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On Œta's Top thus Hercules lay dead,
With ruin'd Oaks and Pines about him ſpread.
Nature herſelf took Notice of his Death,
And, ſighing, ſwell'd the Sea with ſuch a Breath,
That to remoteſt Shores the Billows roul'd,
Th'approaching Fate of his great Ruler told.

Waller

'Twas this Elogium that gave Occasſion to the Reply (taken Notice of in Bayle's Dictionary,) which Waller made King Charles the Second. This King, to whom Waller had a little before, (as is uſual with Bards and Monarchs) preſented a Copy of Verſes embroider'd with Praiſes; reproach'd the Poet for not writing with ſo much Energy and Fire as when he had applauded the Uſurper (meaning Oliver;) Sir, reply'd Waller to the King, we Poets ſucceed better in Fiction than in Truth. This

Anſwer

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