Complete Works of Edmund Waller Read online

  Edmund Waller

  (1606-1687)

  Contents

  The Life and Poetry of Edmund Waller

  Brief Introduction: Edmund Waller by John William Cousin

  Poetical Works of Edmund Waller

  The Passion of Dido for Aeneas

  The Poems

  List of Poems in Chronological Order

  List of Poems in Alphabetical Order

  The Plays

  Pompey the Great

  The Maid’s Tragedy Altered

  The Speeches

  Waller’s Speeches

  The Biographies

  Waller by Samuel Johnson

  The Life of Edmund Waller by George Gilfillan

  Edmund Waller by George Thorn-Drury

  The Delphi Classics Catalogue

  © Delphi Classics 2019

  Version 1

  Browse the entire series…

  Edmund Waller

  By Delphi Classics, 2019

  COPYRIGHT

  Edmund Waller - Delphi Poets Series

  First published in the United Kingdom in 2019 by Delphi Classics.

  © Delphi Classics, 2019.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

  ISBN: 978 1 78877 980 7

  Delphi Classics

  is an imprint of

  Delphi Publishing Ltd

  Hastings, East Sussex

  United Kingdom

  Contact: [email protected]

  www.delphiclassics.com

  NOTE

  When reading poetry on an eReader, it is advisable to use a small font size and landscape mode, which will allow the lines of poetry to display correctly.

  The Life and Poetry of Edmund Waller

  Coleshill, a village in Buckinghamshire, England — Waller’s birthplace

  All Saints Church, Coleshill, which stands close to the site of the manor house that was Waller’s birthplace

  Brief Introduction: Edmund Waller by John William Cousin

  From ‘A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature’

  Edmund Waller (1606-1687). — Poet, b. at Coleshill, Herts, and ed. at Eton and Camb., belonged to an old and wealthy family, and in early childhood inherited the estate of Beaconsfield, Bucks, worth £3500 a year. He was related to John Hampden, and was distantly connected with Oliver Cromwell, his own family, however, being staunch Royalists. He studied law at Lincoln’s Inn, and at the age of 16 became a member of Parliament, in which he sat for various constituencies for the greater part of his life, and in which his wit and vivacity, as well as his powers of adapting his principles to the times, enabled him to take a prominent part. In 1631 he added to his fortune by marrying Anne Banks, a London heiress, who d. in 1634, and he then paid assiduous but unsuccessful court to Lady Dorothea Sidney, to whom, under the name of Sacharissa, he addressed much of his best poetry. Though probably really a Royalist in his sympathies, W. supported the popular cause in Parliament, and in 1641 conducted the case against Sir Francis Crawley for his opinion in favour of the legality of ship-money. His speech, which was printed, had an enormous circulation and brought him great fame.

  Two years later, however, he was detected in a plot for seizing London for the King, was expelled from the House, fined £10,000, and banished. On this occasion he showed cowardice and treachery, humiliating himself in the most abject manner, and betraying all his associates. He went to the Continent, living chiefly in France and Switzerland, and showing hospitality to Royalist exiles. Returning by permission in 1652 he addressed some laudatory verses, among the best he wrote, to Cromwell, on whose death nevertheless he wrote a new poem entitled, On the Death of the late Usurper, O.C. On the Restoration the accommodating poet was ready with a congratulatory address to Charles II., who, pointing out its inferiority as a poem to that addressed to Cromwell, elicited the famous reply, “Poets, Sire, succeed better in fiction than in truth.” The poem, however, whatever its demerits, succeeded in its prime object, and the poet became a favourite at Court, and sat in Parliament until his death.

  In addition to his lighter pieces, on which his fame chiefly rests, W. wrote an epic, The Summer Islands (Bermudas), and a sacred poem, Divine Love. His short poems, such as “On a Girdle,” often show fancy and grace of expression, but are frequently frigid and artificial, and exhibit absolute indifference to the charms of Nature. As a man, though agreeable and witty, he was time-serving, selfish, and cowardly. Clarendon has left a very unflattering “character” of him. He m. a second time and had five sons and eight daughters.

  Waller as a young man by Peter Vanderbank

  Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper. Waller became famous for his ‘Panegyricks’, at first written in support of Cromwell, and later for succeeding monarchs after the Restoration.

  Coronation portrait of Charles II by John Michael Wright, c. 1661. Waller commemorated the Restoration with a poem addressed to Charles.

  ‘The Battle of Lowestoft’ by Hendrik van Minderhout, 1665 — one of Waller’s longest and most ambitious works is “Instructions to a painter, for the drawing of the posture and progress of his majesties forces at sea, under the command of his highness-royal; together with the battel and victory obtained over the Dutch”, which appeared in 1666, commemorating the Battle of Lowestoft of the previous year.

  Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. A later friend of Waller, Hobbes tutored some of Waller’s children, and John Evelyn. Waller’s later poems were strongly influenced by Hobbes’ landmark treatise ‘Leviathan’.

  Portrait of Dorothy, Countess of Sunderland, by Anthony van Dyck. Dorothy was the subject of Waller’s unrequited love, and appears in some of his poems under the name ‘Sacharissa’.

  Andrew Marvell (between c. 1655 and c. 1660) — Waller influenced the works of Marvell

  Poetical Works of Edmund Waller

  1887 JAMES NICHOL TEXT

  CONTENTS

  MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.

  OF THE DANGER HIS MAJESTY [BEING PRINCE] ESCAPED IN THE ROAD AT ST ANDERO.1

  OF HIS MAJESTY’S RECEIVING THE NEWS OF THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM’S DEATH. 1

  ON THE TAKING OF SALLÈ.1

  UPON HIS MAJESTY’S REPAIRING OF ST PAUL’S.1

  THE COUNTESS OF CARLISLE IN MOURNING.1

  IN ANSWER TO ONE WHO WRIT A LIBEL AGAINST THE COUNTESS OF CARLISLE.

  OF HER CHAMBER.

  THYRSIS, GALATEA.1

  ON MY LADY DOROTHY SIDNEY’S PICTURE.1

  AT PENSHURST.

  OF THE LADY WHO CAN SLEEP WHEN SHE PLEASES.1

  OF THE MISREPORT OF HER BEING PAINTED.

  OF HER PASSING THROUGH A CROWD OF PEOPLE.

  THE STORY OF PHOEBUS AND DAPHNE,1 APPLIED.

  ON THE FRIENDSHIP BETWIXT SACCHARISSA AND AMORET.

  AT PENSHURST.1

  THE BATTLE OF THE SUMMER ISLANDS.1

  CANTO I.

  CANTO II.

  CANTO III.

  OF THE QUEEN.

  THE APOLOGY OF SLEEP, FOR NOT APPROACHING THE LADY WHO CAN DO ANYTHING BUT SLEEP WHEN SHE PLEASES.

  PUERPERIUM.1

  A LA MALADE.

  UPON THE DEATH OF MY LADY RICH.1

  OF LOVE.

  FOR DRINKING OF HEALTHS.

  OF MY LADY ISABELLA, PLAYING ON THE LUTE.

  OF MRS ARDEN.1

  OF THE MARRIAGE OF THE DWARFS.1

  LOVE’S FAREWELL.

  FROM A CHI
LD.

  ON A GIRDLE.

  THE FALL.

  OF SYLVIA.

  THE BUD.

  ON THE DISCOVERY OF A LADY’S PAINTING.

  OF LOVING AT FIRST SIGHT.

  THE SELF-BANISHED.

  A PANEGYRIC TO MY LORD PROTECTOR, OF THE PRESENT GREATNESS, AND JOINT INTEREST, OF HIS HIGHNESS, AND THIS NATION.1

  ON THE HEAD OF A STAG.

  THE MISER’S SPEECH. IN A MASQUE.

  CHLORIS AND HYLAS. MADE TO A SARABAND.

  CHLORIS.

  HYLAS.

  CHLORIS.

  HYLAS.

  IN ANSWER OF SIR JOHN SUCKLING’S VERSES.

  AN APOLOGY FOR HAVING LOVED BEFORE.

  THE NIGHT-PIECE; OR, A PICTURE DRAWN IN THE DARK.

  ON THE PICTURE OF A FAIR YOUTH, TAKEN AFTER HE WAS DEAD.

  ON A BREDE OF DIVERS COLOURS, WOVEN BY FOUR LADIES.

  OF A WAR WITH SPAIN, AND FIGHT AT SEA.1

  UPON THE DEATH OF THE LORD PROTECTOR.

  ON ST JAMES’S PARK, AS LATELY IMPROVED BY HIS MAJESTY.1

  OF HER ROYAL HIGHNESS, MOTHER TO THE PRINCE OF ORANGE;1 AND OF HER PORTRAIT, WRITTEN BY THE LATE DUCHESS OF YORK, WHILE SHE LIVED WITH HER.

  UPON HER MAJESTY’S NEW BUILDINGS AT SOMERSET HOUSE.1

  OF A TREE CUT IN PAPER.

  VERSES TO DR GEORGE ROGERS, ON HIS TAKING THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHYSIC AT PADUA, IN THE YEAR 1664.

  INSTRUCTIONS TO A PAINTER

  OF ENGLISH VERSE.

  THESE VERSES WERE WRIT IN THE TASSO OF HER ROYAL HIGHNESS.

  THE TRIPLE COMBAT.1

  UPON OUR LATE LOSS OF THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE.1

  OF THE LADY MARY, PRINCESS OF ORANGE.1

  UPON BEN JONSON.

  ON MR JOHN FLETCHER’S PLAYS.

  UPON THE EARL OF ROSCOMMON’S TRANSLATION OF HORACE, ‘DE ARTE POETICA;’ AND OF THE USE OF POETRY.

  ON THE DUKE OF MONMOUTH’S EXPEDITION INTO SCOTLAND IN THE SUMMER SOLSTICE.

  OF AN ELEGY MADE BY MRS WHARTON1 ON THE EARL OF ROCHESTER.

  OF HER MAJESTY, ON NEW-YEAR’S DAY, 1683.

  OF TEA, COMMENDED BY HER MAJESTY.

  OF THE INVASION AND DEFEAT OF THE TURKS, IN THE YEAR 1683.1

  A PRESAGE OF THE RUIN OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE; PRESENTED TO HIS MAJESTY KING JAMES II. ON HIS BIRTHDAY.

  EPISTLES.

  TO THE KING, ON HIS NAVY.

  THE COUNTRY TO MY LADY CARLISLE.1

  TO PHYLLIS.

  TO THE QUEEN-MOTHER OF FRANCE, UPON HER LANDING.1

  TO VANDYCK.1

  TO MY LORD OF LEICESTER.1

  TO MRS BRAUGHTON, SERVANT TO SACCHARISSA.

  TO MY YOUNG LADY LUCY SIDNEY.1

  TO AMORET.1

  TO MY LORD OF FALKLAND.1

  TO MY LORD NORTHUMBERLAND, UPON THE DEATH OF HIS LADY.1

  TO MY LORD ADMIRAL, OF HIS LATE SICKNESS AND RECOVERY.

  TO THE QUEEN, OCCASIONED UPON SIGHT OF HER MAJESTY’S PICTURE.1

  TO AMORET.

  TO PHYLLIS.

  TO SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT, UPON HIS TWO FIRST BOOKS OF GONDIBERT.1 WRITTEN IN FRANCE.

  TO MY WORTHY FRIEND, MR WASE, THE TRANSLATOR OF GRATIUS.1

  TO A FRIEND, ON THE DIFFERENT SUCCESS OF THEIR LOVES.1

  TO ZELINDA.1

  TO MY LADY MORTON, ON NEW-YEAR’S DAY,1 AT THE LOUVRE IN PARIS.

  TO A FAIR LADY, PLAYING WITH A SNAKE.

  TO HIS WORTHY FRIEND MASTER EVELYN,1 UPON HIS TRANSLATION OF ‘LUCRETIUS.’

  TO HIS WORTHY FRIEND SIR THOMAS HIGGONS,1 UPON HIS TRANSLATION OF ‘THE VENETIAN TRIUMPH.’

  TO A LADY SINGING A SONG OF HIS COMPOSING.

  TO THE MUTABLE FAIR.

  TO A LADY, FROM WHOM HE RECEIVED A SILVER PEN.

  TO CHLORIS.

  TO A LADY IN RETIREMENT.

  TO MR GEORGE SANDYS,1 ON HIS TRANSLATION OF SOME PARTS OF THE BIBLE.

  TO THE KING, UPON HIS MAJESTY’S HAPPY RETURN.

  TO A LADY, FROM WHOM HE RECEIVED THE COPY OF THE POEM ENTITLED ‘OF A TREE CUT IN PAPER,’ WHICH FOR MANY YEARS HAD BEEN LOST.

  TO THE QUEEN, UPON HER MAJESTY’S BIRTHDAY, AFTER HER HAPPY RECOVERY FROM A DANGEROUS SICKNESS.1

  TO MR KILLIGREW,1 UPON HIS ALTERING HIS PLAY, ‘PANDORA,’ FROM A TRAGEDY INTO A COMEDY, BECAUSE NOT APPROVED ON THE STAGE.

  TO A PERSON OF HONOUR, UPON HIS INCOMPARABLE, INCOMPREHENSIBLE POEM, ENTITLED, ‘THE BRITISH PRINCES.’1

  TO A FRIEND OF THE AUTHOR, A PERSON OF HONOUR, WHO LATELY WRIT A RELIGIOUS BOOK, ENTITLED, ‘HISTORICAL APPLICATIONS, AND OCCASIONAL MEDITATIONS, UPON SEVERAL SUBJECTS.’1

  TO THE DUCHESS OF ORLEANS, WHEN SHE WAS TAKING LEAVE OF THE COURT AT DOVER.1

  TO CHLORIS.

  TO THE KING.

  TO THE DUCHESS, WHEN HE PRESENTED THIS BOOK TO HER ROYAL HIGHNESS.

  TO MR CREECH, ON HIS TRANSLATION OF ‘LUCRETIUS.’1

  SONGS.

  STAY, PHOEBUS!

  PEACE, BABBLING MUSE!

  CHLORIS! FAREWELL.

  TO FLAVIA.

  BEHOLD THE BRAND OF BEAUTY TOSS’D!

  WHILE I LISTEN TO THY VOICE.

  GO, LOVELY ROSE!

  SUNG BY MRS KNIGHT TO HER MAJESTY, ON HER BIRTHDAY.

  SONG.

  PROLOGUES AND EPILOGUES.

  PROLOGUE FOR THE LADY-ACTORS. SPOKEN BEFORE KING CHARLES II.

  PROLOGUE TO THE ‘MAID’S TRAGEDY.’1

  EPILOGUE TO THE ‘MAID’S TRAGEDY.’ SPOKEN BY THE KING.

  ANOTHER EPILOGUE TO THE ‘MAID’S TRAGEDY.’ DESIGNED UPON THE FIRST ALTERATION OF THE PLAY, WHEN THE KING ONLY WAS LEFT ALIVE.

  EPIGRAMS, EPITAPHS, AND FRAGMENTS.

  UNDER A LADY’S PICTURE.

  OF A LADY WHO WRIT IN PRAISE OF MIRA.

  TO ONE MARRIED TO AN OLD MAN.

  AN EPIGRAM ON A PAINTED LADY WITH ILL TEETH.

  EPIGRAM UPON THE GOLDEN MEDAL.1

  WRITTEN ON A CARD THAT HER MAJESTY TORE AT OMBRE.

  TO MR GRANVILLE (NOW LORD LANSDOWNE), ON HIS VERSES TO KING JAMES II.

  LONG AND SHORT LIFE.

  TRANSLATED OUT OF SPANISH.

  TRANSLATED OUT OF FRENCH.

  SOME VERSES OF AN IMPERFECT COPY, DESIGNED FOR A FRIEND, ON HIS TRANSLATION OF OVID’S ‘FASTI.’

  ON THE STATUE OF KING CHARLES I., AT CHARING CROSS, IN THE YEAR 1674.

  PRIDE.

  EPITAPH ON SIR GEORGE SPEKE.

  EPITAPH ON COLONEL CHARLES CAVENDISH.1

  EPITAPH ON THE LADY SEDLEY.1

  EPITAPH, TO BE WRITTEN UNDER THE LATIN INSCRIPTION UPON THE TOMB OF THE ONLY SON OF THE LORD ANDOVER.1

  EPITAPH UNFINISHED.

  DIVINE POEMS.1

  OF DIVINE LOVE. A POEM IN SIX CANTOS.

  CANTO I.

  CANTO II.

  CANTO III.

  CANTO IV.

  CANTO V.

  CANTO VI.

  OF THE FEAR OF GOD. IN TWO CANTOS.

  CANTO I.

  CANTO II.

  OF DIVINE POESY. TWO CANTOS.

  CANTO I.

  CANTO II.

  ON THE PARAPHRASE OF THE LORD’S PRAYER. WRITTEN BY MRS WHARTON.

  SOME REFLECTIONS OF HIS UPON THE SEVERAL PETITIONS IN THE SAME PRAYER.

  MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.

  OF THE DANGER HIS MAJESTY [BEING PRINCE] ESCAPED IN THE ROAD AT ST ANDERO.1

  Now bad his Highness bid farewell to Spain,

  And reach’d the sphere of his own power — the main;

  With British bounty in his ship he feasts

  Th’ Hesperian princes, his amazed guests,

  To find that watery wilderness exceed

  The entertainment of their great Madrid.

  Healths to both kings, attended with the roar

  Of cannons, echo’d from th’affrighted shore,

  With loud resemblance of his thunder, prove

  Bacchus the seed of cloud-compelling Jove; 10

  While to his harp divine Arion sings2

  The loves and conquests of our Albion kings.
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  Of the Fourth Edward was his noble song,

  Fierce, goodly, valiant, beautiful, and young;

  He rent the crown from vanquish’d Henry’s head,

  Raised the White Rose, and trampled on the Red;

  Till love, triumphing o’er the victor’s pride,

  Brought Mars and Warwick to the conquer’d side:

  Neglected Warwick (whose bold hand, like Fate,

  Gives and resumes the sceptre of our state) 20

  Woos for his master; and with double shame,

  Himself deluded, mocks the princely dame,

  The Lady Bona, whom just anger burns,

  And foreign war with civil rage returns.

  Ah! spare your swords, where beauty is to blame;

  Love gave th’affront, and must repair the same;

  When France shall boast of her, whose conqu’ring eyes

  Have made the best of English hearts their prize;

  Have power to alter the decrees of Fate,

  And change again the counsels of our state. 30

  What the prophetic Muse intends, alone

  To him that feels the secret wound is known.

  With the sweet sound of this harmonious lay,

  About the keel delighted dolphins play,

  Too sure a sign of sea’s ensuing rage,

  Which must anon this royal troop engage;

  To whom soft sleep seems more secure and sweet,

  Within the town commanded by our fleet.

  These mighty peers placed in the gilded barge,

  Proud with the burden of so brave a charge, 40

  With painted oars the youths begin to sweep

  Neptune’s smooth face, and cleave the yielding deep;

  Which soon becomes the seat of sudden war

  Between the wind and tide that fiercely jar.

  As when a sort3 of lusty shepherds try