William Habington, the son of Thomas Habington,[264] of Hendlip, in the county of Worcester, Esq., was born at the seat of his father, on the 4th, or, as others say, the 5th, of November 1605.[265] He received his education at St Omers and Paris, and at the former of these places was earnestly solicited to become one of the order of the Jesuits. On his return from Paris, being then at man's estate, he was instructed at home in matters of history by his father, and became an accomplished gentleman. He married Lucia, daughter of William Lord Powis, and is charged by Wood with running with the times, and being not unknown to Oliver Cromwell. He died the 30th of November 1654, and was buried in the vault at Hendlip, by the bodies of his father and grandfather.
Besides the play now republished, he was the author of—
1. Poems, under the title of "Castara," 4o, 1634; 12o, 1635, 1640.[266] They are divided into three parts, each under a different title, suitable to the subject: the first, written when he was suitor to his wife, is ushered in by a character of a mistress, written in prose: the second contains verses written to her after marriage; after which is a character of a friend, before several funeral elegies: and the third consists of Divine Poems, preceded by the portrait of a holy man.[267]
2. "Observations upon History." 8o, 1641.
3. "History of Edward IV., King of England," fo, 1640, written and published at the desire of King Charles I.[268]
Wood observes that the MSS. which our author and his father left[269] were then in the hands of the former's son, and might be made useful for the public, if in the possession of any other person.[270]
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.