A writer and editor whose career saw him work in a variety of genres, including drama, fiction, poetry, literary criticism, book reviews, social commentary, and children's fiction, Richard Horne's personal life was equally varied in its pursuits. Upon graduating from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he applied for a position with the East India Company. When his application was rejected, Horne travelled to Mexico and served for several years as a midshipman in the Mexican navy. After leaving the navy, he sought work as merchant seaman, basing himself in America, but eventually returned to England to embark on a literary career. His first published poem appeared in the Athenaeum in 1828. Over the next two decades, Horne published several books and plays, and acted as editor for the Monthly Repository (1836-37). At one stage, he published in that magazine an account of his earlier adventures when travelling the world. Two of his earlier successes were the poetical tragedies Cosmo de Medici: An Historical Tragedy and Other Poems (1837) and The Death of Marlowe: A Tragedy in One Act (1837). Horne also published a work entitled An Exposition of the False Mediums and Barriers Excluding Men of Genius from the Public. In this work, he advocated the establishment of a literary and artistic society for the permanent support of men of superior ability in all departments of human genius and knowledge (ctd. Age 21 Jan. 1928, p26). Another notable publication was the two-volume work The History of Napoleon.
In 1843, Horne published what was to become his most critically and publicly acclaimed poems, the epic Orion. Indeed, it sold out its first three editions in a very brief time and was reprinted six times in its first year of publication. The poem's success was due not only to its capacity to capture the public's imagination but also because Horne placed several whimsical demands on the publishers, chiefly that the publication be sold at one farthing a copy, that not more than one copy should be sold to the one person, and that it should not be sold to a person who mispronounced the title. Following the publication of Orion, Horne published A New Spirit of the Age, the prose work for which he is best remembered. The work met with severe criticism when it was first published, however, due largely to the author's outspoken judgement of some of its subjects. In writing these essays on the men and women whom he considered best represented the literary spirit of the age, Horne was given a good deal of assistance by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, with whom he had long been friendly and in correspondence. At least four of Horne's plays are known to have been staged in London up until 1852, along with a re-written version of Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, which is believed to have been produced over the course of some fifty years in Australia, England, and America. He also published works for children, including Adventures of a London Doll (1850), published under the name 'Mrs Fairstar'.
In 1852, Horne travelled to Australia in search of a fortune on the Victorian goldfields. The quest was not successful, however, and instead he found himself taking on a number of short-lived government positions, including that of Commander of the Victorian Gold Escort (1852), Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands for the gold fields (1853-54), and, some time later, a position as a territorial magistrate. When his somewhat erratic behaviour saw him eventually dismissed from the civil service, he returned to his career as a writer (from the late 1850s), a move that naturally included journalism. In addition to his occasional contributions to the Melbourne papers, Horne wrote several new book-length works, including a guide to would-be immigrants titled Australian Facts and Prospects (1859). In July 1860, his tragedy TheDeath of Marlowe was successfully staged at Melbourne's Theatre Royal, one result being that he was offered the chance to have a new work staged in the city. He soon afterwards produced the five-act comedy in blank verse A Spec in China, but it failed dismally. Lasting only two nights, the play was severely criticised in the local press. Apparently undeterred by this setback, Horne continued writing, although by this time he was otherwise employed by the Victorian government as registrar, and later warden, at the Blue Mountain goldfield near Trentham. It was while stationed there that he completed (in 1864) the lyric drama Prometheus the Fire Bringer. Horne returned to Melbourne around 1866 and within a short period of time re-established himself in the city's theatrical and musical circles, becoming at one stage president of the Garrick Club. As president, he organised in May 1866 a charity entertainment at the club for the Brooke Memorial Fund (Argus 8 May 1866, p.5). One of the items presented was a threnody (dirge or song of lamentation) that he co-wrote with composer Dr Joseph Summers (q.v.).
In October 1866, Horne's masque The South Seas Sisters, a collaboration with composer Charles Horsley (q.v.), was produced as one of the highlights of the opening of the Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition. Successfully received by both audiences and critics, it was given a second performance a few nights later. The following year, Horne again collaborated with Joseph Summers, contributing the text to the composer's cantata Galatea Secunda. That same year also saw Horne change his middle name from Henry to Hengist, allegedly taking the surname of a miner he had met in the goldfields. A collaboration with composer Carl Schmitt in the late 1860s led to the completion of a three-act opera titled Cazille. (Schmitt tried in vain to get the work staged, but succeeded only in having several excerpts from it presented during a benefit concert at the Sydney Masonic Hall in 1872.) Horne's failure to get Cazille produced exacerbated his disillusionment with Australia, and in 1869 he returned to England. A few years later, he was granted a civil list pension of £50 a year, which was soon after raised to £100. He continued to write, producing a number of works over the next decade or so, but none of these matched his earlier success.
