FOOTNOTES:

[264] This Thomas Habington was born 26th October 1560, and married Mary, the sister of Lord Mounteagle, the lady who is supposed to have written that letter to her brother which occasioned the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot. For harbouring Garnet and Alchorne, two Popish priests, he is said to have been condemned to die, but by the intercession of Lord Mounteagle he was reprieved and pardoned. He lived many years afterwards, not dying until the 8th of October 1647, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. Wood says he surveyed the county of Worcester, and made a collection of most of its antiquities. He also translated "The Epistle of Gildas, the most ancient British author," 12o, 1638, and had a considerable hand in the "History of Edward IV.," published by his son.

[265] In a poem on p. 104 of his "Castara," 1640, Habington claims alliance with several noble families—

"Now I resolve, in triumph of my verse,
To bring great Talbot from that foreign herse
Which yet doth to her fright his dust enclose:
Then to sing Herbert, who so glorious rose
With the fourth Edward, that his faith doth shine
Yet in the faith of noble Pembroke's line.
Sometimes my swelling spirits I prepare
To speak the mighty Percy, nearest heir
In merits, as in blood, to Charles the Great:
Then Derby's worth and greatness to repeat;
Or Morley's honour, or Mounteagle's fame,
Whose valour lives eterniz'd in his name:
But while I think to sing those of my blood,
And my Castaras," &c.

—Collier.

[266] Mr Park, in a MS. note to a copy of these poems, in 1640, observes, "The first and second parts of these poems were printed in 1634, 4o; again (with additions) in 1635, 12o; and the third part was added in 1640. He is said to have entitled his collection "Castara" in compliment to his mistress, Lucia, daughter of Lord Powis, who became his wife." This is evident from a poem on p. 102 of the edition of 1640, addressed to Lord Powis, where he speaks of his daughter as Castara.—Collier.

[267] Phillips, speaking of Habington ("Theatrum Poetarum," 1675), says "that he may be ranked with those who deserve neither the highest nor the lowest seat in the theatre of fame." Mr Park is of opinion "that this character of him is rather below par; for he appears (as an amatory poet) to have possessed a superior degree of unaffected tenderness and delicacy of sentiment to either Carew or Waller, with an elegance of versification very seldom inferior to his more famed contemporaries." Perhaps Habington's "amiable piety," rendered him a peculiar favourite with Mr Park.—Collier.

[268] Phillips, in his "Theatrum Poetarum," complains that this work is written in a style "better becoming a poetical than a historical subject."—Collier. [In "Jonsonus Virbius," verses to the memory of Ben Jonson, 1638, is a poem by W. Abington.]

[269] The collections he made of the antiquities, &c., of Worcestershire, formed the foundation of Dr Nash's history of that county.—Collier.

[270] The following is from "Wit's Recreations," 1640—

"To Mr. William Habington, on his 'Castara,' a Poem.

Thy Muse is chaste, and thy Castara too;
'Tis strange at Court: and thou hadst power to woo
And to obtain what others were denied,
The fair Castara for thy virtuous bride.
Enjoy what you dare wish, and may there be
Fair issues branch from both to honour thee."

—Gilchrist.

[THE PROLOGUE AT COURT.]

Had not obedience o'errul'd the Author's fear
And judgment too, this humble piece had ne'er
Approach'd so high a majesty: not writ
By the exact and subtle rules of wit,
Ambitious for the splendour of this night,
But fashion'd up in haste for 's own delight.
This by my lord[271] with as much zeal as e'er
Warm'd the most loyal heart, is offer'd here,
To make this night your pleasure, although we,
Who are the actors, fear 'twill rather be
Your patience; and if any mirth, we may
Sadly suspect, 'twill rise quite the wrong way.
But you have mercy, sir; and from your eye,
Bright madam, never yet did lightning fly;
But vital beams of favour, such as give
A growth to all who can deserve to live.
Why should the author tremble then, or we
Distress our hopes, and such tormentors be
Of our own thoughts? since in those happy times
We live, when mercy's greater than the crimes.