POSTSCRIPT.

NOT having the fame Argument as at firft

to perfuade the Author that I might print his Verfes more correctly, which he found fo ill done at his Return: I have now adventured, without giving him farther Trouble, by importuning him for a new Permiffion, to collect all I can find, either left out of the former Edition, or fuch as have been fince made by him; to which I am the more encouraged, because the first (tho' most of them were compos'd Fifty or Sixty Years fince) feem ftill new; which would be more ftrange in fo changing a Language, had it not been by him improved; which may make one think it true, that I have heard from fome learned Criticks, that Virgil, when he faid

Nova

carmina pango, meant not Verfes that were never feen before, (for in that Senfe all at firft are new,) but fuch as he thought might be ever New. May thefe ftill appear to be fo, for the Diverfion of the Readers, and Intereft of

Their Humble Servant.

AN,

AN

ACCOUNT

OF THЕ

LIFE and WRITINGS

OFI

Edmond Waller, Efq;

R. Edmond Waller, Author of the following Poems, was the Son of Robert Waller, Efq; of Agmondebam in Buckinghamshire, by his Wife the Daughter of Hampden of Hampden, in that County, one of the most ancient Families in England, and Sitter to Colonel John Hampden, as Dr. Birch affur'd us who having been a leading Member in the Pac

A 5

liament

liament in 1641, dyed 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 Agmondefham, 'tis in the County of Hertford. His Father had the Reputation of a Wife 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 in Kent, yet this Gentleman at his Death left his Son, our Mr. Waller, an Estate 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 rendred their Country, defervedly place it among the moft Honourable in England. Mr. Robert Waller, Father of Edmond, was bred a Lawyer, and practifed at the Bar fome time, but quitted 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. Those who have feen it, commend 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. Richard 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 Cantianum. 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 Army, Prifoner at the Battel of Agencourt. He brought him into England, and according to the Cuftom of thofe Times, had the Cuftody of that Prince, whom he kept in honourable Reftraint at Gromebridge, his Seat, near Spendhurst; as appears by a Manuscript in the Heralds Office. The Duke was his Prifoner there twenty four Years; and in the time of this Retirement he rebuilt his Manfion-Houfe 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 a Label on an Oak, with this Motto, Hic fructus Virtutis, in Remembrance of the glorious Services of Richard Waller at Acourt. 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 Spend burst Church of Sir Walter Waller and his Lady, who in the Roll of Sheriffs may by mistake be written Sir William. We could not learn at what Time the Wallers of Buckinghamshire removed thither out of Kent, and fettled at Agmondeskam's

defham; but it seems not to have been long before Mr. Waller's Father's Time, because a Fa-. mily 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 House at Agmondefham being old and decaying, Mr. Waller, of whom we write, lived moftly at Beconsfield, 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, fhe was a Royalift in her Principles; and when Oliver vifited her at Beconsfield, the would frankly tell him how his Pretenfions would end. The Ufurper us'd merrily to throw a Napkin at her in return, and faid he would 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 earnest than he was in jeft, and that the correfponded with Perfons of her own Principles, in favour of the King, he was for fome time made a Prisoner to her Daughter in her own Houfe.

Mr. Waller's Father dying when he was very young, the Care of his Education fell to his Mother, who fent him to Eaton School, where having made a good Proficiency in Grammar Learning, he was remov'd to King's College in Cambridge; and it is very manifeft, that both at Eaton and at Cambridge he must have been affiduous in his Studies, fince he acquir'd fo fine a Tafte of the Ancients in fo fhort a Time; for at fixteen or feventeen Years of Age he was chofen into the last Parliament of King James I. and