The Poetical Works of the Right Hon. George Granville, Lord Lansdowne/4
TO THE IMMORTAL MEMORY OF
MR. EDMUND WALLER,
UPON HIS DEATH.
Alike partaking of celeſtial fire,
Poets and heroes to renown aſpire,
Till, crown’d with honour and immortal name,
By wit or valour led to equal fame,
They mingle with the gods who breath’d the noble flame.5
To high exploits the praiſes that belong
Live but as nouriſh’d by the poet’s ſong.
A tree of life is ſacred poetry;
Sweet is the fruit, and tempting to the eye:
Many there arc who nibble without leave,10
But none who are not born to taſte ſurvive.
Waller ſhall never die, of life ſecure
As long as Fame or aged Time endure:
Waller! the Muſe’s darling, free to taſte
Os all their ſtores, the maſter of the feaſt;15
Not like old Adam, ſtinted in his choice,
But lord of all the ſpacious paradiſe.
Thoſe foes to virtue, fortune, and mankind,
Fav’ring his fame, once to do juſtice join’d;
No carping critic interrupts his praiſe,20
No rival ſtrives but for a ſecond place;
No want conſtrain’d (the writer’s uſual fate)
A poet with a plentiful eſtate;
The firſt of mortals who before the tomb
Struck that pernicious monſter, Envy, dumb;25
Malice and Pride, thoſe ſavages, diſarm’d;
Not Orpheus with ſuch pow’rful magic charm’d.
Scarce in the grave can we allow him more
Than, living, we agreed to give before.
His noble Muſe employ’d her gen’rous rage30
In crowning virtue, ſcorning to engage
The vice and follies of an impious age.
No Satyr lurks within this hallow’d ground,
But nymphs and heroines, kings and gods, abound:
Glory, and arms, and love, is all the ſound.35
His Eden with no ſerpent is defil’d,
But all is gay, delicious all, and mild.
Miſtaken men his Muſe of flatt’ry blame,
Adorning twice an impious tyrant’s name.
We raiſe our own by giving fame to foes:40
The valour that he prais’d he did oppose.
Nor were his thoughts to poetry confin’d,
The ſtate and buſ’neſs ſhar’d his ample mind:
As all the fair were captives to his wit,
So ſenates to his wiſdom would ſubmit.45
His voice ſo ſoft, his eloquence ſo ſtrong,
Like Cato’s was his ſpeech, like Ovid’s was his ſong.
Our Britiſh kings are rais’d above the hearſe,
Immortal made in his immortal verſe;
No more are Mars and Jove poetic themes,50
But the celeſtial Charles and juſt James:
Juno and Pallas, all the ſhining race
Of heav’nly beauties, to the Queen give place:
Clear like her brow, and graceful, was his ſong,
Great like her mind, and like her virtue ſtrong.55
Parent of gods! who doſt to gods remove,
Where art thou plac’d, and which thy ſeat above?
Waller the god of Verſe we will proclaim;
Not Phœbus now, but Waller, be his name:
Os joyful bards the ſweet ſeraphic quire60
Acknowledge thee their oracle and fire;
The ſpheres do homage, and the Muſes ſing
Waller the god of Verſe who was the king.63