HACKET, JOHN, bishop of Litchfield and Coventry, was born in the year 1592. In 1623 he was made chaplain to James I. and prebendary of Lincoln; and soon afterwards he obtained the rectory of St Andrew's, Holborn, with that of Cheam in Surrey, his patron observing, that he intended Holborn for wealth, and Cheam for health. In 1642 he was presented to a prebendary and residentiary; but he was deprived of the enjoyment of them, as well as of St Andrew's, by the ensuing troubles. He then lived retired at Cheam, until he recovered his preferences at the restoration of Charles II. by whom he was preferred to the see of Litchfield and Coventry in 1661. Finding the beautiful cathedral of Litchfield almost battered to the ground, he in eight years finished a complete church superior to the former one, at an expense of L. 20,000, excepting L. 1000 which he received from the dean and chapter, with what he could procure from private benefactors. He laid out L. 1000 on a prebendal house, his palaces at Litchfield and Eccleshall having been demolished during the civil wars; and, besides these acts of munificence, he left several other benefactions at his death, which took place in 1670. He published, before he entered into orders, a comedy entitled Loyola, which was twice acted before King James I. After his death there appeared a Century of his Sermons on several Remarkable Subjects, in folio; and The Life of Archbishop Williams, also in folio, which was abridged by Ambrose Philips in 1700.