's works include _A History of Priestcraft_ (1833), _Rural Life in England_ (1837), _Visits to Remarkable Places_, _Homes and Haunts of the Poets_, _Land, Labour, and Gold_ (1855), _Rural Life in Germany_, _History of the Supernatural_, and _History of Discovery in Australia_. Mary translated the Swedish novels of Frederica Bremer, H.C. Andersen's _Improvisatore_, and wrote novels, including _Wood Leighton_ and _The Cost of Caergwyn_, many successful tales and poems for children, and a _History of the United States_. Their joint productions include _The Forest Minstrel_, _Book of the Seasons_, and _Ruined Abbeys and Castles of Great Britain_. Both brought up as Quakers, they left that communion in 1847, and became believers in spiritualism; and in 1882 Mary joined the Church of Rome. HUCHOWN, or SIR HUGH of EGLINTON (_fl._ 14th cent.).--Unless identified with Sir Hugh, Huchown is shrouded in mystery. He was a writer of alliterative verse, referred to by Andrew of Wyntoun. If he be identified with Sir Hugh, he was an Ayrshire nobleman related to Robert II., _b.c._ 1300-20, Chamberlain of Cunningham, Justiciar of Lothian, and Commissioner for the Borders. He also held office under David II. In that case also he is believed by some scholars to have translated the poems bearing the titles _The Destruction of Troy_ and _The Wars of Alexander_.