HOUDON, JEAN-ANTOINE, an eminent French sculptor, born of humble parentage at Versailles; at 20 he won the prix de Rome, and for 10 years studied with enthusiasm the early masters at Rome, where he produced his great statue of St. Bruno; he was elected in turn a member of the Academy and of the Institute, Paris, and in 1805 became professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts; he was unrivalled in portraiture, and executed statues of Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot, Mirabeau, Washington, Napoleon, and others (1741-1828).

HOUGHTON, RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES, LORD, poet and patron of letters, born of good family at Fryston Hall, Pontefract; graduated at Cambridge; entered Parliament as a Conservative, but subsequently went over to the other side, and in 1863 was raised to the peerage by Palmerston; was a man of varied interests, a traveller, leader of society, philanthropist, and above all the friend and patron of authors; his works include various volumes of poetry, “Life of Keats,” “Monographs, Personal and Social,” &c. (1809-1885).

HOUNSLOW (13), a town of Middlesex, 10 m.  SW. of London; railways have done away with its importance as a posting town; in the vicinity are gunpowder mills, barracks, and the famous Hounslow Heath.

HOURI, a beautiful maiden who, according to the Mohammedan faith, awaits the advent of a pious Moslem in Paradise.

HOUSTON, SAMUEL, President of the Texan Republic, born in Virginia; was adopted by a Cherokee Indian, and rose from the rank of a common soldier to be governor of Tennessee in 1827; as commander-in-chief in Texas he crushed the Mexicans, won the independence of Texas, and became the first President of the new republic in 1836; subsequently represented Texas in the United States Senate; was elected governor and deposed in 1861 for opposing secession (1793-1863).

HOUYHN`HNMS, an imaginary race of horses in “Gulliver’s Travels” endowed with reason.

HOVEDEN, ROGER OF, chronicler, born at Howden, Yorkshire; held an appointment in Henry II.’s household; was engaged in various missions to the monastic houses, and in 1189 became an itinerant justice; his well-known Chronicle begins where Bede’s ends, 732, and continues down to 1201.

HOWARD, CATHERINE, fifth wife of Henry VIII., granddaughter of the Duke of Norfolk; was married to Henry in 1540 after his divorce from Anne of Cleves; two years later she was found guilty of immoral conduct prior to her marriage, and was executed (1520-1542).

HOWARD, JOHN, a noted philanthropist, born at Hackney, Middlesex; was left in easy circumstances at his father’s death; a bitter experience as a French prisoner of war and observations made whilst acting as sheriff of Bedfordshire roused him to attempt some reform of the abuses and misery of prison life; he made a tour of the county jails of England, and the mass of information which he laid before the House of Commons in 1774 brought about the first prison reforms; he continued