It is sometimes precisely because of his limitations that a poet is interesting. The great genius is cosmopolitan—of all time and every age: the lesser star is personal and national, and often very valuably provincial. He has his unique and particular message, delivered in his own individual way, and, if it be a sincere and beautiful message, the world can ill afford to be without it. Moreover, there exists no infallible authority for determining the status of an author, "infinite riches in a little room" having been more than once revealed in a search through forgotten pages. With all the greater confidence do we remember, and repeat, these truths when the minor poet happens to be such an engaging person as William Habington—and one whose life was so representative in its very isolation.
Gentle by birth, and by nature a student, he seemed at one time claimed for the priesthood. But love, in the person of "Castara," came into Habington's life—and behold, his name comes down to us as poet instead. The single volume due to this inspiration is the foundation of his literary fame, and to a large extent the explanation of his life. Were all outer details of his biography lost, we should still know the heart of this austere but lovable young Englishman from the revelations of his Castara.
Happily, however, there are other channels of information. From the reign of Henry IV, the Habington (or Abington) family had been a
