AN

ACCOUNT

OF THE

LIFE AND WRITING S

OF

Edmond Waller, Efq;

A

S no kind of History is so useful as the Lives of great and excellent Men, so are the Lives

of fuch as have been eminent for their Parts

and Learning, read with a peculiar Pleasure and Delight. In the first we meet with Heroick Examples, which few can imitate, and Schemes of Government which private Perfons are no ways concern'd in; whereas the latter in the general Entertainment to every intelligent Reader, who by this means grows acquainted in fome Measure with the Perfon, whofe Writings had before made him the Object of his Admiration. This ever was, and ever will be acceptable to the Publick; and by the Life of POMPIUS ATTICUS, we find the ROMANS had as great a Value for the Memoirs of Men of Gallantry and Wit, as for those of their great Captains and Politicians; in whofe Actions, if there is

more Importance, there is lefs Pleasure. But befides, that Mr. WALLER'S Life was mostly that of a Court, in which he made the first Figure for Politeness and Wit; he also had a Share in the Bufinefs of his Times, and his Name is tranfmitted to us by the most confiderable Hiftorians, as well as the most celebrated Poets. Before we fay any Thing of his Writings, we must give some Account of the Man, his Birth, Defcent, Education, and Appearance in the World,

Mr. EDMOND WALLER, Author of these Poems, was the Son of ROBERT WALLER, Esq; of AGMONDESHAM in BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, by his Wife the Daughter of ------- HAMPDEN of HAMPDEN, in that County, one of the most ancient Families in ENGLAND, and Sifter to Colonel JoHN HAMPDEN, as Dr. BIRCH affured us, who having been a leading Member in the Parliament in 1641, died in its Service. Mr. WALLER was born on the 3d of MARCH 1605, at COLESHILL, which gives HERTFORDSHIRE the Honour of his Birth; for though COLESHILL be in the Parish of AGMONDENSHAM, 'tis in the County of HERTFORD. His Father had the Reputation of a Wise Man, and his Oeconomy was one of the distinguishing Marks of his Prudence: For though the Family of WALLER in BUCKINGHAMSHIRE was but a younger Branch of the WALLERS of KENT, yet this Gentleman at his Death left his Son, our Mr. WALLER, an Etate of 3500l. a Year; a Fortune at that Time fit for a Nobleman: And indeed, the Antiquity of this Family, and the Services they

་

have rendered their Country, defervedly place it amongst the moft Honourable in ENGLAND: Mr. ROBERT WALLER, Father of EDMOND, was bred a Lawyer, and practifed at the Bar fome time, but then left it, to live the Life of a Country Gentleman, which he often repented, looking upon it as too idle. He had a great Efteem for the Common Law, the Study of which he preferr❜d to the Civil. He was a Man of Parts and Virtue, and wrote Advice to his Son, Mr. EDMOND WALLER; which Manufcript is in the Hands of Mrs. WALLER, Widow of Dr. STEPHEN WALLER, Our Poet's Son. Thofe who have feen it fpeak very well of it. This Mr. WALLER, as has been obferv'd, improv'd the Eftate fo much that 'twas look'd upon to be one of the best in the County, and there was a kind of Emulation between the Families of HAMPDEN and WALLER on that Score: RICH. WALLER, of SPENDHURST in the County of KENT, Efq; was Sheriff of that County the 16th of HENRY VI, of whom we read this remarkable Account in the VILLARE CANTIUM. He ferv'd in the Wars of FRANCE, under HENRY V. and fignaliz❜d himself fo far that he took CHARLES Duke of ORLEANS, General of the FRENCH Ar my, Prifoner at the Battle of AGENCOURT. He brought him to ENGLAND, and according to the Cuftom of thofe Times, had the Cuftody of that Prince, whom he kept in honourable Restraint at GROMEBRIDGE, his Seat, near SPENDHURST; as appears by a Manufcript in the Herald's Office. The Duke was his Prifoner there twenty Years;

and in the Time of this Recefs he rebuilt his Manfion-House at GROMEBRIDGE on the old Foundation. He was a great Benefactor to the Church of SPENDHURST, where his Arms remain in Stonework over the Porch; and in them we find an Addition to the former Bearing of the Family, affigned by King HENRY to him and his Defcendants, viz. A Creft with the Arms of FRANCE hanging by Label on an Oak, with this Motto, "Hæc fructus "Virtutis," in remembrance of the glorious Services of RICHARD WALLER, at AGENCOURT. From him Sir WILLIAM WALLER, who was Sheriff of KENT the 22d of HENRY VII, lineally defcended; and Tradition fays, the Family had then 7000l. a Year. But it was very much reduced in the Time of Sir WILLIAM WALLER, famous in the Wars between the King and Parliament for his good and bad Fortune; which Sir WILLIAM lineally defcended from the former, of whom probably is that noble Monument in SPENDHURST Church of Sir WALTER WALLER and his Lady, who in the Roll of Sheriffs may by Miftake be written Sir WILLIAM. We cou'd not learn at what Time the WALLERS of BUCKINGHAMSHIRE removed thither out of KENT, and settled at AGMONDESHAM; but it seems not to have been long before Mr. WALLER'S Father's Time, because a Family of fuch a Fortune could not have escap'd furnishing the County with a Sheriff, and we find none of this Name in the Rolls. The Houfe of AGMONDESHAM being old and decaying, Mr. WALLER, of whom we write, lived moftly at BECONSFIELD,

where

where his Mother dwelt in her Widowhood, and often entertain'd OLIVER CROMWELL there, during his Ufurpation, he being related to her. But notwithstanding her Relation to the Ufurper, and Colonel HAMPDEN, she was a Royalist in her Principles; and when OLIVER vifited her at BECONSFIELD, she would frankly tell him how his Pretensions would end. The Ufurpèr us'd merrily to throw a Napkin at her in return, and said he wou'd not enter into further Disputes with his Aunt; for fo he us'd to call her, though not quite fo nearly related. However, finding at laft that Mrs. WALLER was more in earneft than he was in jeft, and that fhe correfponded with Perfons of her own Principles, in favour of the King, she was for fome time made a Prisoner to her Daughter in her own House.

Mr. WALLER'S Father dying when he was very young, the Care of his Education fell to his Mother, who sent him to EATON School, where having arriv'd at a good Proficiency in Grammar Learning, he was remov'd to King's College in CAMBRIDGE; and it is very manifeft, that at both EATON and CAMBRIDGE, he must have been affiduous in his Studies, fince he acquir'd fo fine a Taste of the Ancients in fo fhort a Time, for at fixteen or seventeen Years of Age he was chofen into the last Parliament of King JAMES I, and ferv'd as Burgess for AGMONDESHAM. 'Twas about the fame time, in the seventeenth Year of his Age, that Prince CHARLES had like to have been caft away