graphy, ed. 1827, i. 33). Howell was also author of 'Medulla Historiæ Anglicanæ. Being a comprehensive History of the Lives and Reigns of the Monarchs of England,' which passed through several editions, though without his name. The earliest edition mentioned by Wood is dated 1679; a twelfth edition, brought down to 1760, appeared in 1766.
[Wood's Fasti Oxon. (Bliss), ii. 355.]
HOWELL, WILLIAM (1656–1714), divine, was the son of G. Howell of Oxford, who is termed 'pauper' in the Wadham 'Register.' Wood says that the father was a tailor. William Howell matriculated as a servitor from Wadham College, Oxford, in 1670, but shortly afterwards removed to New Inn Hall. Here he graduated B.A. in 1673, and proceeded M.A. in 1676. He took orders, and became schoolmaster and curate of Ewelme in Oxfordshire; he was certainly the latter in 1688, and here his wife died in 1700. Howell died in 1714, and was buried at Ewelme on 23 Jan. 1713-14; there is a tablet to his memory in the church.
Howell wrote:
- 'The Common-prayer-book the best Companion, &c.,' Oxford, 1686, 8vo; republished with additions at Oxford in 1687.
- 'The Word of God the best Guide to all Persons at all Times and in all Places, &c.,' Oxford, 1689, 8vo.
- 'Prayers in the Closet: for the Use of all devout Christians, to be said both Morning and Night,' Oxford, 1689, 8vo, one sheet; also two sermons published at Oxford in 1711 and 1712 respectively.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iv. 787; Wood's Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 334, 354; R. B. Gardiner's Reg. of Wadham College, Oxford, p.286; Brit. Mus. Cat.; information from the rector of Ewelme.]
HOWELLS, WILLIAM (1778–1832), minister at Long Acre Chapel, London, eldest of the twelve children of Samuel Howells, was born in September 1778 at Llwynhelyg, a farmhouse near Cowbridge in Glamorgan. After some years' study under the Rev. John Walton of Cowbridge, and Dr. Williams, the master of Cowbridge school, he went in April 1800 to Wadham College, Oxford, and left in 1803 without a degree. An elegy by him on his tutor Walton in 1797, published in the 'Gloucester Journal,' introduced him to the notice of Robert Raikes [q. v.], who offered him journalistic work. At Oxford he was under baptist influences, but he was ordained by Dr. Watson, bishop of Llandaff, in June 1804, to the curacy of Llangan, Glamorgan. Both he and his vicar occasioned some complaint by preaching at methodist chapels. In 1812 Howells became curate to the united parishes of St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe and St. Anne, Blackfriars, in London, and in 1817 lessee of the episcopal chapel in Long Acre, where he gradually gathered together an appreciative audience. His strongly evangelical sermons were widely popular, and his self-denying life, despite his eccentricities, gave no handle to his enemies. He died on 18 Nov. 1832 (Gent. Mag. 1832, ii. 653), and was buried in a vault under Holy Trinity Church, Cloudesley Square, Islington. In the church itself a tablet was placed to his memory.
The following collections of Howell's sermons and prayers appeared after his death:
- 'Remains,' edited by Moore, Dublin, 1833, 12mo; new ed., London, 1852, 8vo.
- 'Twelve Sermons,' London, 1835, 8vo.
- 'Sermons, with a Memoir by Charles Bowdler,' London, , 2 vols. 8vo.
- 'Twenty Sermons,' London, 1835, 12mo.
- 'Fifty-two Sermons from Notes,' by H. H. White, London, 1836, 8vo.
- 'Prayers before and after the Sermon,' London, 32mo.
- 'Choice Sentences,' edited by the Rev. W. Bruce, London, 1850, 18mo.
[Memoirs by the Rev. E. Morgan and Charles Bowdler; funeral sermon by the Rev.Henry Melvill; Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit. i. 905.]
HOWES, EDMUND (fl. 1607–1631), chronicler, lived in London, and designated himself 'gentleman.' Undeterred by Stow's neglect, and despite the ridicule of his acquaintances, he applied himself on Stow's death in 1605 to continuations of Stow's 'Abridgement' and of his 'Annales.' The former he undertook, after discovering (he tells us) that no one else was likely to perform it. Howes's first edition of Stow's 'Abridgement, or Summarie of the English Chronicle,' appeared in 1607. A dedication to Sir Henry Rowe, the lord mayor, a few notices of 'sundry memorable antiquities,' and a continuation of `maters forrein and domesticall' between 1603 and 1607, constitute Howes's contributions. In 1611 Howes issued another edition of the same work, with a further continuation to the end of 1610, and a new dedication addressed to Sir William Craven, lord mayor.
Howes issued in 1615 an expanded version of Stow's well-known 'Annales or Chronicle,' with `an historicall preface,' and a continuation from 1600, the date of the last edition, to 1615. According to Howes's own account Archbishop Whitgift had suggested this task to him, and he received little encouragement while engaged on it (Stow, Annales, 1631,
