diminished, but he hints that he was trusted with the secret of their communications with the Prince of Orange (State Trials, ix. 960). In January 1689 Hampden represented Wendover in the Convention parliament, and became prominent in it as a spokesman of the extreme whigs. His zeal for popular rights brought on him the imputation of republicanism, although he expressly denied that he was for a commonwealth (Grey, Debates, ix. 36, 488). He supported the grant of 'an indulgence to nonconformists, and opposed the proviso in the Toleration Act which restricted its benefits to trinitarians (ib. ix. 253). On the question of the limits of the Act of Indemnity his voice naturally carried some weight. 'I have suffered,' he said, 'yet I can forget and forgive as much as may be for the safety of the nation.' He insisted, however, that all who were directly responsible for the shedding of innocent blood by legal process during the last two reigns should be punished (ib. ix. 322, 361, 536). On 13 Nov. 1689 Hampden was sent for by the lords to declare what he knew as to the advisers and prosecutors of Sidney, Russell, and others. In his evidence before the lords he gave a detailed account of his own sufferings, but threw little light on the fate of his associates, and made an ill-timed and ineffectual attack on the Marquis of Halifax [see Savile, George] (State Trials, ix. 960). It does not appear that Hampden was actuated by any special animosity to Halifax. It was rather part of a general plan to drive from office all those ministers of the late king who were still employed by William III. On 13 Dec. he followed it up by a vigorous speech against those ministers in the commons, referring especially to Godolphin, Nottingham, and Halifax, and attributing all the miscarriages of the war to their continued employment: 'If we must be ruined again, let it be by new men' (Grey, Debates, ix. 486). Owing no doubt to this opposition to the government, Hampden failed to secure a seat in the parliament of 1690, and his political career came abruptly to an end. He still sought to influence opinion by pamphlets, and published in 1692 a tract against the excise entitled (1) 'Some Considerations concerning the most proper Way of raising Money in the present conjuncture,' and another attacking the ministry, (2) 'Some Short Considerations concerning the State of the Nation.' There is also attributed to him (in conjunction with Major Wildman) (3) 'An Inquiry or Discourse between a Yeoman of Kent and a Knight of the Shire upon the Prorogation of the Parliament to May 2, 1693, and the King's refusing to sign the Triennial Bill' (A Collection of State Tracts published during the Reign of King William III, folio, 1706, ii. 309, 320, 330), and also (4) 'A Letter to Mr. Samuel Johnson, occasioned by his Argument proving that the Abrogation of the late King James . . . was according to the Constitution of the English Government,' 1693. In December 1696 a vacancy took place in the representation of Buckinghamshire, and Hampden hoped to be again elected for his native county, but the official leaders of the whigs were opposed to his candidature, and the hostility of Wharton rendered it hopeless. This disappointment increased his despondency, and on 10 Dec. he cut his throat with a razor, dying two days later (Luttrell, Diary, iv. 147, 153; Vernon Papers, 1841, i. 121, 124). On his deathbed he expressed much penitence for the sceptical views he had derived from Simon, and drew up a confession for circulation among his friends (printed in the 'Gentleman's Magazine,' 1733 p. 231, 1756 p. 121, and by Noble, 'House of Cromwell,' 1787, ii. 82).
In his account of Hampden's career Macaulay is in several instances inaccurate and unfair (see especially History of England, ed. 1858, vol. v. chap. xv. 141-4), but his general judgment of his character is just. 'Hampden's abilities were considerable, and had been carefully cultivated. Unhappily ambition and party spirit impelled him to place himself in a situation full of danger. To that danger his fortitude proved unequal. He stooped to supplications which saved him and dishonoured him. From that momentl he never knew peace of mind' (ib. vol. vii. chap. xxi. 248).
Hampden married twice: first, Sarah (d. 1687), daughter of Thomas Foley of Witley Court, Worcestershire, and widow of Essex Knightley of Fawsley, Northamptonshire, by whom he had issue Richard and Letitia; secondly, Anne Cornwallis, by whom he had two children, John and Anne (Lipscomb, Buckinghamshire, ii. 265)
[Lives of Hampden are given in Lipscomb's Buckinghamshire and Noble's Memoirs of the House of Cromwell.]
HAMPDEN, RENN DICKSON (1793–1868), bishop of Hereford, eldest son of Renn Hampden, a colonel of militia in Barbadoes, by his wife Frances Raven, was born in Barbadoes 29 March 1793. He was sent to England in 1798, and educated by the Rev. M. Rowlandson, vicar of Warminster, Wiltshire, from that date to 1810. He entered as a commoner at Oriel College, Oxford, on 9 May 1810, and at the examination in Michaelmas
