distinguishes them from all other first attempts in poetry. At no period did Waller construct his lines with a more rigid adherence to the standard of versification he had set up, or adopted, from the beginning. If we were to judge only by the wording,' observes one of his critics, we could not know what was wrote at twenty and what was wrote at fourscore.' To which Dr. Johnson adds, 'Denham corrected his numbers by experience, and gained ground gradually upon the ruggedness of his age; but what was acquired by Denham was inherited by Waller.' Dr. Johnson, probably, intended to convey that Waller inherited his numbers from Fairfax; but it had been better said elsewhere that he attained them by a felicity like instinct.' Dryden tells us that he had heard Waller declare that he derived the harmony of his numbers from the Godfrey of Bulloigne, which was turned into English by Mr. Fairfax ;' but while this legitimate poetical lineage may be admitted without hesitation, it does not satisfy the surprise with which we discover in Waller's earliest poem an accuracy of structure which was not excelled in his latest. Fairfax had set the example of this style, but he only initiated it; his lines are frequently harsh, and there is no difficulty in tracing through his pages the progress of improvement towards that smoothness which Waller brought to perfection. That which in Fairfax is

always aimed at, and frequently accomplished, is the undeviating rule in Waller, from which scarcely a solitary aberration can be detected. Of Sandys, also, it may be said, as of Fairfax, that his numbers were generally correct; but of Waller alone, that they were invariably musical. To the fact that Waller had determined upon his scheme of versification before he began to versify, and that he went on and ended as he commenced, may be referred at once the source of his distinctive merits, and their obvious bounds. The form took precedence of the matter; the inspiration waited on the vehicle. All the excellence that could be achieved by elegant turns of expression, select images, and deliberate flights of fancy, or of sentiment, restrained within prescribed limits, is

to be found, brought to the utmost point of certainty and finish, in his verse. But this exquisite workmanship solicits admiration rather by its executive skill, than its solidity, or the uses to which it is applied. The light and graceful structure could not bear much weight of thought, or be rendered available for large designs. Waller's paramount object was to produce smooth and melodious lines; and in that object he entirely succeeded. 'When he was a brisk young spark,' Aubrey informs us, 'and first studied poetry, 'Methought,' said he, 'I never saw a good copy of English verses; they want smoothness; then I began to essay.'' This is the key to everything he wrote.

The poem on the Prince was followed, at distant intervals, by two or three others, of the same quality, and on similar topics. It is one of the inevitable conditions of this kind of verse, with which impulse has so little to do, and premeditation so much, that it shall be produced slowly. And there was another reason, independently of the extraordinary care he bestowed upon his writings, why these little pieces occupied so much time. Waller wrote only by snatches. The ore was as thinly scattered as it was difficult to work. Aubrey tells us that he had several times heard Waller say that he could not versify when he would; but that, when the fit came upon him, he did it easily. We must understand from this that he made his first draught easily; the labour consisted in shaping the crude material into its ultimate form. Most of his poems plainly betray the process to which they were submitted. Begun upon a particular topic, they were generally delayed till its attraction had faded, and it became necessary to sustain it by the introduction of more recent allusions. He lingered so long over his lines on the Prince's escape, for example, that the interest of the Spanish negociation was absorbed in the French alliance before he brought the poem to a conclusion. This excessive fastidiousness was not always attended with commensurate success. Ten lines he wrote in the Duchess's Tasso, at Windsor, are said to have cost him the greater part of a summer; yet they contain nothing more

than the reproduction of a compliment he had long before addressed to Saccharissa, in much more graceful and animated

verses.

In none of the productions of this early period are there any symptoms of that gallantry which afterwards formed so conspicuous an element in his poetry. His muse at this time devoted herself exclusively to royalty, and expended the whole of her resources upon studied panegyric. Emotion ripened as slowly in Waller as verse; and, contrary to the ordinary experience of poets, as of other men, he passed through the stages of marriage and widowhood before he fell in love. At about six-and-twenty, he married the daughter and heiress of Mr. Banks, a rich city merchant. The lady had a large fortune, and there was a competition for her hand. But Waller succeeded against the pretensions of a powerful rival, Mr. Crofts (afterwards Baron Crofts), whose suit was supported by the influence of the court. This marriage occasioned some notoriety at the time, from the circumstances attending it, and the relative position of the parties; but, although it looked like an adventure, it was, in reality, on Waller's side, merely a matter of prudential calculation. He was entering public life, and availed himself of the first favourable opportunity that offered for augmenting his fortune.

Shortly after his marriage, Waller retired to his estate at Beaconsfield, where he devoted himself to literary pursuits, assisted in his studies by Dr. Morley, afterwards Bishop of Winchester, who resided with him for several years.* The

* Dr. George Morley, born in 1597, was the son of Francis Morley, Esq. by a sister of Sir John Denham. Reduced at an early age, by the imprudence of his father, to depend upon his own exertions, he became an indefatigable student, and succeeded in securing the friendship and patronage of some of the most distinguished men. The King appointed him his chaplain in ordinary, and gave him a canonry in Christ Church, Oxford, of which he was afterwards deprived in consequence of his devotion to the royal cause. In 1649, he accompanied the Prince to the Hague, and afterwards officiated in Clarendon's family at Antwerp. Upon the Restoration he was restored to his canonry, and nominated to the bishopric of Worcester, and in 1662 translated to Winchester. He died at Farnham Castle, in 1684.

The origin of Waller's acquaintance with Morley is differently WALLER.

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interval that elapsed before he re-entered parliament presented little temptation to seduce him from his seclusion. The struggle had begun between the King and the two houses: and the intermittent efforts of the representatives of the people to obtain a redress of grievances merely showed how powerless the constitution was at that time to resist the despotism of the crown. Representation was, to all intents and purposes, suspended; and, in order the more effectually to crush the action of public opinion, and prevent the cooperation of men of station and influence in different parts of the country, the King, late in the year 1632, adopted the extreme measure of issuing a proclamation by which all lords and gentlemen were commanded to reside upon their estates. It was no great penalty to Waller to submit to this arbitrary decree; although there can be no doubt that it helped to awaken him to the oppression of which the nation at large had long before complained. During this period he renewed his acquaintance with the classical authors, and devoted himself assiduously to poetry. The actual results were, as usual, small—a few short pieces on public events, finished with habitual elegance, and full of compliments to royalty.

At the end of a few years, Mrs. Waller died, leaving a son who did not long survive her, and a daughter, who was afterwards married to Mr. Dormer, a gentleman of Oxfordshire. When this event occurred, Waller was little more than nineand-twenty. There was no longer any obligation upon him to lead a life of retirement; and his natural inclinations

related. Clarendon says that Morley introduced Waller into that select society of which Falkland, Chillingworth, and himself were members; while Waller's first biographer asserts that, it was his connexion with that society which brought Waller acquainted with Morley. At one of the meetings of the club, a noise was heard in the street, which the members were told was occasioned by the arrest of a son of Ben Jonson. Upon sending for him, Waller was so struck by his appearance and conversation that he presented him with 100l., and invited him to his house, where he remained several years. The only part of this anecdote that can be considered entitled to credit is the fact that Morley resided for a considerable period at Beaconsfield. There is no authority for the statement that he was a son of Ben Jonson.

drawing him back to society, a very short time elapsed before he again appeared in the gay world. Having married in the first instance for fortune, he could now afford to marry from choice; and his election was soon made. The lady who, at this dangerous season, attracted his attentions, was the eldest daughter of the Earl of Leicester, the Lady Dorothea Sidney, whom Waller has rendered famous under the name of Saccharissa.

Circumstances were peculiarly favourable to the feelings she inspired. Waller was young, rich, a wit, and a poet. Lady Dorothea was a descendant of Sir Philip Sidney; she was considered a beauty; and her beauty reigned supreme in the romantic solitudes of Penshurst. Her father was engaged in an embassy abroad; and there was no interruption to the indulgence of a passion which so many propitious incidents seemed to encourage. There does not appear to have been much company at Penshurst, till Waller, alarmed by the presence of a rival, declared his suit; when we find him addressing a poem to the Earl of Leicester, in which he conjures his lordship to come home, and decide the contest for his daughter's hand. The only persons alluded to in the verses upon Saccharissa, are Lady Dorothea's younger sister, that 'fairest blossom,' Lady Lucy; and Mrs. Broughton, Saccharissa's attendant, whose intercession with her lady, at those private hours when ladies are supposed to be accessible to such influences, is earnestly entreated by the poet. Amoret, the friend of Saccharissa, is also spoken of. No obstacle seems to have impeded the course of the lover; and, as far as the poems throw any light upon the history of the memorable episode they illustrate, Waller had ample opportunity to urge his pretensions. The chivalry, however, which he displayed on a former occasion, deserted him in the presence of the proud Saccharissa; and, notwithstanding his poetry, his reputation, and his wealth, she rejected him with scorn.

From what followed, it may be inferred that the disappointment did not weigh very heavily on his spirits; nor can it be assumed from his verses that his feelings were very