"enough; but as all they did in this kind was not very confiderable, so it was a little later than the "earliest pieces of Mr. Waller. Heundoubtedly stands "first in the list of refiners,and,for ought I know, last too; for I queftion whether in Charles I.'s reign "English did not come to its full perfection, and "whether it has not had its Auguftan age as well as "the Latin. It seems to be already mixed with the foreign languages as far as its puritywill bear; and, "as chymifts fay of their menftruums, to be quite "fated with the infufion But pofterity will best judge of this. In the mean-time, it is a surprising "reflection, that between what Spenfer wrote laft, "and Waller first, there fhould not be much above 66 twenty years' diftance; and yet the one's language, "like the money of that time, is as current now as 66 ever; whilft the other's words are like old coins, one must go to an antiquary to understand their "true meaning and value. Such advances may a "great genius make when it undertakes any thing "in earnest!" Waller's Workswill always holda confiderable rank in English poetry, and his great abilities as an orator are indifputable; and though, as Mr. Stockdale obferves, "his behaviour on his trial was hypocri"tical, unmanly, and abject, yet the alarming oc"cafion of it, on which but few would have acquitted "themfelves with a determined fortitude, extenuVolume 1. D 66 ates it in fome measure to candour and humanity. "Let us not condemn him with untempered fe'verity, because he was not a prodigy which the "world hath feldom feen; because his character com"prifed not the poet, the orator, and the hero "His moral character will be viewed with lenity by "those whofe minds are actuated by humanity, and "who are properly acquainted with their own fail"ings; who confider the violence of the times in "which he lived, and who are accustomed to think "before they decide. " The epitaph on Mr. Waller's monument in Beaconsfield churchyardin Buckinghamshire, written by Mr Rymer, late Hifloriographer-royal. ON THE WEST END. Edmundi Waller hic jacet id quantum ON THE SOUTH SIDE. Heus, Viator! tumulatum vides Edmundum Waller qui tanti nominis Pocta, et idem avitis opibus, inter primos Spectabilis, Mufis fe dedit, et patriæ. Nondum Octodecenalis, inter ardua Regni tractantes fedem habuit, à Burgo de Agmondefham miffus. Hic vitæ Curfus; nec oneri defuit fenex; vixitque Semper populo charus, principibus in Deliciis, admirationi omnibus. Hic conditur tumulo fub eodem rara Virtute et multa prole nobilis uxor, Maria ex Breffyorum familia, cum Edmundo Waller, conjuge clariffimo: Quem ter et decies lætum fecit patrem, V filiis, filiabus viii; quos mundo dedit, Et in cœlum rediit. ON THE EAST END. Edmundus Waller cui hoc marmor Sacrum eft, Colefhill nafcendi locum Habuit, Cantabrigiam ftudendi; patrem Robertum et ex Hampdena ftirpe matrem: Capit vivere i Martii, . D 1605. Prima uxor Anna Edwardi Banks filia Unica hæres En prima bi pater fa&tus; Ex fecunda tredecies; cui et duo luitra Superftes, obiit xxi Octob. A. D. 1087, ON THE NORTH SIDE. Ipfe fugit. El W. 1. F. H. G. Ex teftamento Preface to the first edition of Mr. Waller's Poems, after the refloration, printed in the year 1664. WHEN the Author of these verses (written only to please himself, and such particular persons to whom they were directed) returned from abroad fome years fince, he was troubled to find his name in print, but fomewhat fatisfied to see his lines fo ill rendered that he might juftly disown them, and fay to a mistaking printer as one did to an ill reciter, * Male dum recitas, incipit effe tuus. Having been ever fince preffed to correct the many and grofs faults, (fuch as ufe to be in impreffions wholly neglected by the authors) his anfwer was, that he made thefe when ill verfes had more favour, and escaped better, than good ones do in this age, the feverity whereof he thought not unhappily diverted, by thofe faults in the impreffion which hitherto have hung upon his book, as the Turks hang old rags, or fuch like ugly things, upon their faireft horfes, and other goodly creatures, to fecure them against fafcination. And for thofe of a more confined understanding, who pretend not to cenfure, as they admire moft what they leaft comprehend, fo his verses (mained to that degree that himself fcarce knew what to make of many of them) might, that way at leaft have a title to fome admiration; which is no Imall matter, if what * Martial, lib. i. ep. 39. |