Page:Men of the Time, eleventh edition.djvu/606
constant contributor. Among his complete works are "The Poor Artist or Seven Eye-sights and One Object," "The Good-natured Bear, a Story for Children," "The Dreamer and the Worker," a novel, "Prometheus, the Fire-Bringer," a lyrical drama, "Australian Facts and Prospects," and the "New Spirit of the Age." For some time he was editor of The Monthly Repository. In "Judas Iscariot," a mystery play, he adopts an idea, derived from the early theologians, that the arch-traitor, in delivering up the Saviour to those who sought his life, was anxious only to precipitate the triumphant vindication of his Master. This Mystery Play was performed at the Court of Bavaria. Mr. Horne's "Orion" was published for a farthing, an odd device, partly intended as a sarcasm upon the low estimation into which the author thought epic poetry had fallen, but yet more with a view to giving away the first three editions by the least expensive machinery, nobody being allowed to obtain more than one copy. It has gone through ten editions since, the present being a library edition. Many pirated editions have appeared in America and other places. Mr. R. H. Horne is also the author of the text of an illustrated life of Napoleon the Great, and a large number of articles in Household Words. In 1852 he went, in company with William Howitt, to the gold-fields of Australia, landed at Melbourne, was appointed Commander of the Gold Escort, a kind of wild bush horsemen, and brought down, on his first return trip, two tons' weight of gold. After this he was successively Commissioner in charge of gold-fields, a Territorial Magistrate, Commissioner of the Yan Yean Water Supply, and Mining Registrar, at the Blue Mountains. He was one of the champion swimmers of Australia, being the winner of the gold medal, silver medal, and silver-mounted claret jug, at St. Kilda, near Melbourne, swimming on the last occasion after being bound hand and foot. At the Caledonian Games he carried the late Mr. Pond (firm of Spiers and Pond) upon his shoulders in a foot-race fifty yards, Mr. Pond being 6 feet 4 inches. Mr. Horne founded the Melbourne "Garrick Club," by means of which various sums of money were given to the Melbourne Hospital, Benevolent Asylum, and other charitable institutions. He translated from the Spanish a "Treatise on the Cultivation of the Cactus," with a view to opening a new trade by means of the cochineal insect; and he also founded the first large Winemaking Company; obtained 1,000,000 of vine cuttings from various places, 700,000 of which took root, and produced grapes within the first year. It has been said that Mr. Horne was treated very shabbily by the Australian Government of that period. About twelve years ago he returned to England, and has published a new edition of "Cosmo de Medici," the tragedy of "Laura Dibalzo," a new edition of "The Poor Artist," and a volume of Bible Tragedies, viz., "John the Baptist, or the Valour of the Soul;" "The Apocryphal Book of Job's Wife," and a reprint of "Judas Iscariot." A Civil List pension was awarded to him by the Earl of Beaconsfield in 1874, which was doubled a few days before Lord Beaconsfield retired from office. Since Mr. Horne's return he has contributed articles to Fraser, Macmillan, Temple Bar, the Contemporary Review, the Gentleman's Magazine, and several of the Quarterlies. He competed for the prize offered by the Royal Spanish Academy for a poem on the centenary of "Calderon," and the umpires declined to award the prize to any one, on account of some technical objections; but the Spanish Academy nevertheless presented to Mr. R. H. Horne the large medal struck in