"repairing then of Paul's gave a reasonable colour "for his piety, and that navy-royal might well give "him the preeminence in power above Achilles."

1 fhould willingly have acquiesced in this determination, if there had been any naval armament in the year 1632 confiderable enough for the fubject of Mr. Waller's poem; neither did the war betwixt France and Spain, which is referred to in the third verse, break out till, I believe, almost three years after the date that Mr. Rymer hath affigned; and therefore, in a matter that still remains so uncertain, I may venture to interpofe my own opinion, which, whether right or no, may be lefs liable to objections than those that have been already advanced.

In the year 1635 the Hollandersespoused the quarrel of France against Spain, and the terms ftipulated in the treaty were, that they should not only divide the provinces of Flanders, but also Dunkirk, Oftend, and the other fea-ports on the coaft, equally between them. Upon the concluding this league offenfive and defenfive, the Dutch forgot their obligations to the crown of England, treated their old benefactors with difrefpect, and were more audacious in their encroachments upon the fishery on our coasts. King Charles thought it was high time to affert his fovereignty over the narrow feas, and immediately fitted out a much greater fleet than had ever been equipped Lince the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and appointed

the Earl of Lindsey to command it. Sir William Monion, who ferved Vice-admiral under the Earl, informs us, in his Naval Tracts, that while this fleet was preparing, many idle, factious, and fcandalous reports were invented, to perfuade the people that thofe preparations were only an artifice of state to draw money from the fubje&t. Could Mr. Waller ever have had a more happy opportunity than this of making his court to the King, by representing his actions in their proper light, in proclaiming his navy to be, as in truth it was, the glory and defence of the nation? And yet, to deal ingenuously, I am of opinion that this poem was written in the following year, when his great friend, the Earl of Northumberland, was made admiral of a fleet not inferiour to the former, in the thirty-first year of Mr. Waller's age.

The world's reftorer once could not endure.] This line is printed as I find it in the first edition; in the others it is never cou'd endure. The building of Babel is related by Mofes in Genefis, chap. xi.

To the Queen, occafioned upon fight of her Majefty's picture, p. 2.

WHEN all thoughts of a marriage with the Infanta of Spain were laid aside, King James consented that Prince Charles fhould make his addresses to Henrietta Maria de Bourbon, youngest daughter of Henry IV.

of France, by his queen Mary de Medicis. Accordingly, in the year 1624, the Lord Kensington, (afterwards created Earl of Holland) was difpatched to make proposals to Lewis XIII. by whom they were embraced, and the nuptial ceremony was performed in the church of Nôtredame in Paris, on the first of May 1625. Mr. Waller feems to have written this poem foon after her Majefty's arrival in England, anno atat. 20. Nor shall we think him too profufe in praifing her beauty, when we read the description of her perfon, which the Lord Kensington gives, in a letter to the Prince of Wales, whom he would not dare to delude with a portrait of his own invention. ***“Sir, "if your intentions proceed this way, (as by many "reafons of state and wifdom there is caufe now ra"ther to prefs it than flacken it) you will find a lady "of as much lovelinefs and fweetnefs to deferve your "affection as any creature under heaven can do. And, "Sir, by all her fashions fince my being here, and by "what I hear from the ladies, it is most visible to me "her infinite value and respect unto you. Sir, I fay 66 not this to betray your belief, but from a true ob"fervation and knowledge of this to be fo. I tell you 66 this, and must fomewhat more,in way of admiration “of the person of Madame; for the impreffions I "had of her were but ordinary, but the amazement "extraordinary, to find her (as I protest to God I "did) the sweetest creature in France. Her growth

"is very little fhort of her age, but her wifdem in, 'finitely beyond it. I heard her difcourfe with her "mother, and the ladies about her, with extraordi"nary discretion and quickness. She dances (the "which I am a witnefs of) as well as ever I faw any "creature. They say she fings fweetly; Lam fure she "looks fo.". *** And in another letter he fays, "That for beauty and goodness fhe was an angel." This defcription will claim the more regard, when we reflect on the important occafion on which it was written, and on the person who wrote it, who was the moft accomplished courtier of that age: elegans formarum fpectator, was the Earl of Holland's true character, and it had been happy for himself and the nation if he had never afpired to any other.

To the Queen-mother of France, upon her landing, p. 5• MARY DE MEDICIS, queen-mother of France, is a fad and very fingular inftance how infecure the moft commanding condition may prove against the viciffitudes of Fortune. She was daughter to the Great Duke of Tuscany, wife of Henry IV. of France, mother to Lewis XIII. his fucceffor, to the Queens of England and Spain, and to the Duchefs of Savoy, yet was made afacrifice by her own fon (a timorousand weak prince) to the ambition of Cardinal Richlieu, to whom the had been a benefactrefs. By him he was reprefented

to the King of France as a perfon diffaffected to his government, then was perfecuted from the court, and at length confined to Compeigne; from whence fhe made her escape, the 19th of July 1631,with so much precipitation, that she travelled thirty leagues without taking ease or refreshment. In the year 163%, her daughter, the Queen of England, invited her over to take fanctuary in this nation, whether her evil genius pursued her; for, upon her arrival, the populace raised a tumult, in which three men were flain, and when the Earl of Holland, who was Lord-lieutenant of Middlefex, gave orders for a guard of a hundred muf queteers out of the militia to protect her Majesty's perfon, he was answered, that they thought it fitter for them to do other things than to guard a foreigner At length fhe was lodged fafe in St. James's palace; where for about three years he enjoyed a penfion of gecol. a-month. At laf the parliament petitioned for her removal out of the kingdom, which they foftened with a prefent of 1c,cc0l. to make provifion for her journey. The King's affairs were too much perplexed for him to give protection to others; and therefore, in August 1641, he ordered the Earl of Arundel to attend this unfortunate princess to Cologne; where, having languished to the following year, in a condition very unsuitable to her high birth and former dignity, fhe died about five months before the implacable Cardinal. This poem was addreffed to the Volume 11.