Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hausted, Peter
HAUSTED, PETER (d. 1645), dramatist and divine, born at Oundle in Northamptonshire, was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge; became curate of Uppingham in Rutland; was afterwards rector of Hadham in Hertfordshire, and vicar of Gretton in Northamptonshire. At the outbreak of the civil wars he was made chaplain to the Earl of Northampton; on 1 Nov. 1642 he was created D.D. of Oxford. He died in the castle at Banbury during the siege in 1645.
He was among the contributors to ‘Genethliacum Illustrissimorum Principum Caroli et Mariæ a Musis Cantabrigiensibus celebratum,’ Cambridge, 1631, 4to. On the occasion of the royal visit to Cambridge in March 1631–2 he wrote a comedy (attacking simony and other abuses), ‘The Rival Friends,’ which was presented before their majesties with indifferent success. It was published at London in 1632, 4to, bearing on the title-page the announcement, ‘Cryed down by Boyes, Faction, Envie, and confident Ignorance, approv'd by the judicious, and now exposed to the publique censure.’ A copy in the British Museum has the actors' names written in a contemporary hand. In a satirical preface (ridiculed by James Duport in his commendatory verses before Randolph's ‘Jealous Lovers,’ 1632) he defended his play and assailed his detractors. The introductory dialogue between Venus, Phœbus, and Thetis is well written; and some graceful songs are interspersed throughout the play. A severe copy of verses on ‘The Rival Friends’ is printed in Huth's ‘Inedited Poetical Miscellanies,’ 1870. Hausted also wrote a Latin play, which was performed at Queens' College, Cambridge, ‘Senile Odium,’ Cambridge, 1633, 8vo; Edward King (Milton's ‘Lycidas’) and others prefixed commendatory Latin verses. His other works are: ‘Ten Sermons preached vpon Severall Svndayes and Saints Dayes,’ 1636, 4to; ‘Ad Populum. a Lecture to the People, with a Satyr against Separatists,’ 1644, 4to, reprinted in 1675; ‘Hymnus Tabaci; a Poem in Honour of Tabaco. Heroically composed by Raphael Thorius: made English,’ 1650, 8vo. The ‘Satyr’ originally appeared in 1642 with the initials ‘A. C.’ (Abraham Cowley) attached. Hausted wrote the inscription for Thomas Randolph's monument. An elegy by Hausted on the death of Colonel Robert Arden is preserved in Ashmole MSS. 36–7, fol. 125.
[Wood's Athenæ, ed. Bliss, i. 567, ii. 379; Wood's Fasti, ed. Bliss, ii. 50; Langbaine's English Dramatick Poets; Masson's Life of Milton, i. 214, 218–19. ]