in the chambers of Joseph Chitty [q. v.] he commenced his contributions to periodical literature. On returning to Ireland he went the Leinster circuit, but almost immediately joined the staff of the ‘Dublin University Magazine,’ a periodical which had been founded a few months earlier. To this magazine Waller was a prolific contributor of both prose and verse for upwards of forty years, and he succeeded Charles James Lever [q. v.] as its editor. His most notable articles in it were the ‘Slingsby Papers,’ under the pseudonym of ‘Jonathan Freke Slingsby,’ which appeared in book form in 1852, a series of humorous reflections somewhat after the manner of Wilson's ‘Noctes Ambrosianæ;’ but, although he possessed a graceful fancy, Waller had not Wilson's intellectual powers. He best deserves remembrance as a writer of verse, and especially as the author of songs, many of which, set to music by Stewart and other composers, attained a wide vogue. Some were translated into German. The best known are perhaps ‘The Voices of the Dead,’ ‘Cushla ma Chree,’ and ‘The Song of the Glass.’ Of the last-named, Richard Monckton Milnes (first Baron Houghton) [q. v.] said that it was one of the best drinking songs of the age. Waller also wrote the ‘Imperial Ode’ for the Cork Exhibition, 1852, and an ode on the ‘Erection of the Campanile of Trinity College,’ which, with other pieces of the same sort, were published in 1864 as ‘Occasional Odes.’ In 1852 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Dublin University, in recognition of his eminent literary attainments. He was for many years honorary secretary of the Royal Dublin Society. He became in 1864 a vice-president of the Royal Irish Academy, and was also the founder, in 1872, and vice-president of the Goldsmith Club. In 1867 he became registrar of the rolls court, and on his retirement removed to London, where his later years were spent in literary work for Cassell & Co. He died at Bishop's Stortford on 19 Jan. 1894. He married, in 1835, Anna, daughter of William Hopkins. By her he had two sons and six daughters.
The following is a list of Waller's published works not already mentioned:
- ‘Ravenscroft Hall and other Poems,’ 1852.
- ‘The Dead Bridal,’ 1856.
- ‘Occasional Odes,’ 1864.
- ‘Revelations of Pete Browne,’ 1872.
- ‘Festival Tales,’ 1873.
- ‘Pictures from English Literature,’ 1870.
He was also the editor of the ‘Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography,’ London, 1857–63, 3 vols. (also issued in sixteen parts); new edit. 1877–84, 3 vols.; and of editions of Goldsmith's ‘Works’ (1864–5), of Moore's ‘Irish Melodies’ (1867), and of ‘Gulliver's Travels’ (1864), with memoirs of the authors prefixed.
[Dublin University Magazine, vol. lxxxiii.; Athenæum, 1894, i. 149; Burke's Landed Gentry.]
WALLER, RICHARD (1395?–1462?), soldier and official, born probably about 1395, was son of John Waller of Groombridge, Kent, by his wife, Margaret Landsdale of Landsdale, Sussex. Groombridge had been purchased of William Clinton by Waller's grandfather, Thomas, who came originally from Lamberhurst in Sussex. Richard served in the French wars under Henry V, and was present at Agincourt in 1415, where he is said to have captured Charles, duke of Orleans (Archæol. Journal, i. 386; Sussex Archæol. Coll. xvi. 271). The duke was entrusted to Waller's keeping at Groombridge as a reward for his valour, and Waller found his charge so profitable that he was enabled to rebuild his house there. On 17 Aug. 1424 Waller served under John, duke of Bedford, at the battle of Verneuil (Royal Letters of Henry VI, ii. 394). In 1433–4 he was sheriff of the joint counties of Surrey and Sussex, and in 1437–8 sheriff of Kent (Lists of Sheriffs, 1898, pp. 68, 136). In 1437 Orleans's brother, the Count of Angoulême, was also entrusted to Waller's keeping (Acts of the Privy Council, v. 82; cf. Waurin, iii. 267). Waller was an adherent of Cardinal Beaufort, and before 1439 became master of his household. In that year he accompanied the cardinal to France on his embassy to treat for peace. In his will, dated 20 Jan. 1446, Beaufort appointed Waller one of his executors (Testamenta Vetusta, p. 252; Epistolæ Academicæ, Oxford Hist. Soc., 1899, i. 266; Letters of Margaret of Anjou, Camden Soc., p. 101). In March 1442–3 Waller was serving with Sir John Fastolf [q. v.], who terms Waller his ‘right well-beloved brother’ (Paston Letters, i. 307), as treasurer of Somerset's expedition to Guienne, and on 3 April he presented to the council a schedule of necessary purveyances for the army (Acts P. C. v. 256). He acted as receiver and treasurer of a subsidy in 1450 (Rot. Parl. v. 173), and seems also to have been joint-chamberlain of the exchequer with Sir Thomas Tyrrell. On 12 July of that year he was commissioned to arrest John Mortimer, one of the aliases of Jack Cade (Palgrave, Antient Kalendars, ii. 217, 218, 219, 220; Acts P. C. vi. 96; Devon, Issues, p. 466). On 8 June 1456 he was summoned to attend an assize of oyer and terminer at Maidstone to punish rioters,
