That by which he is most favorably known is his exquisite _Ballad upon a Wedding_.

He was a man of versatile talents; an officer in the army of Gustavus Adolphus, and a captain of horse in the army of Charles I.He wrote several plays, of which the best are _Aglaura_ and _The Discontented Colonel_.

While evidently tinctured by the spirit of the age, he exceeded his contemporaries in the purity of his style and manliness of his expression.
His wit is not so forced as theirs.
Edmund Waller, 1605-1687: he was a cousin of John Hampden.

By great care and adroitness he seems to have trimmed between the two parties in the civil war, but was suspected by both.

His poetry was like himself, artificial and designed to please, but has little depth of sentiment.