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University of Virginia Library

The Poems of Edmund Waller

Edited by G. Thorn Drury

Waller, Edmund (1606-1687)

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OF THE DANGER HIS MAJESTY [BEING PRINCE] ESCAPED IN THE ROAD AT SAINT ANDREWS.

OF HIS MAJESTY'S RECEIVING THE NEWS OF THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM'S DEATH.

TO THE KING, ON HIS NAVY.

UPON HIS MAJESTY'S REPAIRING OF PAUL'S.

TO MR. HENRY LAWES,

THE COUNTRY TO MY LADY OF CARLISLE.

THE COUNTESS OF CARLISLE IN MOURNING.

IN ANSWER TO ONE WHO WRIT AGAINST A FAIR LADY.

OF HER CHAMBER.

TO MR. GEORGE SANDYS,

UPON BEN JONSON.

TO MY LORD NORTHUMBERLAND,

TO MY LORD ADMIRAL,

TO THE QUEEN MOTHER OF FRANCE, UPON HER LANDING.

UPON THE DEATH OF MY LADY RICH.

THYRSIS, GALATEA.

ON MY LADY DOROTHY SIDNEY'S PICTURE.

TO MY LORD OF LEICESTER.

OF THE LADY WHO CAN SLEEP WHEN SHE PLEASES.

OF THE MISREPORT OF HER BEING PAINTED.

OF HER PASSING THROUGH A CROWD OF PEOPLE.

THE STORY OF PHŒBUS AND DAPHNE, APPLIED.

TO THE SERVANT OF A FAIR LADY.

TO A VERY YOUNG LADY.

ON THE FRIENDSHIP BETWIXT TWO LADIES.

ON HER COMING TO LONDON.

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THE BATTLE OF THE SUMMER ISLANDS.

I.

II.

III.

WHEN HE WAS AT SEA.

TO MY LORD OF FALKLAND.

THE APOLOGY OF SLEEP,

FOR DRINKING OF HEALTHS.

OF MY LADY ISABELLA,

OF THE MARRIAGE OF THE DWARFS.

LOVE'S FAREWELL.

ON THE DISCOVERY OF A LADY'S PAINTING.

OF LOVING AT FIRST SIGHT.

THE SELF-BANISHED.

TO A LADY SINGING A SONG OF HIS COMPOSING.

TO THE MUTABLE FAIR.

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

ON THE HEAD OF A STAG.

THE MISER'S SPEECH.

TO A LADY IN A GARDEN.

CHLORIS AND HYLAS.

IN ANSWER OF SIR JOHN SUCKLING'S VERSES.

AN APOLOGY FOR HAVING LOVED BEFORE.

ON A BREDE OF DIVERS COLOURS,

BEHOLD THE BRAND OF BEAUTY TOSSED!

WHILE I LISTEN TO THY VOICE.

GO, LOVELY ROSE!

UNDER A LADY'S PICTURE.

WRITTEN IN MY LADY SPEKE'S SINGING-BOOK.

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.

ON MR. JOHN FLETCHER'S PLAYS.

VERSES TO DR. GEORGE ROGERS,

TO MY LADY MORTON, ON NEW-YEAR'S DAY, 1650.

TO SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT,

A PANEGYRIC TO MY LORD PROTECTOR,

TO MY WORTHY FRIEND, MR. WASE.

TO HIS WORTHY FRIEND, MASTER EVELYN,

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

TO HIS WORTHY FRIEND, SIR THOS. HIGGONS,

PART OF THE FOURTH BOOK OF VIRGIL, TRANSLATED.

UPON THE LATE STORM, AND OF THE DEATH OF HIS HIGHNESS ENSUING THE SAME.

ON ST. JAMES'S PARK,

TO THE QUEEN, UPON HER MAJESTY'S BIRTHDAY,

TO A FAIR LADY, PLAYING WITH A SNAKE.

INSTRUCTIONS TO A PAINTER,

UPON HER MAJESTY'S NEW BUILDINGS AT SOMERSET HOUSE

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

TO MR. KILLIGREW,

EPIGRAM UPON THE GOLDEN MEDAL.

THE NIGHT-PIECE;

ON THE PICTURE OF A FAIR YOUTH,

OF A TREE CUT IN PAPER.

TO A LADY, FROM WHOM HE RECEIVED THE FOREGOING COPY WHICH FOR MANY YEARS HAD BEEN LOST.

OF ENGLISH VERSE.

TO THE DUCHESS,

TO THE DUCHESS OF ORLEANS,

TO A FRIEND OF THE AUTHOR,

OF HER ROYAL HIGHNESS, MOTHER TO THE PRINCE OF ORANGE;

ON THE STATUE OF KING CHARLES I.

EPITAPH ON COLONEL CHARLES CAVENDISH.

THE TRIPLE COMBAT.

UPON OUR LATE LOSS OF THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE.

OF THE LADY MARY, &c.

TO THE PRINCE OF ORANGE, 1677.

ON THE DUKE OF MONMOUTH'S EXPEDITION

UPON THE EARL OF ROSCOMMON'S TRANSLATION OF HORACE,

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

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

TO MR. CREECH, ON HIS TRANSLATION OF “LUCRETIUS.”

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

WRITTEN ON A CARD THAT HER MAJESTY TORE AT OMBRE.

TRANSLATED OUT OF SPANISH.

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

OF TEA, COMMENDED BY HER MAJESTY.

PROLOGUE FOR THE LADY-ACTORS:

PROLOGUE TO THE “MAID'S TRAGEDY.”

EPILOGUE TO THE “MAID'S TRAGEDY.”

EPILOGUE TO THE “MAID'S TRAGEDY.”

OF THE INVASION AND DEFEAT OF THE TURKS, IN THE YEAR 1683.

A PRESAGE OF THE RUIN OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE.

TO HIS MAJESTY,

EPITAPH ON SIR GEORGE SPEKE.

EPITAPH ON HENRY DUNCH, ESQ.,

TO MR. GRANVILLE (NOW LORD LANSDOWNE),

LONG AND SHORT LIFE.

TRANSLATED OUT OF FRENCH.

SOME VERSES OF AN IMPERFECT COPY, DESIGNED FOR A FRIEND, ON HIS TRANSLATION OF OVID'S “FASTI.”

PRIDE.

EPITAPH ON THE LADY SEDLEY.

EPITAPH UNFINISHED.

UPON A LADY'S FISHING WITH AN ANGLE.

ON MRS. HIGGONS.

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OF DIVINE LOVE.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

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OF DIVINE POESY.

I.

II.

OF THE PARAPHRASE ON THE LORD'S PRAYER,

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

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ON THE FEAR OF GOD.

I.

II.

OF THE LAST VERSES IN THE BOOK.

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242

PRIDE.

Not the brave Macedonian youth alone,
But base Caligula, when on the throne,
Boundless in power, would make himself a god,
As if the world depended on his nod.
The Syrian King to beasts was headlong thrown,
Ere to himself he could be mortal known.
The meanest wretch, if Heaven should give him line,
Would never stop till he were thought divine.
All might within discern the serpent's pride,
If from ourselves nothing ourselves did hide.
Let the proud peacock his gay feathers spread,
And woo the female to his painted bed;
Let winds and seas together rage and swell;
This Nature teaches, and becomes them well.
“Pride was not made for men:” a conscious sense
Of guilt, and folly, and their consequence,
Destroys the claim, and to beholders tells,
Here nothing but the shape of manhood dwells.