Part 1

Transcriber's Note

Archaic, dialectical and other spellings not in current usage have been left as in the original book. Obvious misprints have been fixed. Details of the changes appear at the end of the text.

ENGLISH REPRINTS

WILLIAM HABINGTON

Castara

THE THIRD EDITION OF 1640; EDITED AND COLLATED WITH THE EARLIER ONES OF 1634, 1635

EDITED BY

EDWARD ARBER

F.S.A. ETC. LATE EXAMINER IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE TO THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

WESTMINSTER A. CONSTABLE AND CO. 1895

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION, 3

BIBLIOGRAPHY, with FIRST LINES, etc., of the three first editions, showing the growth of the work, 5

CASTARA. The first Part, 9

(1) THE AUTHOR, 11 (2) GEORGE TALBOT, To his best friend and Kinsman _William Habington_, Esquire, 14 (3) A CHARACTER. _A Mistress_, 15 (4) FIFTY-SEVEN Poems, chiefly on Love and Courtship, 17

CASTARA. The second Part, 55

(1) A CHARACTER. _A Wife_, 57 (2) FIFTY Poems, chiefly on Wedded Happiness, 59 (3) A CHARACTER. _A Friend_, 99 (4) EIGHT Elegies, _The Funerals of the Honourable my best friend and Kinsman_, GEORGE TALBOT, Esquire, 101

CASTARA. The third Part, 111

(1) A CHARACTER. _A Holy Man_, 112 (2) TWENTY-TWO Poems, chiefly Sacred, with Scripture Texts, 115

_INTRODUCTION._

The old English family of HABINGDON, ABINGDON, HABINGTON, or ABINGTON traced their pedigree beyond the reign of Henry III., to PHILIP DE HABINGTON, of Abingdon, co. Cambridge: but that branch of the family from which our Poet sprang, descended from RICHARD HABINGTON, of Brokhampton, whose _third_ son JOHN was coifferer to Queen Elizabeth. This JOHN HABINGTON, our Poet's grand-father, bought Hindlip Hall, an estate beautifully situated about four miles from Worcester. He married twice. By his second wife he had two sons, THOMAS; and EDWARD, who was executed for Babington's plot in 1586.

Anthony-a-Wood gives this account of THOMAS HABINGTON. He 'was born at Thorpe near to Chertsey in Surrey, on the 23 Aug. 1560, (at which time and before the manor thereof belonged to his father) and at about 16 years of age he became a commoner of Lincoln Coll. Where spending about three years in academicall studies, was taken thence by his father and sent to the universities of Paris and Rheimes in France. After some time spent there in good letters, he return'd into England, and expressing and shewing himself an adherent to Mary qu. of Scots (who plotted with Anth. Babington against qu. Elizabeth) was committed prisoner to the Tower of London, where continuing six years, he profited more in that time in several sorts of learning, then he had before in all his life. Afterwards he retired to Hendlip (the manor of which his father had settled upon him) took to wife Mary the eldest daughter of Edward lord Morley by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and sole heir of Sir William Stanley knight, lord Mounteagle; and at riper years survey'd Worcestershire, made a collection of most of its antiquities from records, registers, evidences both private and public, monumental inscriptions and arms.... At length, after he had lived to the age of 87 years, surrendred up his pious soul to God at Hendlip near Worcester on the 8th October 1647, and was buried by his father in a vault under the chancel of the church there.' _Ath. Oxon. iii. 222. Ed. 1817._

Hindlip Hall was full of lurking places. T. NASH in his _Hist. of Worc. i._ 585-7, gives a transcript of _Ashmole's MSS. Vol._ 804, _fol._ 93, at Oxford: which is a most graphic description of a search, _for eleven nights and twelve days_, in Jan. 1605, through the house: wherein Garnett the Jesuit and others were discovered, who were afterwards executed.

2. THOMAS HABINGTON = MARY PARKER, d. of Lord MORLEY. b. 1560--d. 1647. æt. 87. | [Mary Habington is said to have written | the letter revealing the Gunpowder Plot.] +-------------+-------------+--------------------------+ | | | WILLIAM = LUCY HERBERT. d. MARY = W. COMPTON. and other b. 1605-d. 1654.| Lord POWIS. | children. +------------+--+ | | | W. Compton. d. 1731, THOMAS. CATHERINE = Osborne. made a Bart. 6 May d. unmarried. | 1686. He left Hindlip +--+---+ estate to Sir W. | | Compton, Bart. Lucy. Eleanor.

3. Wood's account of our Poet is perhaps the most authentic. "WILLIAM HABINGTON, was born at Hendlip, on the fourth [So have I been instructed by letters from his son Tho. Habington esq.: dated 5 Jan. 1672.] (some say the fifth) day of November 1605, educated in S. Omers and Paris; in the first of which he was earnestly invited to take upon him the habit of the Jesuits, but by excuses got free and left them. After 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.... This person, Will. Habington, who did then run with the times, and was not unknown [what does Wood mean by this?] to Oliver the usurper, died on the 30th of November 1654, and was buried in the vault before-mentioned by the bodies of his father and grand-father. The MSS. which he (and his father) left behind, are in the hands of his son Thomas, and might be made useful for the public, if in others."--_Ath. Oxon. iii. 223. Ed. 1817._

4. The Habingtons were connected with the Talbots through the above RICHARD HABINGTON'S second son RICHARD HABINGTON, whose grand-daughter ELEANOR BASKERVILLE married JOHN TALBOT of Longdon: and became the mother of (1) JOHN, Lord TALBOT 10th Earl of SHREWSBURY, who succeeded his bachelor uncle GEORGE TALBOT, the 9th Earl (lamented by our Poet at _p._ 77) on his death, 2d April 1630: (2) of GEORGE TALBOT, our author's bosom friend, who died young and unmarried; and of other children.

5. The second son of the Earl of PEMBROKE, Sir WILLIAM HERBERT, was created on 2d April 1629, 1st Baron POWIS. He had three children by ELEANOR, youngest daughter of HENRY PERCY, 10th Earl of NORTHUMBERLAND, Sir PERCY HERBERT, CATHERINE HERBERT, and LUCY HERBERT. This Lucy Herbert is _Castara_.

6. A concurrence of allusions would seem to fix Habington's marriage with Lucy Herbert, between 1630 and 1633: later than which it cannot be: as the anniversary of his wedding day is celebrated in verse, at _p._ 80. Most of the poems relate to

'those of my blood And my _Castara's_.'

There is in their arrangement, a slight thread of continuity. We are to realize the young Englishman, of good family, possibly not unhandsome, wooing--with a culture and grace acquired in France--the young English beauty: possibly under some disadvantage, being neither possessed of high station nor large fortune; and the lady's father too having just been made a Peer. The wooing beginning in town migrates to Marlow.

See, he from _Marlow_ sends His eyes to _Seymours_. _p._ 41.

The lovers meeting 'under the kind shade of this tree' is noticed. In sum, the details of a pure courtship leading up to a happy marriage.

In "_Wits Recreations_, Selected [by the bookseller Humphry Blunden] from the Finest Fancies of Moderne Muses. London, 1640:" is the following.

19. _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 deny'd) The fair _Castara_ for thy vertuous bride: Enjoy what you dare wish, and may there be, Fair issues branch from both, to honor thee.

Again, the after incidents of life are alluded to, in the poems; _Castara_ has a fever but she recovers, she mourns over the loss of friends, and the like: while, the brightness and fancifulness of this earlier poesy but reflect the happiness of the Poet's home.

7. There are also songs of Friendship. As where he reproaches his bosom friend Talbot for not having seen him for three days, at _p._ 39, or where he consoles him for the hard usage he has received from that jilt _Astrodora_, at _p._ 82: and most of all, in the eight passionate Elegies over his decease.

8. Occasionally there is a bit of lashing satire, as that against the cravings of Poets, at _p._ 50: or of dry humour, as in

Come therefore blest even in the Lollards zeale Who canst with conscience safe, 'fore hen and veale Say grace in Latine, while I faintly sing A Penitentiall verse in oyle and Ling. _p._ 64.

9. Lastly: strangely intermingled are Requiems over the mortality of Man, the vanity and uncertainty of all things; leading almost to a disgust with life. Of this he thus gives the key-note in saying at _p._ 114, 'When the necessities of nature returne him downe to earth, he esteemes it a place he is condemned to.... To live he knows a benefit, and the contempt of it ingratitude, and therefore loves, but not doates on life.' To this frame of thought may be opposed the keen wise saying of a great contemporary: Selden.

"Whilst you are upon Earth enjoy the good things that are here (to that end were they given) and be not melancholly, and wish yourself in Heaven. If a King should give you the keeping of a Castle, with all things belonging to it, Orchards, Gardens, &_c._, and bid you use them; withal promise you that after twenty years to remove you to Court, and to make you a Privy Councellor. If you should neglect your Castle, and refuse to eat of those fruits, and sit down, and whine, and wish you were a Privy Councellor, do you think the King would be pleased with you?"--_Table Talk, p. 84. Ed. 1867._

Our wisdom is to recognise the representations of Habington, and to live in the spirit of Selden: thus 'using the world as not abusing it.'

* * * * *

William Habington's works were published in the following order:--

1634. _Castara._ First edition in 4to.

1635. _Castara._ Second edition in 12mo.

1639-40. _Castara._ Third edition in 12mo.

1640. _The Historie of Edward the Fourth, King of England._ By Wm. Habington Esquire. London. Fol. 'Written and published as the desire of K. Charles I.': in which his father also 'had a considerable hand.'

1640. _The Queene of Arragon._ A Tragi-Comedie. London. 1640. 'Which play he communicating to Philip earl of Pembroke, lord chamberlain of the houshold to K. Charles I. he caused it to be acted at court, and afterwards to be published against the author's will.' _Wood_: _idem._ It was revived at the Restoration: with a Prologue and Epilogue by S. BUTLER. _Remains_, i. 185. Ed. by Thyer, 1759. It is reprinted in Dodsley's _Old Plays, ix._ 333. _Ed._ 1825.

1641. _Observations upon Historie._ London. These historical notes are six in number, upon as many points in modern History: as the death of Richard I; the battle of Varna, 1444; the fall of Constantinople; the abdication of Charles V.; &c.

_BIBLIOGRAPHY._

With FIRST LINES, &c. of the three first editions, showing the growth of the work.

(a) ISSUES IN THE AUTHOR'S LIFETIME.

I. _As a separate publication._

1. "=CASTARA=, &c. LONDON, Printed by _Anne Griffin_ for _William Cooke_, and are to be sold at his shop neare _Furnivals Inne_ gate in Holburne. 1634. 4to."

Perfectly anonymous: all names being represented by initials. It consists of only two Parts, each having a separate title page; in which Parts are contained the following:

_CASTARA._ THE FIRST PART. PAGE

i. The Author. [A Prose Preface] 11 ii. G[EORGE] T[ALBOT]. Not in the silence of content, and store 14 iii. FIFTY-THREE Poems, by WILLIAM HABINGTON. 1. Let the chaste Phœnix from the flowry East, 17 2. I saw _Castara_ pray, and from the skie, 17 3. Yee blushing Virgins happie are 18 4. By those chaste lamps which yeeld a silent light 18 5. Where am I? not in heaven: for oh I feele 19 6. Not still ith' shine of Kings. Thou dost retire 19 7. Doe not their prophane Orgies heare, 20 8. Sing forth sweete Cherubin (for we have choice 21 9. In vaine faire sorceresse, thy eyes speake charmes, 22 10. While you dare trust the loudest tongue of fame, 22 11. Why doth the stubborne iron prove 23 12. Transfix me with that flaming dart 24 13. Wing'd with delight (yet such as still doth beare 25 14. Learned shade of _Tycho Brache_, who to us, 26 15. Ye glorious wits, who finde then Parian stone 26 16. If she should dye, (as well suspect we may, 27 17. You younger children of your father stay, 27 18. Fond Love himselfe hopes to disguise 28 19. FEARE. Checke thy forward thoughts, and know 28 20. Nimble boy in thy warme flight, 29 21. _Cupids_ dead, who would not dye, 30 22. Fly on thy swiftest wing, ambitious Fame, 30 23. ARAPHILL. Dost not thou _Castara_ read 31 24. Why haste you hence _Castara_? Can the earth, 32 25. I am engag'd to sorrow, and my heart 33 26. Th' Arabian wind, whose breathing gently blows 33 27. Looke backe _Castara_. From thy eye 33 28. Tis madnesse to give physicke to the dead; 34 29. The lesser people of the ayre conspire 34 30. Swift in thy watry chariot, courteous _Thames_, 35 31. My Muse (great Lord) when last you heard her sing 35 32. Thankes _Cupid_, but the Coach of _Venus_ moves 36 33. How fancie mockes me? By th' effect I prove, 37 34. Faire Mistresse of the earth, with garlands crown'd, 37 35. With your calme precepts goe, and lay a storme, 38 36. Tis I _Castara_, who when thou wert gone, 38 37. Pronounce me guilty of a Blacker crime, 39 38. Thrice hath the pale-fac'd Empresse of the night, 39 39. Scorn'd in thy watry Urne _Narcissus_ lye, 40 40. Banisht from you, I charg'd the nimble winde, 40 41. Blest Temple, haile, where the Chast Altar stands, 41 42. Bright Dew which dost the field adorne 41 43. Stay under the kinde shadow of this tree 42 44. Dare not too farre _Castara_, for the shade 43 45. Vowes are vaine. No suppliant breath 43 46. Night. Let silence close my troubled eyes, 44 47. Your judgement's cleere, not wrinckled with the Time, 45 48. What should we feare _Castara_? The coole aire, 46 49. More welcome my _Castara_, then was light 46 50. Why dost thou looke so pale, decrepit man? 52 51. T'was Night: when _Phœbe_ guided by thy rayes, 52 52. Why would you blush _Castara_, when the name 53 53. Like the Violet which alone 53

_CASTARA._ THE SECOND PART.

iv. THIRTY-SIX more Poems. 54. This day is ours. The marriage Angell now 59 55. Did you not see, _Castara_, when the King 59 56. Whose whispers soft as those which lovers breath 60 57. Forsake me not so soone. _Castara_ stay, 61 58. Hence prophane grim man, nor dare 61 59. Sleepe my _Castara_, silence doth invite 62 60. She is restor'd to life. Unthrifty Death, 62 61. May you drinke beare, or that adult'rate wine 63 62. _Castara_ whisper in some dead mans eare, 64 63. Forsake with me the earth, my faire, 64 64. _Castara_ weepe not, though her tombe appeare 65 65. What's death more than departure; the dead go 67 66. _Castara!_ O you are too prodigall 67 67. I heard a sigh, and something in my eare 68 68. You saw our loves, and prais'd the mutuall flame 68 69. Why should we build, _Castara_, in the aire 69 70. _Castara_, see that dust, the sportive wind 70 71. Were but that sigh a penitentiall breath 70 72. ARAPHILL. _Castara_ you too fondly court 71 73. My thoughts are not so rugged, nor doth earth 72 74. Tyrant o're tyrants, thou who onely dost 73 75. The breath of time shall blast the flowry Spring, 73 76. The reverend man by magicke of his prayer 74 77. Thy vowes are heard, and thy _Castara's_ name 75 78. Thou dreame of madmen, ever changing gale, 75 79. Were we by fate throwne downe below our feare 76 80. What can the freedome of our love enthrall? 76 81. Bright Saint, thy pardon, if my sadder verse 77 82. I like the greene plush which your meadows weare 78 83. Thou art return'd (great Light) to that blest houre 80 84. They meet but with unwholesome Springs 80 85. The Laurell doth your reverend temples wreath 81 86. 'Bout th' husband Oke, the Vine 82 87. Let not thy grones force Eccho from her cave, 82 88. We saw and woo'd each others eyes 83 89. Here Virgin fix thy pillars, and command 98

2. "_CASTARA_, &c. The Second Edition. Corrected and Augmented. London. Printed by _B. A._ and _T. F._ for _Will. Cooke_, and are to bee sold at his shop neare _Furnivals-Inne_ Gate in _Holburne_, 1635. 12mo."

In this second edition, the authorship is avowed by means of a new heading to G. Talbot's poem, at _p._ 14. It still consists of but two Parts, each with a separate title: but is augmented by three Characters in prose and twenty-six poems; all by Habington.

_CASTARA._ THE FIRST PART.

i. A CHARACTER. _A Mistris._ 15 ii. FOUR additional poems are inserted. 90. Hee who is good is happy. Let the loude 47 91. Harke, how the traytor winde doth court 49 92. It shall not grieve me (friend) though what I write 50 93. You who are earth, and cannot rise 51

_CASTARA._ THE SECOND PART.

iii. A CHARACTER. _A Wife._ 57 iv. FOURTEEN additional Poems. 94. Though my deare _Talbots_ Fate exact, a sad 84 95. If your example be obey'd 86 96. Its false Arithmaticke to say thy breath 88 97. Why should we feare to melt away in death 89 98. When _Pelion_ wondring saw, that raine which fell 89 99. O whither dost thou flye? Cannot my vow 90 100. Where sleepes the North-wind when the South inspires 90 101. Should the cold _Muscovit_, whose furre and stove 91 102. _Amphion_, O thou holy shade 92 103. You'd leave the silence in which safe we are 92 104. Give me a heart where no impure 94 105. Why doth the eare so tempt the voyce, 95 106. I hate the Countries durt and manners, yet 96 107. I wonder when w'are dead, what men will say; 97 v. A CHARACTER. _A Friend._ vi. EIGHT Elegies "_The Funerals of the Honourable, my best Friend and Kinsman_, GEORGE TALBOT, Esq." 101 108. (1) Twere malice to the fame; to weepe alone 101 109. (2) _Talbot_ is dead. Like lightning which no part 102 110. (3) Let me contemplate thee (faire soule) and though 103 111. (4) My name, dear friend, even thy expiring breath 104 112. (5) Chast as the Nuns first vow, as fairely bright 105 113. (6) Goe stop the swift-wing'd moments in their flight 107 114. (7) There is no peace in sinne. Æternall war 108 115. (8) Boast not the rev'rend Vatican, nor all 109

3. 1640. Third Edition in 12mo: with Titles, Characters, and Poems arranged in the order here reprinted. For titles, see _pp._ 9, 55, 111. There are no further additions to the first two parts: but there is added an entire Third Part.

_CASTARA._ THIRD PART.