Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Character Of Waller, As A Man And A Poet.
intemperance had not infected all ranks in Waller ' s time as they have now ; \ buthe had as much merit in avoiding the contagion oi a profligate court , with which he had such familiar intercourse , as we can ascribe to an individual of the piesentage , who mixes much with the world , and yet continues proof against its licentiousness . Pie rebuked the impious wit of the libertine even before a King who was
destitute of religion and princip le ; and who enjoyed a jest upon that sacred truth which it was his duty to defend and to maintain *' . But his virtue was more theoretic than practical . It was of a delicate and render make ; formed for the quiet of the poetic shade , and the ease of society ; not hardy and confirmed enough for a conflict with popular commotions . His behaviour on his trial was
hypocritical , unmanly , and abject : yet the alarming occasion of it , on which but few would have acquitted themselves with a determined fortitude , extenuates it in some measure to candour ancl humanity ; though he who had effectually reduced the discipline of philosophy to practice , would rather have suffered death than purchased life with the ignominy which it cost Waller . But let us recollect that Providence is
very rarely lavish of its extraordinary gifts to one man . Let us not condemn him with untempered severity , because he was not a prodigy which the ivorld hath seldom seen ; because his . character comprised not the poet , the orator , and the hero . That he greatly improved our language and versification , and that his works gave a new sera to English poetry , was allowed by his cotemporariesnor has it ever been disputed by good critics . Drj-dea
, tells us'he had heard Waller say , that he owed the harmony of hisnumbers to Fairfax ' s translation of . the Godfrey of Bulloigne . Whoe- » er reads that translation , and compares it with our Author ' s poetry , will see in how rude a state English verse was when Waller , begaa to write , and what advantage-it received from him . Perhaps-more elegant languageand more harmonious numbers than his , would be
, expected even from a middling poet in this age of refinement : but such a writer would be as much inferior to Waller in absolute merit , as it is more difficult to attain new , than to copy past excellence , as it is easier to imitate than to invent . A voyage to the West . Indies , first atcln ' eved by Columbus , arid the calculations of Newton , are now often made by the modern mariner and mathematician : but who
refuses admiration to the inventor of Fluxions , and to the discoverer of America ? . Ease , gallantry , and wit , are the principal constituents of his poetry ; though he-. is frequently plaintive with tenderness , and serious ' with dignity . But impartiality must acknowledge that fiis muse seldom reaches the sublime . She is characterised by the softer graces , not by grandeur ancl majesty . It . is her province to draw sportive or
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Character Of Waller, As A Man And A Poet.
intemperance had not infected all ranks in Waller ' s time as they have now ; \ buthe had as much merit in avoiding the contagion oi a profligate court , with which he had such familiar intercourse , as we can ascribe to an individual of the piesentage , who mixes much with the world , and yet continues proof against its licentiousness . Pie rebuked the impious wit of the libertine even before a King who was
destitute of religion and princip le ; and who enjoyed a jest upon that sacred truth which it was his duty to defend and to maintain *' . But his virtue was more theoretic than practical . It was of a delicate and render make ; formed for the quiet of the poetic shade , and the ease of society ; not hardy and confirmed enough for a conflict with popular commotions . His behaviour on his trial was
hypocritical , unmanly , and abject : yet the alarming occasion of it , on which but few would have acquitted themselves with a determined fortitude , extenuates it in some measure to candour ancl humanity ; though he who had effectually reduced the discipline of philosophy to practice , would rather have suffered death than purchased life with the ignominy which it cost Waller . But let us recollect that Providence is
very rarely lavish of its extraordinary gifts to one man . Let us not condemn him with untempered severity , because he was not a prodigy which the ivorld hath seldom seen ; because his . character comprised not the poet , the orator , and the hero . That he greatly improved our language and versification , and that his works gave a new sera to English poetry , was allowed by his cotemporariesnor has it ever been disputed by good critics . Drj-dea
, tells us'he had heard Waller say , that he owed the harmony of hisnumbers to Fairfax ' s translation of . the Godfrey of Bulloigne . Whoe- » er reads that translation , and compares it with our Author ' s poetry , will see in how rude a state English verse was when Waller , begaa to write , and what advantage-it received from him . Perhaps-more elegant languageand more harmonious numbers than his , would be
, expected even from a middling poet in this age of refinement : but such a writer would be as much inferior to Waller in absolute merit , as it is more difficult to attain new , than to copy past excellence , as it is easier to imitate than to invent . A voyage to the West . Indies , first atcln ' eved by Columbus , arid the calculations of Newton , are now often made by the modern mariner and mathematician : but who
refuses admiration to the inventor of Fluxions , and to the discoverer of America ? . Ease , gallantry , and wit , are the principal constituents of his poetry ; though he-. is frequently plaintive with tenderness , and serious ' with dignity . But impartiality must acknowledge that fiis muse seldom reaches the sublime . She is characterised by the softer graces , not by grandeur ancl majesty . It . is her province to draw sportive or