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Wither composed a Private Meditation upon the occasion. Of this political Proteus many pictures have been drawn. He was the fortunate madman of Mazarine, the brave wicked man of Clarendon, the exhausted villain of Bishop Burnet; yet we ought to remember that Baxter, a shrewd and careful observer, thought he "meant honestly in the main, and was pious and conscionable" till prosperity and success corrupted him*. No man has been the subject of more flattery or abuse; with one party the throned king of the apostacy, with the other, the creature of infamy and pollution. He is said by his admirers to have esteemed men of learning, and to have expressed an inclination to hire the pen of Meric Casaubon to write his history, and to patronize Hobbes for the Leviathan. But the invitation to Casaubon could only prove that he was desirous of perpetuating his exploits in the most graceful manner. He wished to sit for his picture and direct the artist. His intellect was bold and vigorous, full of nerve and power, and peculiarly adapted to wrestle with the stormy influences of the age he lived in. Fickle and uncertain in his friendships and promises, be fostered hopes one hour, only to crush them in the next. Of his variableness an example has been already afforded in the case of our poet.

"On the demise of Cromwell," says Mr. T. Campbell, "Wither hailed the accession of Richard with joyful gratulation. He never but once in his life foreboded good, and in that prophecy he was mistaken." It is easier for a critic to be witty than correct. If Mr. Campbell had ever taken the trouble to look into Wither's political works, he would have seen the fallacy of the observation.

• Reliquie Basteriane, pt. i., p. 98.

On the expulsion of the Parliament by General La bert, in the October of 1659, he lost no time in pr paring A Cordial Confection against the Fainting of Heart in those distracted times, which he printed on t 23rd of December, addressed to Mr. Robert Hamo merchant. In the copy of this pamphlet in the Briti Museum, is the following observation written on blank leaf, and dated January 6, 1660:-"This Lib was scattered about the streets that night those bloo villains intended their massacre in London, which w upon Sunday night, the 6th of January, 1660, bein Twelfth Night." In this pamphlet Wither asserts, th during nine years' solicitation he had been unsuccessf in procuring the reading of one petition in Parliamen but I find, from the Journals of the House of Common that the "petitions of Colonel Cooke and Georg Withers" were ordered to be read on Monday mornin February the 21st, 1656. Whether they were actuall read on that day does not appear.

During the unsettled events of 1659-60, he was enjoy ing a little repose in the retirement of Hambledon, fro which place he dates his Furor Poeticus, on the 19th February in that year*. There are two villages of thi name, one in the county of Southampton, and the othe near Godalming, in Surrey; the former must have bee the poet's residence, for we learn from the Epistle a Random, that his family had been settled in Hampshir two years. The intentions of General Monk were the the subject of general anxiety. Pepys says in his Diary "All the world is at a loss to think what Monk will do the City saying he will be for them, and the Parliamen

• In the Advertisement, at the end, he announces that any of hi recent works may be had "of Mrs. Stamps, who selleth books in West minster Hall."

saying he will be for them." Wither urged him to continue the stedfast champion of the Republic; how far he followed that advice is well known.

The Furor Poeticus obtained no relief for the petitioner. For nearly seventeen years had he been pouring out his complaints in public and in private, writing "many hundreds of poems, papers, and petitions," beside MS. addresses delivered unto the hands of the two Protectors, and all with no more success than if he had supplicated "the Statues in Westminster Abbey, or Whitehall Garden." During this long and anxious season of hope deferred, the quiet beauty of his native hamlet frequently came back upon his heart, and he longed to dwell again "by the wood-side in a country village." He was, however, still engaged in agricultural pursuits, although prevented, by his occupation in London from visiting his farm more than two or three times in the year, and he expressed a fear, that owing to his increasing poverty, the land would soon be left unstocked.

His enemies appear to have been more active than his friends, having not only obtained the omission of his name in the Commission of the Peace for Hampshire, but in the Militia also; these were severe trials to the poet, now past his seventieth year, and, in his own words, worn out by oppression. After pathetically alluding to his depressed condition, and the want of sufficient funds to meet, with punctuality, the demands of his creditors, he continues:

"To preserve myself as much as I could from this vexation and scandal, and to supply my personal wants (occasioned by other men deceiving my hopes), I have been enforced to sell away above 20001. worth of my then remaining livelihood, real and personal, and am

still engaged, by my continuing oppressions, in almo much more, though I have, since the sales last tioned, sold by parcels, to the dismembering of my heritance, all that was disengaged, and at my free posal. Yea, the consumption goes on, insomuch the remainder of the portion left in possession (ur part of that which is due to me may be paid to fre from incumbrance) is likely to be forfeited within a months. And though forfeiture should be saved, revenue will not be sufficient to discharge taxes parochial payments with the interest of my remain debts, and unavoidable expenses by them unusually casioned, and afford a maintenance for myself, my children, and servants (though a far less number t heretofore), after the rate of five shillings the week person with another, throughout the year, to prov meat, drink, raiment, servants' wages, children's portio and all other necessaries in sickness and in heal * * * And what is worse than all, I, wh credit was so good that when occasion heretofore quired it, have borrowed 100%., 2001, 3007., yea, 600 in one place for several years upon my single bond will yet appear by the bonds cancelled), am now doul ful whether my security will pass alone for 107."

W

So poor was he, indeed, that when he heard the inte tion of the Parliament to rate him at two horses for t service of the militia, he professed himself scarcely ab to find them even bridles. His losses amounted nearly ten thousand pounds. He had been ejected fro his share of Denham's estate in 1654, having neve during the period he possessed it, "made one penny clear profit by reason of interruption;" and a sma parcel of land he had purchased at Ash, in Surrey, i

1651, had been taken from him, and was detained, in spite of his remonstrances, by a member of the Parliament. His creditors also contributed to increase his sufferings by legal expenses, and he at length found himself reduced from an income of 7001. per annum, to comparative destitution. Some affecting passages are scattered through the Speculum Speculativum. If, as his conscience told him, he had neglected the Almighty in the hour of his prosperity, he remembered Him in loneliness, in poverty, and in tears. At "seventy years and two" he looked forward with feelings of joyful anticipation to the end of his pilgrimage, consoling himself with the certainty of singing "care and life away" in a few brief years or months. His former friends had forsaken him, or were ranged on the side of his enemies, and he bitterly complained that his greatest persecutions were caused by those who

Many days

Walked with him friendlike in the self-same ways.

In his Hymn of Confession and Praise, he poured out the earnest prayers of a religious heart.

Therefore take thou no care,
For God thy help will be,
And put on them a greater fear
Than they can put on thee.
Man liveth not by bread alone,
And that (should it be told)
Which now my life depends upon,
Your eyes cannot behold.
You robbed me of external things,
But what the worse am I,
If I have in me living springs

That never will be dry!

Many verses might be quoted from the same compo

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