HOWARD

howard, sir robert (1626-1698), english dramatist, sixth son of thomas howard, 1st earl of berkshire, was born in 1626. he was knighted at the second battle of newbury (1644) for his signal courage on the royalist side. imprisoned in windsor castle under the commonwealth, his loyalty was rewarded at the restoration, and he eventually became auditor of the exchequer. his best play is a comedy, _the committee, or the faithful irishman_ (1663; printed 1665), which kept the stage, long after its interest as a political satire was exhausted, for the character of teague, said to have been drawn from one of his own servants. he was an early patron of dryden, who married his sister, lady elizabeth howard, and in the _indian queen_, a tragedy in heroic verse (1664; pr. 1665) howard had assistance from dryden, although the fact was not made public until the production of dryden's _indian emperor_. the magnificence of the spectacle, and the novelty of the costume of feathers, presented by mrs. aphra behn, that was worn by zempoalla, the indian queen, made a great sensation. the scenery and accessories were unusually brilliant, the richest ever seen in england, according to evelyn. in 1665 howard published _foure new plays_, in the preface to which he opposed the view maintained by dryden in the dedicatory epistle to _the rival ladies_, that rhyme was better suited to the heroic tragedy than blank verse. howard made an exception in favour of the rhyme of lord orrery, but by his silence concerning dryden implicated him in the general censure. dryden answered by placing howard's sentiments in the mouth of crites in his own _essay on dramatic poesy_ (1668). the controversy did not end here, but dryden completely worsted his adversary in the 1668 edition of _the indian emperor_. howard died on the 3rd of september 1698. his brother, james howard, wrote two comedies, _all mistaken, or the mad couple_, a comedy (1667; pr. 1672), and _the english mounsieur_ (1666; pr. 1674), the success of which seems to have been partly due to the acting of nell gwynn.