This work was first published in 1777. With two volumes in one, it contains the miscellanies, from Mr. Fenton’s Quarto Edit. 1729 with the life of the author. Waller was elected to parliament at the early age of sixteen, and wrote his first verse at the age of nineteen. He gained a reputation as an orator. Although he was committed to remaining politically moderate he found himself involved in a plot that was uncovered and Waller was fined, imprisoned and finally exiled from Britain. Eventually he was allowed back into the country returned to parliament. Much of Waller’s verse consisted of praise for Sacharissa, a name he used for Lady Dorothy Sidney whom he courted unsuccessfully. Today he is best known for On a Girdle and Go Lovely Rose . His most remembered achievement is his perfection of the heroic couplet.