Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 27.djvu/365

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Horne
359
Horne

dote. ‘Prometheus, the Fire Bringer,’ Edinburgh, 1864, a dramatic poem (of little value), was written in the Australian bush; and ‘The South-Sea Sisters; a lyric masque,’ Melbourne [1866], celebrated the opening of the Intercolonial Exhibition of Australasia. Horne remained in Australia until 1869, when (conceiving that the Victorian government had not kept faith with him) he returned to England in the sailing ship The Lady Jocelyn. On the voyage he kept a journal, which he printed under the title of ‘The Lady Jocelyn's Weekly Mail.’ In 1874 he received a civil list pension of 50l. a year, which was augmented to 100l. before Lord Beaconsfield went out of office. He continued to write verse and prose (chiefly for magazines) in his later years. ‘The Tragic Story of Emilia Daràna, Marchioness of Albarozzi,’ was published in ‘Harper's Magazine,’ November 1874; ‘The Countess von Labanoff, or the Three Lovers; a Novelette,’ was reprinted from the ‘New Quarterly Magazine’ in 1877; ‘Laura Dibalzo,’ a tragedy, followed in 1880, and ‘King Nihil's Round Table, or the Regicide's Symposium; a Dramatic Scene,’ in 1881. ‘Soliloquium Fratris Rogeri Baconis’ (verse), from ‘Fraser's Magazine,’ appeared in 1882, and ‘The Last Words of Cleanthes; a Poem,’ from ‘Longman's Magazine,’ in 1883. Horne's latest work was a curious prose-tract, purporting to be translated from an Arabic original, ‘Sithron, the Star-Stricken,’ 1883. He died at Margate on 13 March 1884, and was buried there on 18 March. Among his papers were many unpublished plays, poems, and romances. One of the poems was a long piece in blank verse, ‘Ancient Idols, or the Fall of the Gods,’ which he regarded as his most considerable work. He appointed as his literary executor Mr. H. Buxton Forman, who in 1872 had reprinted from ‘Household Words’ (14 June 1851) his striking poem, ‘The Great Peace-maker; a Submarine Dialogue,’ on the laying of the submarine cable between Dover and Calais.

Horne was a talented, energetic, and versatile writer. His epic and his early tragedies have much force and fire, but they are not born for immortality. He was a good musician, he played excellently on the guitar, sang well, and was a marvellous whistler. He was an expert swimmer. Horne had his affectations. When he went out to Australia he was ‘Richard Henry,’ but he came back ‘Richard Hengist.’ In the bush he had met a Mr. Hengist, whose name he took.

[Athenæum, March 1884; Mary Howitt's Autobiog. ii. 86; information supplied by Mr. W. J. Linton.]

A. H. B.

HORNE, ROBERT (1519?–1580), bishop of Winchester, was son of John Horne, a member of an old Cumberland family settled at Cleator in that county, where he was probably born. The doubt as to his birthplace, suggested by his having been admitted to a Yorkshire fellowship at St. John's College, Cambridge, is answered by the fact that Cleator is situated in what was the old archdeaconry of Richmond, which, before the foundation of the see of Chester by Henry VIII, was included in the diocese of York. He graduated at St. John's College as B.A. in 1536–7, M.A. in 1540, B.D. in 1546, and D.D. in 1549. He was elected a fellow of his college on 25 March 1536–7, and became senior bursar, and Hebrew lecturer in 1545–1546. He was a zealous advocate of the reformed doctrines, and, being a man of learning and a powerful preacher, he soon obtained ecclesiastical preferment. In October 1546 he became vicar of Matching in Essex, in May 1550 rector of Allhallows, Bread Street, London, about the same time chaplain to Edward VI, and in November of the following year dean of Durham, on the deprivation of Dean Robertson. The new dean was received with ill-concealed aversion by a chapter wedded to the ‘old learning’ and ritual (Rites of Durham, Surtees Society, pp. 59, 65). On 18 Feb. 1552–3 Cecil wrote to the chapter requiring them to conform to Horne's orders ‘in religion and divine service,’ and to ‘receive him and use him well’ (Lansdowne MS. 981, fol. 194). Without delay Horne began reforming his cathedral and its services on the strictest puritan lines. With his own hands he removed St. Cuthbert's tomb in the cloisters, and tore down the ‘superstitious ornaments’ in the cathedral and in St. Nicholas Church.

Horne took part in the disputation on the sacraments with John Feckenham [q. v.] and Young, held at the houses of Sir William Cecil and Sir Richard Moryson (Strype, Cranmer, i. 385). He became prebendary of Bugthorpe in York Minster on 27 April 1552, and in the following October he was appointed with other of the royal chaplains to consider a scheme of articles of religion (ib. p. 391); the forty-five articles were the result, and Horne amongst the rest signed them. On 11 Oct. 1552 ‘Horne, deane of Durham, declared a secret conspiracy of th' erl of Westmurland, the yeare of th' apprehension of the duke of Somerset. … He was commanded to kepe this matter close’ (Lit. Rem. Edw. VI, 463). At the same time he was nominated by Northumberland as the successor of Tunstall, the deprived bishop of Durham, the see being severed from that of Newcastle by act of par-