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Ofborn, 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 still the gaol keeper of the party; "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 fin"gle reafon did not seldom make the whole Par"liament fo fufpicious of their own as to apcc prove his; or at least gave time for another "debate, by which he had the opportunity to "mufter up more forces. Thus by confounding the weaker, and by tiring out the acuter judgment, he feldom failed to attain his "ends."

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SIR WILLIAM WALLER.

SIR TOBY MATTHEWS, in his collection of Eng lifh Letters, has preferved the following letter of Sir William Waller, before he took the command of the forces of the Parliament against Charles the First.

A LET

A LETTER OF SIR WILLIAM WALLER TO SIR

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RALPH HOPTON, ANN. DOM. 1643, IN THE

BEGINNING OF THE CIVIL WARS BETWEEN CHARLES THE FIRST AND THE PARLIAMENT.

66 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 diftance between us. Certainly, Sir, my "affections to you are fo unchangeable, that ❝ hostilitie itself cannot violate my friendship to

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your perfon; but I must be true to the cause "wherein I serve. The old limitation of ufq. "ad aras, holdeth ftill; and where my con"fcience is interested, all other obligations are fwallowed up. I should wait on you, according to your defire, but that I look on you as

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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 conftruction to my difhonour. That "Great God, who is the fearcher of all hearts,

knows, with what a fad fear I go upon this "service, and with what perfect hate I deteft a war without an enemic. But I look upon it

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as opus Domini, (the work of the Lord,) which "is enough to filence all paffion in me. The "God of Peace fend us in his good time the "bleffing of peace; and in the mean time fit . us to receive it. We are both on the stage, ❝ and must act thofe parts that are affigned to us in this tragedy; but let us do it in the "way of honour, and without perfonal ani"mofitie. Whatever the iffue of it be, I fhall "never refign that dear title of

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"Your most affectionate friend,
"and faithful fervant,

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 supposed to have been made in the Government of it:

"To be fhort, after the expence of fo much. "blood and treasure, all the difference that can "be difcerned between our former and prefent "eftate is this: That before time, under the

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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

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"patience,

"patience, as in order to a reformation, of "which there cannot be a birth expected in rea"fon without fome 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 sword, "and conjuring could be thought upon to help "us? Was there no way to effect this without "bruizing the whole kingdom in a mortar, and "making it into a new pafte? 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 confift66 ency of our flourishing condition. But the "unbridled infolence of these men hath torn "our heads from our fhoulders, and dismem"bered our whole body, not leaving us an en"tire limb. Inque omni nufquam corpore corpus. "Like those 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 apfide down."

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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 vifited the Abbey, he defaced the nofe of Sir William upon his monument there appear, however, at pre-fent 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 feems, with an openness and an ingenuousness peculiar to himself, to lay open the inmoft receffes of his heart, and to difclose in the most humble and pious manner his frailties and his vices, under the article "Father"like Chastisements." He fays, "It was just "with God, for the punishment of my giving

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way to the plunder of Winchester, to permit "the demolition of my house at Winchester. "My prefumption upon my own strength 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 compromise with "the King, which fo inflamed the zealous, that they moved that the command of their army "might be bestowed upon me; but the news

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