Thomas Habington, and is said to have been published at the desire of Charles I; (2) 'Observations upon Historie,' 1641, 8vo. He died 30 Nov. 1654, and was buried in the vault at Hindlip. Wood says that he took the republican side, and was not unknown to Cromwell. He left a son, Thomas Habington.
Commendatory verses by Habington are prefixed to Sir William D'Avenant's 'Albovine,' 1629; Shirley's 'Wedding,' 1629; and the 1647 folio of Beaumont and Fletcher. He was also one of the contributors to 'Jonsonus Virbius,' 1638. There are six lines to him in 'Wit's Recreations.' The best estimate of his poetical abilities is supplied by himself in the preface to 'Castara:' 'If not too indulgent to what is my owne, I think even these verses will have that proportion in the world's opinion that heaven hath allotted me in fortune ; not so high as to be wondred at, nor so low as to be contemned.' 'Castara' was edited by Charles Elton, Bristol, 1816, and is included in Mr. Arber's 'English Reprints,' 1870. The 'Queene of Arragon' has been reprinted in the various editions of Dodsley's 'Old Plays.'
[Wood's Athenæ, ed. Bliss, ii. 224-5 ; Add. MS. 24488, fol. 461-5 (Hunter's Chorus Vatum); Phillips's Theatrum Poetarum ; Dodsley's Old Plays, ed. Hazlitt, xiii. 323-5.]
HACK, MARIA (1777–1844), authoress, was born of quaker parentage at Carlisle on 16 Nov. 1777. Her father was John Barton of that city; her mother's maiden name was Maria Done, and a younger brother was Bernard Barton, a friend of Charles Lamb. On 7 Nov. 1800 she married, at Tottenham, Stephen Hack, merchant of Chichester. Her eldest son, John Barton Hack, was an early settler in Adelaide; a daughter, Margaret, married T. Gates Darton, the publisher, and was author of 'The Earth and its Inhabitants.' On her husband's death she removed to Southampton, and, with some of her children joined the church of England (Athenæum, 24 Dec. 1892). She wrote many books for the amusement and instruction of children, several of which have been frequently reprinted. She died on 4 Jan. 1844, aged 66, at Bevis Hill, Southampton (Gent. Mag. new ser. xxi. 219). Her writings are: 1. 'First Lessons in English Grammar. By M. H.,' 12mo, Chichester, 1812. 2. 'The Winter Scene. By M. H.,' London, 1818, 12mo. 3. 'Winter Evenings; or Tales of Travellers,' 4 vols., London, 1818, 12mo (new edit., with illustrations [1840?]). 4. 'Grecian Stories, taken from the Works of eminent Historians, with explanatory Conversations,' London, 1819, 12mo. 5. 'English Stories, illustrating … Events and Characters between the Accession of Alfred and the Death of John,' London, 1820, 12mo. 6. 'English Stories. Second Series, including the period between the Accession of Henry the Third and the Death of Henry the Sixth,' London, 1820, 12mo. 7. 'Harry Beaufoy; or the Pupil of Nature,' London, 1821, 12mo ; 3rd edit. 1830. 8. 'Familiar Illustrations of the principal Evidences and Design of Christianity,' London, 1824, 12mo. 9. 'Grecian Stories: the explanatory remarks originally introduced in the form of conversation being now incorporated with the narrative. 2nd edit.,' London, 1824, 18mo. 10. 'English Stories. Third Series, illustrating the progress of the Reformation under the Tudor Princes,' London, 1825, 12mo. 11. 'Oriental Fragments,' London, 1828, 12mo. 12. 'Geological Sketches and Glimpses of the Ancient Earth,' London, 1832, 12mo. 13. 'Lectures at Home,' London, 1834, 12mo. 14. 'The Christian Ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper not Typical Rites,' London, 1837, 12mo. 15. 'Stories of Animals,' 16mo. 16. 'A Second Series of Stories of Animals,' 16mo. 17. 'The Child's Atlas.… With a Book of Definitions and Questions.' 18. 'A Geographical Panorama. … With a Book of Directions.'
[Joseph Smith's Cat. of Friends' Books, i. 900-902; The Friend, February 1844.]
HACKER, FRANCIS (d. 1660), regicide, was third son of Francis Hacker of East Bridgeford and Colston Basset, Nottinghamshire, by Margaret, daughter of Walter Whalley of Cotgrave (Briscoe, Old Nottinghamshire, 1st ser. p. 130). From the outbreak of the civil war Hacker vehemently supported the parliamentary cause, though the rest of his family seem to have been royalists. On 10 July 1644 he was appointed one of the militia committee for the county of Leicester, the scene of most of his exploits during the civil war (Husband, Ordinances, 1646, p. 521). On 27 Nov. 1643 he and several others of the Leicestershire committee were surprised and taken prisoners at Melton Mowbray by Gervase Lucas, the royalist governor of Belvoir Castle. A month later parliament ordered that he should be exchanged for Colonel Sands (Commons' Journals, 25 Dec. 1643). At the capture of Leicester by the king in May 1645 Hacker, who distinguished himself in the defence, was again taken prisoner (J.F. Hollings, History of Leicester during the Civil War, pp. 53, 62). Hacker was nevertheless attacked for his conduct during the defence, but he was warmly defended in a pamphlet published by the Leicester committee. His services are there enumerated at length, and special commendation is bestowed on his conduct at the taking of Bagworth House and his defeat of the enemy at Belvoir, where he was in command of the Leicester, Nottingham, and Derby horse. Hacker is further credited with having freely given 'all the prizes that ever he took' to the state and to his soldiers, and with having, while prisoner at Belvoir, refused with scorn an offer of 'pardon and the command of a regiment of horse to change his side.' 'At the king's taking of Leicester,' the pamphleteer proceeds, he 'was so much prized by the enemy as they offered him the
