To the Queen, upon her Majesty's Birth-day, &c. p. 245. QUEEN Catharine, Infanta of Portugal, was born on the 14th of November, N. S. 1638, but her birth-day was observed in England on the 25th of that month, agreeable to the old method of computation; on which day Mr. Waller presented this poem to her Majesty, soon after her recovery from a dangerous fever, anno Dom. 1663, ætat. suæ 58. This poem concludes that edition which was printed in the year 1664, at which time Mr. Waller expressed his resolution to hang up his harp, by subscribing these two verses from Horace, lib. i. ep. 1. Nunc itaque et versus, et cætera ludicra pono; Quid verum, atque decens curo, et rogo, et omnis in hoc sum. But since he soon relapsed into poetry, I thought it would not be very material to preserve them any longer in their usual station. It appears, from the date in the title of this poem, that Mr. Waller wrote and presented it to the Queen, anno atat. 78. To the Duchess of Orleans, &c. p. 246. THE Princess Henrietta Maria, youngest daughter of King Charles I. was born at Exeter on the 16th of June, 1644. When she was about two years old she was privately conveyed into France, as hath already been observed in the Remarks on the poem to the Countess of Morton; where, soon after the Restoration, she was married to the French king's only brother, Philip Duke of Anjou, who succeeded to the title of Orleans on the death of his uncle. But, alas! Eumenides tenuere faces de funere raptas, She is said to have been extremely beautiful; and even Burnet confesseth that she was thought the wittiest woman in France; though soon afterwards repenting of his ingenuity, he takes some pains to poison her reputation. Being prevailed upon by the French King to endeavour to engage her brother, King Charles II. in a league with him to humble the Dutch, she arrived at Dover about the middle of May, 1670, where she staid something more than a fortnight, and was entertained by all her royal relations, attended by the flower of the English court, with all possible demonstrations of joy, during which time a scheme against Holland was concerted. Her husband, while she was absent, either wrought upon by the weakness and malice of his own nature, or the wicked insinuations of others, contracted an ill opinion of her conjugal virtue, so that nothing but her blood could extinguish his jealousy; and accordingly, soon after her return to St. Cloud, she was dispatched by a dose of sublimate given her in a glass of succory-water, when she had just completed the twenty-sixth year of her age. During her torments, which for about ten hours were violent, she expressed great resignation, and told the Duke of Orleans, that she was the willinger to die, because her conscience upbraided her with nothing ill in her conduct towards him.' After such a declaration of her innocence, made in the very article of death, it ill became a Christian bishop to impeach her fidelity. Mr. Waller writ this poem, anno ætat. 65. VOL. II. SONG. Stay, Phoebus! stay, p. 5. THE famous Philip de Mornay was a favourite and privy counseller to Henry IV. of France, till that monarch revolted to the Romish communion, from whom, I suppose, the lady to whom this song is addressed was descended; and she probably was one of Queen Henrietta's attendants, who, upon the misbehaviour of Madame St. George and the Bishop of Mende, were obliged to quit both the English court and kingdom, in the year 1627; but this I offer purely as a conjecture of my own, and refer it to the reader's discretion to receive or reject it. The latter stanza of these verses (which are certainly of Mr. Waller's earliest production) alludes to the Copernican system, in which the earth is supposed to be a planet, and to move on its own axis round the sun, the centre of the universe. Dr. Donne and Mr. Cowley industriously affected to entertain the fair sex with such philosophical allusions, which, in his riper age, Mr. Waller as industriously avoided. EPIGRAMS, EPITAPHS, &c. Epigram upon the Golden Medal, p. 17. THE title of this epigram is so concise, that it renders the conclusion of it almost as obscure as any passage in Persius or Lycophron. I am very diffident in advancing a conjecture so much in the dark; yet for once I will venture, in hope that since it is offered with caution, it will be rejected with candour if it is not approved. Roti, the celebrated engraver to King Charles II. was so passionate an admirer of the beautiful Mrs. Stuart, (afterwards Duchess of Richmond) that on the reverse of the best of our coin he delineated the face of Britannia from her picture; and in some medals, where he had more room to display both his art and affection, the similitude of features is said to have been so exact, that every one who knew her Grace, at the first view could discover who sat for Britannia. This epigram, therefore, compliments the Duchess upon her virtue being impregnable, and superior to temptation; in which sense, whatever effect it may have upon our faith, it is reconciled to our understanding. And, if I may be indulged in carrying my conjecture a little farther, I fancy these verses were composed soon after Roti had stamped that medal, the date of which is coincident with the sixtieth year of Mr. Waller's age. Epitaph on Colonel Charles Cavendish, p. 22. THIS gallant gentleman was a younger son of William Earl of Devonshire, and brother to that beautiful and every way excellent Lady Rich, who hath already been mentioned. His genius led him equally to excel in letters and in arms; but the course of his studies (in which the mathematics engaged his principal attention) being interrupted by the rebellion, he was among the first who drew their swords in the crown's defence; and after many signal services performed for the King in the North, he was slain at Gainsborough, 1643, in the twenty-third year of his age. Cromwell, who commanded that party of rebels by which he was defeated, in a letter to the Committee of Association then sitting at Cambridge, says, My captain-lieutenant slew him with a thrust under the short ribs :' which may very well consist with another account, which informs us that he was murdered in cold blood, after quarter had been offered, and he had accepted it. His body was then deposited at Newark, but removed, and buried with his mother's at Derby, in the year 1674. Early abroad he did the world survey, &c.] The Memoirs of the family of Cavendish inform us, that after this gentleman had made the tour of France and Italy, he embarked at Venice for Constantinople; and, after a long circuit by land through Natolia, sailed to Alexandria, thence to Cairo, visited Malta in his course to Spain; and from Spain returning to Paris, he arrived in England about the end of May, in the year 1641. Epitaph on the Lady Sedley, p. 23. SHE was Elizabeth, only daughter of the learned Sir Henry Savil, Provost of Eton College, and |