[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.]