Hampden

( John ), was born in London, but after his marriage lived as a country squire. He was imprisoned in the gatehouse for refusing to pay a tax called ship-money, imposed without the authority of parliament. The case was tried in the Exchequer Chamber, in 1638, and given against him. He threw himself heart and soul into the busine of the Long Parliament, and commanded a troop in the parliamentary army. In 1643 he fell in an encounter with Prince Rupert; but he has ever been honored as a patriot, and the defender of the rights of the people (1597-1643). [ Shall ] Hampden no more, when suffering Freedom calls, Encounter Fate, and triumph as he falls? Campbell, Pleasures of Hope , i. (1790). Some village Hampden, that with dauntle breast, The little tyrant of his fields withstood. Grey, Elegy (1749).