Sir William Waller and Malmesbury . 



173 



Whether these lines were written by Sir William Waller himself 

 I know not, but certainty they contain his notion of an English lady. 



Several years subsequently 1 he married his second wife., the Lady 

 Anne Finch, daughter to the first Earl of Winchelsea, who gave him 

 one son to bear his own name, and a daughter Anne. 



Later in life (his second wife having died) Sir William Waller 

 married thirdly the widow of Sir Simon Harcourt, and daughter of 

 William, Lord Paget. Lady Harcourt's son, Philip, by her first 

 marriage (afterwards Sir Philip Harcourt) married Sir William 

 Waller's daughter, Anne, and Sir William Waller thus became an 

 ancestor of the Earls of Harcourt, as he had by his eldest daughter 

 already become an ancestor of the Earls of Devon. 



But to return. As the Civil War approached Waller showed 

 himself on the side of the Commons. Lord Clarendon attributes 

 his animosity to the Court to a quarrel he had with a relation 

 of the first Lady Waller, who was a personal attendant on the 

 king. " These two gentleman," he says, " discoursing with some 

 warmth together, Sir William received such provocation from 

 the other, that he struck him a blow over the face, so near the gate 

 of Westminster Hall, that he (the other) got witnesses to swear 

 that it was in the hall itself, the courts being then sitting ; which, 

 according to the rigour of the law, makes it very penal ; and the 

 credit the other had in the court made the prosecution to be very 

 severe : insomuch as he was at last compelled to redeem himself at 

 a dear ransom ; the benefit whereof was conferred on his adversary, 

 which made the sense of it more grievous." The value of Lord 

 Clarendon's literary portraits is well known, but we notice that 

 as a true party man he does not mention Sir William's education 

 and his strong opinions, liberal for those times, imbibed at home 

 and abroad. 



A.D. 1641. Both parties became red hot, where they did not 



! i 1 See introductory memoir to Waller's " Vindication." In his " Eecollections " 

 he details what he considered a miraculous escape of Lady Anne and himself. 

 They were in their coach-and-f our being driven to Yorkshire. The horses plunging 

 overpowered the coachman, and the reins got out of his hands. The horses then 

 dashed off, but in a short distance were stopped by one of them treading on the 

 reins. 



VOL. XXI. — NO. LXII. N 



