Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 23.djvu/423

 in constructing secret chambers. There were no fewer than eleven of them, hidden behind the wainscots of rooms, built in the form of false chimneys, or accessible only by trapdoors. The position of Hindlip, on a hill which commanded a view over a large extent of country, made it a convenient place of refuge, and Habington successfully concealed his friends. After the failure of the Gunpowder plot, Habington's chaplain, Oldcorn, sent a message to the Jesuit provincial, [q. v.] inviting him to take refuge there. He came accompanied by two lay brothers; but suspicion was aroused, and a neighbouring magistrate, Sir Henry Bromley, received orders to search the house. It was not till after twelve days spent in vigilant investigation that the hiding-place was discovered, 30 Jan. 1606 (, Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot, p. 185, and App. i.) Though Habington had no share in the plot, he 'was arrested for concealing traitors, but was released owing to the intercession of Lord Monteagle. There is a tradition that the letter warning Lord Monteagle was written by Mrs. Habington, and perhaps this belief weighed in her husband's favour. After this he was forbidden to leave Worcestershire, and applied himself with increased vigour to antiquarian research. He lived to the age of eighty-seven, and died at Hindlip on 8 Oct. 1647. He married Mary, daughter of Edward, lord Morley, by Elizabeth, daughter of William, lord Monteagle. There are portraits of him and his wife engraved in Nash's 'History of Worcestershire,' vol. i.

During his imprisonment in the Tower Habington translated Gildas's 'De excidio et conquestu Britanniæ,' which was published with a preface, London, 1638 and 1641. He also wrote part of the 'Historie of Edward IV of England,' which was published by his son William, at the command of Charles I, London, 1640, reprinted in Kennett's 'History of England,' i. 429, &c. But his important works were his manuscript collections for the history of Worcestershire, civil and ecclesiastical. The ecclesiastical portion, 'The Antiquities of the Cathedral Church of Worcester; to which are added Antiquities of the Cathedral Churches of Chichester and Lichfield,' was published, London, 1717 and 1723; but it was rapidly absorbed and superseded by William Thomas in his 'Survey of Worcester Cathedral,' published in 1736. The fortunes of his other manuscripts are described by Nash in the introduction to his 'History of Worcestershire;' they were used by Nash for that work, and are now in the library of the Society of Antiquaries. An account of them is given in Ellis's 'Catalogue of MSS. of the Society of Antiquaries,' pp. 48-9. Other manuscripts of Habington's at Stamford Court, Worcestershire, are described in 'Hist. MSS. Comm.' 1st Rep. p. 53.

 HABINGTON, WILLIAM (1605–1654), poet, son of [q. v.], was born at Hindlip, Worcestershire, 4 or 5 Nov. 1605. He was educated at St. Omer's and at Paris. Being pressed by the Jesuits to join their order, he returned to England to escape their importunity. Wood (Athenæ, ed. Bliss, iii. 224) is usually quoted as the sole authority for this statement; but Wood's information was drawn from James Wadsworth's 'English Spanish Pilgrime,' 1629. Some time between 1630 and 1633 Habington married Lucy Herbert, youngest daughter of William Herbert, first baron Powis; and in 1634 he issued anonymously 'Castara,' 4to, 2 pts., a collection of poems in her praise. A second edition, to which were added three prose characters and twenty-six new poems, was published in 1635, 12mo; and in this edition the author's name occurs in the title of G. Talbot's commendatory verses. In 1640 appeared a third edition, 12mo (frontispiece by Marshall), with an additional third part containing the character of 'The Holy Man' and twenty-two devotional or meditative poems. Habington claims credit in his preface for the purity of his muse. 'In all those flames,' he writes, 'in which I burned I never felt a wanton heate, nor was my invention ever sinister from the straite way of chastity.' He also dwells upon Castara's chastity with wearisome iteration. Though they are wanting in ardour, the love-verses are elegantly written; and the elegies on his kinsman Talbot are tender and sincere. Several poems are addressed to friends of noble rank, and there is a poem to Endymion Porter. Habington is the author of one play, carefully written, but inanimate, the 'Queene of Arragon. A TragiComedie,' 1640, fol., which was revived at the Restoration, when Samuel Butler contributed a prologue and epilogue. From Butler's 'Remains,' i. 185, we learn that Habington communicated the play to Philip, earl of Pembroke, who caused it 'to be acted at court, and afterwards published against the author's consent.' Habington published two prose works: (1) 'The History of Edward the Fourth, King of England,' 1640, fol. (reprinted in Kennett's 'Complete History of England,' 1706), which was chiefly compiled from materials collected by his father,