HAMPDEN, JOHN (c. 1656-1696), the second son of Richard Hampden (1631-1695), returned to England of ter resid ing for about two years in France, and joined himself to Lord William Russell and Algernon Sidney and the party opposed to the arbitrary government of Charles II. With Russell and Sidney he was arrested in 1683 for alleged complicity in the Rye House plot; as he could not pay the fine of f40,000 imposed upon him he remained in prison. In 1685, after the failure of Monmouth's rising, Hampden was again brought to trial, and on a charge of high treason was condemned to death. But the sentence was not carried out, and having paid f 6,00o he was set at liberty. In the Convention parliament of 1689 he represented Wendover. He died by his own hand on Dec. 12, 1696. Bishop Burnet, who was one of his friends, described him as "one of the learnedest gentlemen I ever knew."