W A L 
. W A L 
WALLENSTADT, Lake of, a lake of Switzerland, nine 
miles long and two wide, and communicating with that of 
Zurich by the river Limmat; 9 miles south of Utznach. 
WALLENSTADT, a small town of Switzerland, in the 
canton of St. Gall, situated on the lake of Wallenstadt. The 
trade between Zurich and Italy is carried on chiefly through 
this town ; 40 miles east-south-east of Zurich. 
WALLER (Edmund), an English poet of distinguished 
celebrity, was the descendant of an eminent family, and 
born at Coleshill, Hertfordshire, in March, 1605. His mo¬ 
ther was the sister of the famous John Hampden. By the death 
of his father, when he was an infant, he came into possession 
of an estate of 3500/. a year. Having received his school 
education at Eton, he was admitted at King’s-college, in 
Cambridge; and exhibiting superior talents, as well as pos¬ 
sessing powerful interest, he became a member of parlia¬ 
ment in his sixteenth or seventeenth year. Of his poetical 
talents he exhibited an interesting specimen in his eighteenth 
year, by his verses on the “ Prince's Escape at St. Andero,” 
which far surpass in poetical melody the productions of his 
predecessors. He also, at an early period, augmented his 
patrimony by marrying a rich city heiress. During the 
intermissions of parliament, which occurred after the year 
1628, he lived in a retired manner at his house near Beacons¬ 
field; pursued his classical studies under Morley, afterwards 
bishop of Winchester; and acquired improvement as well as 
celebrity from the society of polite scholars into which he 
was introduced. At the age of twenty-five years he lost his 
wife, and soon afterwards became the suitor of lady Dorothea 
Sydney, eldest daughter of the earl of Leicester, whom he 
has immortalized under the appellation of Saccharissa. But 
much as he admired this majestic and scornful beauty, as he 
denominates her, he was more delighted with the gentle Amo- 
ret, supposed to have been lady Sophia Murray; but failing 
to engage the attachment of either of these ladies by his 
poetic strains, he sought comfort under the anguish of 
disappointment in a second marriage. When parliament 
met in 1640, after a long suspension. Waller was again 
returned for Agmondesham, and joined the party which 
thought that a redress of grievances should precede a vote 
erf supplies, urging their plea by an energetic speech. He 
was also a member of the long-parliament, and warmly op¬ 
posed the exaction of ship-money, after the example of his 
justly celebrated uncle, Hampden. He farther distinguished 
himself by his eloquence in the impeachment of judge Craw¬ 
ley, with the conduct of which he was entrusted by the com¬ 
mons. He continued for three years to give his vote in ge¬ 
neral with the opposition, without concurring in all the 
measures of this party ; particularly the abolition of episco¬ 
pacy. In the progress of the dispute between the king and 
parliament, he discontinued for a time his attendance; 
though he manifested his inclination to the royal side by 
court panegyric, and when he again returned to the house, 
by remonstrating against its proceedings; and when the king 
set up his standard at Nottingham, it is said that he sent him 
1000 broad pieces. As he was one of the commissioners ap¬ 
pointed by parliament for treating with the king at Oxford, 
he was kindly noticed by his majesty; and he was probably 
thus induced to engage in a plot in his favour. According¬ 
ly, he concerted measures with Tomkyns, clerk of the queen’s 
council, for resisting the payment of the taxes levied for ihe 
support of the army, and promoting petitions for peace, 
and thus constraining parliament to adopt pacific measures. 
In the prosecution of this plan, they sought the concurrence 
of persons of influence in the city. Whilst they were thus 
employed, sir Nicholas Crispe, who was a zealous loyalist, 
was exciting the king's friends among the citizens to resist 
openly the authority of parliament, and with this view he 
had actually obtained a commission of array from his ma¬ 
jesty. These two plots were, as Clarendon supposes, inde¬ 
pendent of each other; but however this be, the commis¬ 
sion was known to Waller and Tomkyns. When these mea¬ 
sures became known to persons in power, they were arrested; 
and the deficiency of evidence against them was amply sup¬ 
plied by the pusillanimity of Waller, who disclosed every se- 
647 
cret of his party. Thus he was merely expelled the house, 
tried and condemned, and after a year’s imprisonment, and 
the payment of a fine of 10,000/., permitted to go into exile. 
Thus disgraced, he first resided at Rouen, and from 
thence removed to Paris, where he lived like a man of for¬ 
tune, and in the exercise of hospitality, on the means which 
he derived from the sale of his wife’s jewels. After the in¬ 
terval often years, being reduced to his rump jewel, as he 
called it, he solicited permission to return to his native coun¬ 
try, and having obtained a licence to this purpose, he took 
possession of a house which he had built near Beaconsfield. 
Unrestrained by principle, he paid his visit, by the effusion 
of his prostituted muse, to Cromwell, to whom he also paid 
a tribute of adulation after his death. He lost no time, 
however, in congratulating Charles II. on his restoration; 
and when the king took notice that his panegyric on Crom¬ 
well surpassed his congratulatory poem, he replied, with a 
happy courtly turn, “ that poets always succeed better in 
fiction than in truth.” Waller was again received into the 
best company, and though he drank only water, his wit and 
vivacity made him an agreeable associate to those who lived 
more freely and intemperately. He also obtained a seat in the 
House of Commons, of which, though advanced in years, he 
was a lively and pleasant member. From the king he pro¬ 
cured, in 1665, the appointment of provost of Eton col¬ 
lege: but Clarendon, who was then lord-chancellor, re¬ 
fused to sanction it, because he was a layman. The conduct 
of the chancellor gave great offence to Waller, so that 
he joined the duke of Buckingham in his hostility against 
him, and both spoke and voted for his impeachment. Upon 
the accession of James II., Waller, in his eightieth year, was 
returned for Saltash, and availing himself of the privilege of 
age, spoke freely to the king, whilst he was treated by him 
with condescension and kindness. Once in conversation 
with the king he spoke of queen Elizabeth as the greatest 
woman in the world, to which James retorted, “ I wonder 
you should think so; but it must be confessed she had a wise 
council.” “ And when, sir,” replied Waller,' “ did you 
know a fool choose a wise one?” When Waller was about 
to marry his daughter to Dr. Birch, the king expressed his 
wonder, “ that he should think of marrying his daughter to 
a fallen church.” He returned a message, in which he ex¬ 
presses his sense of the honour done him by the king’s interest 
in his domestic affairs; adding “ I have lived long enough 
to observe that this church has got a trick of rising again.” 
His death happened at Beaconsfield, in October, 1687, in the 
eighty-third year of his age. 
WALLERIUS (Nicholas), an eminent Swedish philoso¬ 
pher and divine, was born in Nerika in the year 1706, and 
completed his education at Upsal, whither he removed in 
1725. Having here distinguished himself by his profi¬ 
ciency in the Wolfian philosophy, he commenced, in 1737, 
a course of lectures on both philosophy and mathematics, 
which employed, in consequence of the number of attendants, 
a very considerable portion of his time, in 1751 he took or¬ 
ders; in the following year he was honoured with the degree 
of doctor in theology; and in 1755 he was advanced to the 
chair of the new theological professorship, founded by Dr. 
Kelsenius, bishop of Westeros, with a view of vindicating 
the truth, and evincing the excellence of Christianity; and 
in this situation he gained universal esteem. He was also a 
member of the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, and of 
the Academy at Upsal, the transactions of which were en¬ 
riched by several of his communications. His important and 
useful life was terminated by a fever in August, 1764. His prin¬ 
cipal works are “ Systema Metaphysicum,” 1750, 4 vols. 
8vo.; “ Compendium Logicse,” 1754, 8vo.; “Compendium 
Metaphysices,” 1755, 8vo.; “ Psychologia Empirica,” 1755, 
8vo.; “Psychologia Rationalis,” 1758, 8vo.; “ Praeno- 
tionum Theologicarum,” six parts, from 1756 to 1765, 8vo. 
Gen. Biog. 
WALLERN, a town of Bohemia; 85 miles south-south¬ 
west of Prague. Population 1700. 
WALLER-SEE, a small lake of Upper Austria, in the 
circle of Salzburg. 
WALLERSTEIN, 
