Page images
PDF
EPUB

Was fo o'ercome with knight and Ralph,
That he could never claw it off.

go;

He never eat, nor drank, nor flept,
But Hudibras ftill near him kept;
Nor would he go to church or fo,
But Hudibras must with him
Nor yet to vifit concubine,
Or at a city feast to dine,
But Hudibras must still be there,
'Or all the fat was in the fire.
Now after all was it not hard,

That he should meet with no reward,
That fitted out the knight and fquire,
This monarch did fo much admire?
That he fhould never reimburse.
The man for th' equipage and horse,
Is fure a ftrange ungrateful thing
In any body, but a King.

But, this good King, it seems was told
By fome, that were with him too bold,
If e'er you hope to gain your ends,
Carefs your foes, and trust your friends.
Such were the doctrines that were taught,
"Till this unthinking King was brought
To leave his friends to ftarve and die;
A poor reward for loyalty.

After having lived to a good old age, admired by all, though perfonally known but to few, he died September 25, 1680, and was buried at the expence of his good friend Mr. Longueville of the Temple, in the church-yard of St. Paul's CoventGarden. Mr. Longueville had a ftrong inclination to have him buried in Weftminster Abbey, and fpoke with that view to feveral perfons who had been his admirers, offering to pay his part, but none of them would contribute; upon which he was interred privately, Mr. Longuevifle, and feven or eight more, following him to the grave.

Mr.

Mr. Alderman Barber erected a monument to Butler in Weftminster-Abbey.

The poem entitled Hudibras, by which he acquired fo high a reputation, was published at three different times; the first part came out in 1668 in 8vo. afterwards came out the fecond part, and both were printed together, with feveral additions, and annotations; at laft, the third and last part was published, but without any annotations, as appears by the printed copy 1678. The great fuccefs and peculiarity of manner of this poem has produced many unfuccefsful imitations of it, and fome vain attempts have been made to tranflate fome parts of it into Latin. Monfieur Voltaire gives it a very good character, and juftly obferves, that though there are as many thoughts as words in it, yet it cannot be fuccefsfully tranflated, on account of every line's having fome allusion to English affairs, which no foreigner can be fupposed to understand, or enter into. The Oxford antiquary afcribes to our author two pamphlets, fuppofed falfely, he fays, to be William Prynne's; the one entitled Mola Afinaria, or the Unreasonable and Infupportable Burthen preffed upon the Shoulders of this Groaning Nation, London 1659, in one sheet 4to. the other, Two Letters: One from John Audland, a Quaker, to William Prynne; the other, Prynne's Anfwer, in three fheets fol. 1672. The life writer mentions a fmall poem in one sheet in 4to. on Du Val, a notorious highwayman, faid to be written by Butler. These pieces, with a great many others, are published together, under the title of his Pofthumous Works. The life writer abovementioned has preferved a fragment of Mr. Butler's, given by one whom he calls the ingenious Mr. Aubrey, who affured him he had it from the poet himfelf; it is indeed admirable, and the fatire fufficiently pungent against the priests.

No

No jefuit e'er took in hand

To plant a church in barren land;
Nor ever thought it worth the while
A Swede or Rufs to reconcile."

For where there is no store of wealth,
Souls are not worth the charge of health.
Spain in America had two defigns :
To fell their gospel for their mines :
For had the Mexicans been poor,

No Spaniard twice had landed on their fhore. "Twas gold the Catholic religion planted, Which, had they wanted gold, they still had wanted.

Mr. Dryden * and Mr. Addifon † have joined in giving teftimony against our author, as to the choice of his verfe, which they condemn as boyish, and being apt to degenerate into the doggrel; but while they cenfure his verfe, they applaud his matter, and Dryden obferves, that had he chofe any other verfe, he would even then have excelled; as we fay of a court favourite, that whatever his office be, he ftill makes it upper-. moft, and most beneficial to him.

We cannot clofe the life of this great man, without a reflection on the degeneracy of those times, which fuffered him to languifh in obfcurity; and though he had done more against the Puritan intereft, by expofing it to ridicule, than thousands who were rioting at court with no pretenfions to favour, yet he was never taken notice of, nor had any calamity redrrffed, which leaves a stain on those who then ruled, that never can be obliterated. A minifter of ftate feldom fails to reward a court-tool, and a man of pleasure pays his inftruments for their infamy, and what

* Juv. Ded.

33

Spect. No. 6. Vol. i.

character

character muft that miniftration bear, who allow wit, loyalty and virtue to pafs neglected, and, as Cowley pathetically expreffes it,

In that year when manna rained on all, why fhould the mufes fleece be only dry.'

The following epigram is not unworthy a place here.

Whilft Butler, needy wretch, was yet alive,
No gen'rous patron would a dinner give;

But lo behold! when dead, the mould'ring duft,
Rewarded with a monumental bust !

A poet's fate, in emblem here is fhewn,
He ask'd for bread, and he receiv'd-

-a ftone.

W

EDMUND WALLER Esq; AS defcended of a family of his name in Buckinghamshire, a younger branch of the Wallers of Kent. He was born March 3, 1605 at Coleshill, which gives Warwickshire the honour of his birth. His father dying when he was very young, the care of his education fell to his mother, who fent him to Eton school, according to the author of his life, but Mr. Wood fays, . that he was mostly educated in grammaticals un⚫der one Dobfon, minister of Great Wycombe in Bucks, who had been educated in Eton fchool,' without mentioning that Mr. Waller had been at all at Eton fchool: after he had acquired grammar learning, he was removed to King's college in Cambridge, and it is manifeft that he muft have been extremely affiduous in his ftudies, fince he acquired fo fine a taste of the ancients, in fo fhort a time, for at fixteen or feventeen years of age, he was chofen into the laft Parliament of King James I. and ferved as Burgefs for Agmon. defham.

In the year 1623, when Prince Charles nearly efcaped being caft away in the road of St. Andre, coming from Spain, Mr. Waller wrote a Poem on that occafion, at an age when, generally fpeaking, perfons of the acuteft parts just begin to fhew themselves, and at a time when the English poetry had scarce any grace in it. In the year 1628 he addreffed a Poem to his Majefty, on his hearing the news of the duke of Buckingham's death, which, with the former, procured him general admiration harmony of numbers being at that time fo great a novelty, and Mr. Waller having, at once, fo polished and refined verfification, it is no wonder that he enjoyed the felicity of an univerfal applaufe. These poems recommended him to court-favour, and rendered him dear to perfons of the best tafte and diftinction that then flourished. A Writer of his life obferves, as a proof of his being much careffed by people of the first reputation, that he was one of the famous club, of which the great lord Falkland, Sir Francis Wainman, Mr. Chillingworth, Mr. Godolphin, and other eminent men were members. These were the immortals of that age, and to be affóciated with them, is one of the highest encomiums which can poffibly be bestowed, and exceeds the most laboured ftrain of a panegyrist.

A circumftance related of this club, is pretty remarkable: One evening, when they were convened, a great noife was heard in the freet, which not a little alarmed them, and upon enquiring the caufe, they were told, that a fon of Ben Johnson's was arrested. This club was too generous to fuffer the child of one, who was the genuine fon of Apollo, to be carried to a Jail, perhaps for a trifle: they fent for him, but in place of being Ben Johnfon's fon, he proved to be Mr. George Morley, afterwards bishop of Winchester. Mr. Waller liked him fo well, that he paid the debt, which VOL. II. N° 9.

M

was

« PreviousContinue »