(Vol. i., p. 321.)
In your first Volume, an inquiry is made for information respecting the
above person. As I find on referring to the subsequent volumes of "N. & Q."
that the Query never received any reply, I beg to forward a cutting from
the Obituary of the _New Monthly Magazine_ for June, 1828, referring to
Howlett; concerning whom, however, I cannot give any further information.
"MR. BARTHOLOMEW HOWLETT.
"Lately in Newington, Surrey, aged sixty, Mr. Bartholomew Howlett,
antiquarian, draughtsman, and engraver. This artist was a pupil of Mr.
Heath, and for many years devoted his talents to the embellishment of
works on topography and antiquities. His principal publication, and
which will carry his name down to posterity with respect as an artist,
was _A Selection of Views in the County of Lincoln; comprising the
Principal Towns and Churches, the Remains of Castles and Religious
Houses, and Seats of the Nobility and Gentry; with Topographical and
Historical Accounts of each View_. This handsome work was completed in
4to. in 1805. The drawings are chiefly by T. Girtin, Nattes, Nash,
Corbould, &c., and the engravings are highly creditable to the burin of
Mr. Howlett. Mr. Howlett was much employed by the late Mr. Wilkinson on
his _Londina Illustrata_; by Mr. Stevenson in his second edition of
Bentham's _Ely_; by Mr. Frost, in his recent _Notices of Hull_; and in
numerous other topographical works. He executed six plans and views for
Major Anderson's _Account of the Abbey of St. Denis_; and occasionally
contributed to the _Gentleman's Magazine_, and engraved several plates
for it. In 1817, Mr. Howlett issued proposals for _A Topographical
Account of Clapham, in the County of Surrey, illustrated by
Engravings_. These were to have been executed from drawings by himself,
of which he made several, and also formed considerable collections; but
we believe he only published one number, consisting of three plates and
no letter-press. We hope the manuscripts he has left may form a
groundwork for a future topographer. They form part of the large
collections for Surrey, in the hands of Mr. Tytam. In 1826, whilst the
Royal Hospital and Collegiate Church of St. Katharine, near the Tower,
was pulling down, he made a series of drawings on the spot, which it
was his intention to have engraved and published. But the greatest
effort of his pencil was in the service of his kind patron and friend,
John Caley, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A., keeper of the records in the
Augmentation Office. For this gentleman Mr. Howlett made finished
drawings from upwards of a thousand original seals of the monastic and
religious houses of this kingdom."