William Waller

“ Sir William Waller had, some time before, perceived, with the sagacity which made him the greatest tactician possessed by either Royalists or Parliamentarians, that an entire reorganisation of the army was needed and that, with the Earl of Essex at the head, nothing but disaster lay before them. The new model army was at length being formed, and, by the self-denying ordinance, Waller retired to his work in the House of Commons and his soldiers were dispersed, some being sent to serve in the new army, others despatched to various garrisons in the South of England. ”

“ Meanwhile skirmishes were going on all over the country. Sir William Waller was successful against the Royalists in the south and west. In the north Lord Newcastle was opposed to Fairfax, and the result was doubtful; while in Cornwall the Royalists had gained a battle over the Parliament men under Lord Stamford.
Meanwhile, the king was endeavoring to create a party in the Parliament, and Lady Aubigny was intrusted with the negotiations. The plot was, however, discovered. Several members of Parliament were arrested, and two executed by orders of the Parliament. ”

“ On Tuesday morning Sir William Waller drew from thence to Tewkesbury, and so to Gloucester, leaving orders with me to throw down as much of the works as the convenience of my time would afford, which I believe is so done that they are made unuseful, though not fully slighted, and to withdraw the force from Tewkesbury to Gloucester, from whence he had sooner departed had not the impossibility of either marching without money, or getting it without the employment of his troops to collect it, a little hindered his speed. ”

“ The indefatigable industry of the king, his servants and friends, continually to supply and recruit his forces, and to harass and fatigue the enemy, was such, that we should still have given a good account of the war had the Scots stood neuter. But bad news came every day out of the north; as for other places, parties were always in action. Sir William Waller and Sir Ralph Hopton beat one another by turns; and Sir Ralph had extended the king's quarters from Launceston in Cornwall, to Farnham in Surrey, where he gave Sir William Waller a rub, and drove him into the castle. ”

“ He fought at Marston Moor in the cavalry of the royalist right wing. But in August 1644, judging that the royalist cause was lost, he fled to the parliamentary army at Shaftesbury, under Sir William Waller, desiring leave to return to Scotland (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1644, p. 545; Clarendon, iii. 432) . Waller sent him to London, and the committee of both kingdoms ordered him into custody. On Waller vouching for his good faith, and on the representations of the army committee that his knowledge would be useful, he was suffered to rejoin the army on 30 Oct. on parole (ib. 1644–5 passim) . ”

“ Since you are known to Sir Ralph Hopton and Sir William Waller, and since your father and Sir Robert Harley are lifelong friends, it will assuredly be possible in time to get you exchanged. And for your horse, I will speak to Lord Harry about it ere he goes to the siege of Bristol. An you wish it, I will myself ride Harkaway. ”

“ Edmund, the second son, inherited the estate, and represented Agmondesham in parliament, but at last turned quaker. William, the third son, was a merchant in London. Stephen, the fourth, was an eminent doctor of laws, and one of the commissioners for the union. There is said to have been a fifth, of whom no account has descended.
The character of Waller, both moral and intellectual, has been drawn by Clarendon, to whom he was familiarly known, with nicety, which certainly none to whom he was not known can presume to emulate. ”

“ A third time the city not only refused to surrender, but received with ridicule the summons from a Welsh brigade; the Welsh troops therefore encamped at Highnam within the distance of one mile and a half, where they lay still in their camp for five weeks in mistaken security, not even attacking the outguards, or attempting any great action, seemingly deluded by expectations of aid from Prince Rupert; who, however, could not leave Bristol. Sir William Waller, crossing the river by means of flat-bottomed boats, advanced on [Pg 57] them with a body of light troops, numbering about 2000. ”

“ Thomson.
V. OLD AGE AND DEATH. (95) Edmund Waller, 1605-1687, an English poet, was a cousin of John Hampden, and related to Oliver Cromwell. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge. Waller was for many years a member of Parliament. He took part in the civil war, and was detected in a treasonable plot. Several years of his life were spent in exile in France. After the Restoration he came into favor at court. His poetry is celebrated for smoothness and sweetness, but is disfigured by affected conceits. ###
The seas are quiet when the winds give o'er;
So calm are we when passions are no more. ”

“ He looks by Master Waller!—Yet he is physic
I die without, so needs must gulp it down.
I’ll swallow him with what good grace I can.
Sir William Fondlove!
Sir Wil. Widow Green!
W. Green. I own
I have been rude to you. Thou dost not look
So old by thirty, forty, years as I
Did say. Thou’rt far from ugly—very far!
And as I said, Sir William, once before,
Thou art a kind and right good-humoured man:
I was but angry with you! Why, I’ll tell you
At more convenient season—and you know
An angry woman heeds not what she says,
And will say anything! ”

“ Your power extends as far as winds can blow,
Or swelling sails upon the globe may go." [139]
We add the following anecdote recorded of Waller, though it is probably familiar to many of our readers. On Charles's restoration the poet presented that prince with a congratulatory copy of verses, when the king shortly afterwards observed, "You wrote better verses on Cromwell;" to which Waller replied, "Please your majesty, we poets always succeed better in fiction than in truth." ”

“ Poor Catherine remained as long as she could. She lived here till she returned to Portugal, in the reign of William III. Speaking of Waller, we must not quit the premises without noticing a catastrophe that befel him at the water-gate, or Somerset-stairs (also, by the way, the work of Inigo Jones) . Waller, according to Aubrey, had but "a tender weak body, but was always very temperate." —— (we know not who this is) "made him damnable drunk at Somerset House, where, at the water stayres, he fell down, and had a cruel fall. ”

“ As no complete account of Walker's work is in existence (that of Walpole being very incomplete, while Cunningham passes him over entirely) , it may be added that the artist twice painted John Evelyn, in different sizes, as well as Bradshaw, John Hampden, Colonel Thomas Sanders, Cornet Joyce, and Speaker Lenthall, as well as Sir William and Lady Waller, Mrs Thomas Knight, and General George Monk, duke of Albemarle, and Sir Thomas Fairfax (engraved by Faithorne) . ”

“ Other political exiles gathered round him, and it became the nest of all the persons accused of the last conspiracy, i.e. the Rye House plot. ‘They style Waller, by way of commendation, a second Cromwell,’ adds Preston (Hist. MSS. Comm. 7th Rep. pp. 296, 311, 347, 386) . When the prince of Orange invaded England Waller accompanied him, and he was with the prince at Exeter (ib. pp. 417, 423; Reresby, Diary, p. 410) . William, however, would give him no employment (Foxcroft, Life of Halifax, ii. 215, 224) . He died in July 1699 (Luttrell, iv. 538) . ”

“ When Charles returned, Waller's congratulations were deemed by the King less good than his compliments to Cromwell. "Poets, Sir," answered Waller, "succeed better in fiction than in truth." The treacherous politician [Pg 345] was forgiven on every side, the witty poet was welcome in Parliament and everywhere.
Waller's first wife was rich, his second was fertile. When at last his doctor pronounced his sentence of death, he quoted some lines of Virgil, and went home to die. John Evelyn had been "his worthy Friend": to no man were men more charitable than to Waller. ”

“ And one is the dark mount of Sorrow
And one the bright mountain of Prayer.
GO, LOVELY ROSE.
BY EDMUND WALLER.
Edmund Waller was born in Hertfordshire, England, in 1605. He went to King’s College, Cambridge. Later he entered parliament and took an active part in the long parliament. In 1664 he was exiled on account of participating in royalist plots. He returned to England under Cromwell’s administration. He died at Beaconsfield in 1687. Waller’s poems were first published in 1645. ”

“ Edward Waller, the first refiner of English versification, was a member of the lower house; a man of considerable fortune, and not more distinguished by his poetical genius than by his parliamentary talents, and by the politeness and elegance of his manners. As full of keen satire and invective in his eloquence, as of tenderness and panegyric in his poetry, he caught the attention of his hearers, and exerted the utmost boldness in blaming those violent counsels by which the commons were governed. ”

“ King Charles could scarcely be persuaded, that a man, to all appearances, so stupid, could be the author of so much written wit.
XI. Waller is the next of those who produced any, the least improvement in English literature; and he, indeed, rather should be called a versifier than a poet; for there is assuredly none of the divine afflatus about him. He wrote prose in metre, and metre too of great polish. He has been celebrated for the music of his numbers, and, as usual, accused of borrowing from the well-head of all melodious versification—the Italian schools. ”

“ The lady was at the time a ward of the court of aldermen, and it was only after some difficulty and the payment of a fine out of her portion that the direct influence of the king enabled the poet to purge his offence in having carried off the lady without the consent of her guardians. After his marriage Waller appears to have retired with his wife to his house at Beaconsfield. ”

“ Ewart; these, he declared, made the connection and started a current. Its energy made itself pleasurably felt in every member of the household. Cale was twice in Montreal, on a personally conducted tour, for the coach horses. Big Pete was putting on double windows all over the house, stuffing the cracks with moss, piling cords of winter wood, hauling grain and, during the long evenings, enjoying himself by cutting up the Canadian grown tobacco, mixing it with a little molasses, and storing it for his winter solace. Angélique was making the kitchen to shine, and Marie was helping Mrs. Macleod. ”

“ Come on into the living-room—I 've built up a roaring fire there—and let's talk; nobody 's around."
"Where 's Doctor Rugvie?"
"Gone off with Cale to the farm. He 'll get pneumonia if he does n't look out; the place is like an ice-house at this season."
I slipped the pudding into the oven. "Now look out for it and keep enough milk in it till it wheys, Angélique." I turned to Jamie. "Where's Mr. Ewart?"
"Oh, Ewart's off nosing about in Quebec for some old furniture for his den. Pierre drove him to the train just after breakfast. He told mother he would be back in time for supper." ”

“ Late in 1863 he resigned as pension agent and was made a paymaster in the United States Army with the rank of major. His headquarters, however, were to be in Salt Lake City. Waller by this time was nearly sixty years old. He had chronic stomach trouble, and the very thought of venturing far into the desert appalled him. Besides, the Mormon City was no doubt a strange and godless place. He had no desire to investigate for himself. He resigned rather than leave San Francisco. ”

“ Ewart asked of Mrs. Macleod.
"Not since the last of October; but Marcia has seen her recently."
He looked at me inquiringly.
"I bought the rag carpet strips of her daughter."
"Is the old woman well?"
"Yes, she is wonderful for her age."
"Ninety-nine next year," said Mr. Ewart. "What a century she has lived!"
"André père must be ninety, then," said Doctor Rugvie. "How well I remember him! He is Mère Guillardeau's brother, as perhaps you know," he said turning to me. "Jamie must have told you of André."
"Yes, of André father and André son; you know them both?" ”

“ Sometime I mean ter look her up. I ain't been able ter do fer her as I 'd ought ter, fer I had bad luck fer too many years—them pesky western wildcat banks cleaned me out twice."
"By what name was the child christened?" asked the Doctor.
"Never was christened thet I know of."
"Oh, Cale, if only they had been happier!" It was Jamie who spoke with almost a groan.
"Wal, thet's the mystery of it," was his quiet answer. Gathering his loose-jointed frame together, he rose. "Guess I 'll go an' look after the hosses; it's goin' ter be a skinner of a night." At the door he turned. ”

“ Even then Waller had been a member of Parliament, and had been elected to sit in that assembly whilst he was in his seventeenth year. Waller’s circumstances, his destiny, his views of life, his genius, his disposition, were as opposite to those of Massinger and Ben Jonson as can possibly be conceived. He seemed born a courtier; and every effort he made was to advance himself at first in that career, and afterwards as a politician. His first appearance as a poet, in his 290eighteenth year, was to congratulate King James on the escape of Prince Charles at St. Audera, when returning from Spain ”

“ Like many others, with a swollen heart, set lips, and stern eyes, Waller reined in his horse, and would look round him from time to time, in places where the dead lay thicker than usual. Our now victorious army was marching in thousands over their fallen comrades, yet with them Waller felt himself alone, and a man possessed by one harassing thought. ”