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"it, and then preferved him again from the reproach "and contempt that was due to him for so preserving "it, and for vindicating it at such a price; that it "had power to reconcile him to thofe whom he had "most offended and provoked, and continued to his "old age with that rare felicity, that his company was acceptable when his spirit was odious, and he was at leaft pitied where he was most detested." But however unfavourably we are obliged to think of Mr. Waller's virtues and moral accomplishments, yet that he greatly improved our language and verfification, and that his Works gave a new era to English poetry, was allowed by his cotemporaries, nor has it ever been difputed by good criticks. The anonymous author of the Preface to the Second part of his poems, printed in the 1690, has spoken pertinently to this part of his character: "Mr. Waller's is a name," fays he, "that carries every thing in it that is either great or

graceful in poetry. He was indeed the parent of "English verfe, and the first that shewed us our tongue "had beauty and numbers in it. Our language owes "more to him than the French does to Cardinal "Richelieu and the whole Academy.-The tongue "came into his hands like a rough diamond: he po"lished it first, and to that degree, that all artists "fince him have admired the workmanship, without "pretending to mend it. Suckling and Carew, I "must confefs, wrote fome few things fmoothly

"enough; but as all they did in this kind was not

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very confiderable, so it was a little later than the “ earliest piecesof Mr. Waller. He undoubtedly stands "first in the lift of refiners,and, for ought I know, last "too; for I question whether in Charles II.'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 purity will bear; and, "as chymifts fay of their menftruums, to be quite "fated with the infufion. But pofterity will best

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“judge of this. In the mean-time, it is a surprising "reflection, that between what Spenfer wrote laft, "and Waller firft, there fhould not be much above "twenty years' diftance; and yet the one's language, "like the money of that time, as current now as 66 ever; whilst 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 earneft!"

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Waller's Workswill always hold a 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 I.

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ates it in fome measure to candour and humanity. "Let us not condemn him with untempered feverity, because he was not a prodigy which the "world hath feldom feen; becaufe his character comprifed 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
Morti ceffit; qui inter poetas fui
Temporis facilè princeps, lauream, quam
Meruit adolefcens, octogenarius haud
Abdicavit. Huic debet patria lingua

Quod credas, fi Græcè Latinèque
Intermitterent, Mufe loqui amarent
Anglicè.

ON THE SOUTH SIDE.

Heus, Viator! tumulatum vides Edmundum Waller qui tanti nominis Poeta, et idem avitis opibus, inter primos Spectabilis, Mufis fe dedit, et patriæ. Nondum Octodecenalis, inter ardua Regni tractantes fedem habuit, à Burgo de Agmondefkam 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, Coleshill nafcendi locum Habuit. Cantabrigiam ftudendi; patrem Robertum et ex Hampdena ftirpe matrems Cœpit vivere iii Martii, A. D. 1605. Prima uxor Anna Edwardi Banks filia Unica hæres En prima bis pater fa&us; Ex fecunda tredecies; cui et duo lustra Superftes, obiit xxi Octob. A. D. 1687.

ON THE NORTH SIDE.

Hoc marmore Edmundo Waller
Mariæque ex fecundis nuptiis conjugi,
Pientiflimis parentibus, piiffimè
Parentavit Edmundus filius. Honores
Bene-merentibus extremos dedit quos

Ipfe fugit. El. W. I. F. H. G. Ex teftamento
H. M. P. in Jul. 1700.

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