Osborn, in his " Advice to a Son," fays, that it was an observation of Mr. Hampden, that to speak laft at a conference is a great advantage. "By this means," adds Ofborn," he was able "to make him ftill the gaol keeper of the party; 66 giving his oppofites leifure to lose their rea "fons in the loud and lefs fignificant tempeft "commonly arifing upon a first debate, in "which if he found his fide worsted, he had "the dextrous fagacity to mount the argument "above the heads of the major part, whofe fingle reafon did not seldom make the whole Parliament fo fufpicious of their own as to ap 66 prove his; or at least gave time for another "debate, by which he had the opportunity to "muster up more forces. Thus by confound"ing the weaker, and by tiring out the acuter judgment, he feldom failed to attain his "ends." 66 SIR WILLIAM WALLER. SIR TOBY MATTHEWS, in his collection of Englifh Letters, has preferved the following letter of Sir William Waller, before he took the command of the forces of the Parliament against Charles the Firft. A LET A LETTER OF SIR WILLIAM WALLER TO SIR RALPH HOPTON, ANN. DOM. 1643, IN THE BEGINNING OF THE CIVIL WARS BETWEEN c6 SIR, "The experience which I have had of your "worth, and the happineffe which I have enjoyed in your friendship, are wounding confi"derations to me, when I look upon this pre fent distance between us. Certainly, Sir, my "affections to you are fo unchangeable, that “hostilitie itself cannot violate my friendship to cr your person; but I must be true to the caufe "wherein I ferve. The old limitation of ufq. "ad aras, holdeth ftill; and where my con"fcience is interested, all other obligations are "fwallowed up. I fhould wait on you, accord❝ing to your defire, but that I look on you as "engaged in that partie beyond the poffibility "of retreat, and, confequentlie, uncapable of "being wrought upon by anie perfwafion; and "I know, the conference could never be fo "close betwixt us, but it would take wind, and "receive a construction to my dishonour. That "Great God, who is the fearcher of all hearts, "knows, with what a fad fear I go upon this "fervice, and with what perfect hate I deteft a "war without an enemie. But I look upon it as ง The "as opus Domini, (the work of the Lord,) which is enough to filence all paffion in me. "God of Peace fend us in his good time the "bleffing of peace; and in the mean time fit 1 us to receive it. We are both on the stage, "and must act those parts that are affigned to "us in this tragedy; but let us do it in the 66 way of honour, and without perfonal ani"mofitie. Whatever the iffue of it be, I fhall 66 never refign that dear title of "Your most affectionate friend, Bath, 16 Junii 1643.” "WILL. WALLER. In Sir William's "Vindication" of himself, lately published, he thus defcribes the state of England at the end of the Civil War, after the boafted improvements that were fupposed to have been made in the Government of it: "To be short, after the expence of so much "blood and treasure, all the difference that can "be difcerned between our former and prefent eftate is this: That before time, under the "complaint of a flavery, we lived like freemen; "and now, under the notion of a freedom, we "live like flaves, enforced by continual taxes "and oppreffions to maintain, and feed, our own mifery. But all this must be borne with ❝ patience, patience, as in order to a reformation, of "which there cannot be a birth expected in rea- ? "fon without some pain and travail. I deny not "but poffibly fome things in the frame of our "State might be amifs, and in a condition fit to "be reformed. But is there no mean between "the tooth-ache and the plague? between a "fore finger and a gangrene? Are we come to Afclepiades's opinion, that every distemper is "the poffeffion of the Devil? that nothing but extreme remedies, nothing but fire and fword, ❝and conjuring could be thought upon to help "us? Was there no way to effect this without 66 bruizing the whole kingdom in a mortar, and making it into a new paste? Those disorders " and irregularities which through the corrup"tion of time had grown up amongst us, might "in process of time, have been well reformed, "with a faving to the preservation and confist ency of our flourishing condition. But the "unbridled infolence of thefe men hath torn "our heads from our fhoulders, and difmem"bered our whole body, not leaving us an en"tire limb. Inque omni nufquam corpore corpus. "Like thofe indifcreet daughters of Peleus, they "have cut our throats to cure us. Inftead of "reforming, they have wiped though not yet "cleanfed the kingdom, according to that ex"preffion in the fcriptures, as a man wipeth a difh and turneth it upfide down." VOL. I. D D Sir Sir William was buried in the Abbey Church at Bath, under a very fuperb monument with his effigies upon it. The tradition current in that city is, that when James the Second visited the Abbey, he defaced the nofe of Sir William upon his monument there appear, however, at prefent no traces of any disfigurement. At the end of the "Poetry of Anna Matilda," 12mo. 1788, are "Recollections" of this great General, in which he seems, with an openness and an ingenuoufnefs peculiar to himself, to lay open the inmost receffes of his heart, and to difclofe in the most humble and pious manner his frailties and his vices, under the article "Father"like Chaftifements." He fays, "It was just "with God, for the punishment of my giving way to the plunder of Winchester, to permit "the demolition of my houfe at Winchester. My prefumption upon my own ftrength and "former fucceffes was juftly humbled at the "Devizes by an utter defeat, and at Croperdy "with a difhonourable blow. This," adds Sir William, fpeaking of his defeat at Croperdy, was the most heavy stroke of any that did ever befall me. General Effex had thought to "perfuade the Parliament to compromife with "the King, which so inflamed the zealous, that they moved that the command of their army 66 might be bestowed upon me; but the news |