p-books.com
Andrew Marvell
by Augustine Birrell
Previous Part     1  2  3  4  5
Home - Random Browse

To Sir John Trott (Undated.)

"HONOURED SIR,—I have not that vanity to believe, if you weigh your late loss by the common ballance, that any thing I can write to you should lighten your resentments: nor if you measure things by the rules of christianity, do I think it needful to comfort you in your duty and your son's happyness. Only having a great esteem and affection for you, and the grateful memory of him that is departed being still green and fresh upon my spirit, I cannot forbear to inquire, how you have stood the second shock at your sad meeting of friends in the country. I know that the very sight of those who have been witnesses of our better fortune, doth but serve to reinforce a calamity. I know the contagion of grief and infection of tears, and especially when it runs in a blood. And I myself could sooner imitate than blame those innocent relentings of nature, so that they spring from tenderness only and humanity, not from an implacable sorrow. The tears of a family may flow together like those little drops that compact the rainbow, and if they be placed with the same advantage towards Heaven as those are to the sun, they too have their splendour; and like that bow, while they unbend into seasonable showers, yet they promise, that there shall not be a second flood. But the dissoluteness of grief, the prodigality of sorrow, is neither to be indulged in a man's self, nor complyed with in others. If that were allowable in these cases, Eli's was the readyest way and highest compliment of mourning, who fell back from his seat and broke his neck. But neither does that precedent hold. For though he had been Chancellor, and in effect King of Israel, for so many years (and such men value, as themselves, their losses at an higher rate than others), yet, when he heard that Israel was overcome, that his two sons Hophni and Phineas were slain in one day, and saw himself so without hope of issue, and which imbittered it farther, without succession to the government, yet he fell not till the news that the ark of God was taken. I pray God that we may never have the same parallel perfected in our publick concernments. Then we shall need all the strength of grace and nature to support us. But on a private loss, and sweetened with so many circumstances as yours, to be impatient, to be uncomfortable would be to dispute with God. Though an only son be inestimable, yet it is like Jonah's sin, to be angry at God for the withering of his shadow. Zipporah, though the delay had almost cost her husband his life, yet, when he did but circumcise her son, in a womanish peevishness reproached Moses as a bloody husband. But if God take the son himself, but spare the father, shall we say that He is a bloody God? He that gave His own son, may He not take ours? It is pride that makes a rebel; and nothing but the over-weening of ourselves and our own things that raises us against Divine Providence. Whereas Abraham's obedience was better than sacrifice. And if God please to accept both, it is indeed a farther tryal, but a greater honour. I could say over upon this beaten occasion most of those lessons of morality and religion which have been so often repeated, and are as soon forgotten. We abound with precept, but we want examples. You, sir, that have all these things in your memory, and the clearness of whose judgment is not to be obscured by any greater interposition, should be exemplary to others in your own practice. 'Tis true, it is an hard task to learn and teach at the same time. And, where yourselves are the experiment, it is as if a man should dissect his own body, and read the anatomy lecture. But I will not heighten the difficulty while I advise the attempt. Only, as in difficult things, you would do well to make use of all that may strengthen and assist you; the word of God; the society of good men; and the books of the ancients; there is one way more, which is by diversion, business, and activity; which are also necessary to be used in their season. But I myself, who live to so little purpose, can have little authority or ability to advise you in it, who are a person that are and may be much more so, generally useful. All that I have been able to do since, hath been to write this sorry Elogy of your son, which if it be as good as I could wish, it is as yet no indecent employment. However, I know you will take any thing kindly from your very affectionate friend, and most humble servant."

Milton died on the 8th of November 1674. Marvell remained among the poet's intimate friends until the end, and intended to write his life. It is idle to mourn the loss of an unwritten book, but Marvell's life of Milton would have been a treasure.[199:1]

When Parliament met on the 13th of April 1675, members found in their places a mock-speech from the throne. They knew the hand that had penned it. It was a daring production and ran as follows:—

His Majesty's Most Gracious Speech to Both Houses of Parliament.

"MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,—I told you at our last meeting, the winter was the fittest time for business, and truly I thought so, till my Lord Treasurer assured me the spring was the best season for sallads and subsidies. I hope therefore that April will not prove so unnatural a month, as not to afford some kind showers on my parched exchequer, which gapes for want of them. Some of you, perhaps, will think it dangerous to make me too rich; but I do not fear it; for I promise you faithfully, whatever you give me I will always want; and although in other things my word may be thought a slender authority, yet in that, you may rely on me, I will never break it.

"MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,—I can bear my straits with patience; but my Lord Treasurer does protest to me, that the revenue, as it now stands, will not serve him and me too. One of us must pinch for it, if you do not help me. I must speak freely to you: I am under bad circumstances, for besides my harlots in service, my reformado concubines lye heavy upon me. I have a passable good estate, I confess, but, God's-fish, I have a great charge upon 't. Here's my Lord Treasurer can tell, that all the money designed for next summer's guards must, of necessity, be applyed to the next year's cradles and swadling-cloths. What shall we do for ships then? I hint this only to you, it being your busyness, not mine. I know, by experience, I can live without ships. I lived ten years abroad without, and never had my health better in my life; but how you will be without, I leave to yourselves to judge, and therefore hint this only by the bye: I do not insist upon it. There's another thing I must press more earnestly, and that is this:—It seems a good part of my revenue will expire in two or three years, except you will be pleased to continue it. I have to say for 't, pray, why did you give me so much as you have done, unless you resolve to give on as fast as I call for it? The nation hates you already for giving so much, and I'll hate you too, if you do not give me more. So that if you stick not to me, you must not have a friend in England. On the other hand, if you will give me the revenue I desire, I shall be able to do those things for your religion and liberty, that I have had long in my thoughts, but cannot effect them without a little more money to carry me through. Therefore look to 't and take notice that if you do not make me rich enough to undo you, it shall lie at your doors. For my part I wash my hands on 't. But that I may gain your good opinion, the best way is to acquaint you what I have done to deserve it, out of my royal care for your religion and your property. For the first, my proclamation is a true picture of my mind, He that cannot, as in a glass, see my zeal for the Church of England, does not deserve any farther satisfaction, for I declare him wilful, abominable, and not good. Some may, perhaps, be startled, and cry, how comes this sudden change? To which I answer, I am a changling, and that's sufficient, I think. But to convince men farther, that I mean what I say, there are these arguments:—

"First, I tell you so, and you know I never break my word.

"Secondly, My Lord Treasurer says so, and he never told a lye in his life.

"Thirdly, My Lord Lauderdale will undertake it for me; and I should be loath, by any act of mine, he should forfeit the credit he has with you.

"If you desire more instances of my zeal, I have them for you. For example, I have converted my natural sons from Popery; and I may say, without vanity, it was my own work, so much the more peculiarly mine than the begetting them. 'Twould do one's heart good to hear how prettily George can read already in the Psalter. They are all fine children, God bless 'em, and so like me in their understandings. But, as I was saying, I have, to please you, given a pension to your favourite my Lord Lauderdale; not so much that I thought he wanted it, as that you would take it kindly. I have made Carwell dutchess of Portsmouth, and marryed her sister to the Earl of Pembroke. I have, at my brother's request, sent my Lord Inchequin into Barbary, to settle the Protestant Religion among the Moors, and an English Interest at Tangier. I have made Crew Bishop of Durham, and, at the first word of my Lady Portsmouth, Prideaux Bishop of Chichester. I know not, for my part, what factious men would have; but this I am sure of, my predecessors never did anything like this, to gain the good will of their subjects. So much for your religion, and now for your property. My behaviour to the Bankers is a publick instance; and the proceedings between Mrs. Hyde and Mrs. Sutton for private ones, are such convincing evidences, that it will be needless to say any more to 't.

"I must now acquaint you, that, by my Lord Treasurer's advice, I have made a considerable retrenchment upon my expenses in candles and charcoal, and do not intend to stop there, but will, with your help, look into the late embezzlements of my dripping-pans and kitchen-stuff; of which, by the way, upon my conscience, neither my Lord Treasurer nor my Lord Lauderdale are guilty. I tell you my opinion; but if you should find them dabling in that busyness, I tell you plainly, I leave 'em to you; for, I would have the world to know, I am not a man to be cheated.

"My Lords and Gentlemen, I desire you to believe me as you have found me; and I do solemnly promise you, that whatsoever you give me shall be specially managed with the same conduct, trust, sincerity, and prudence, that I have ever practised, since my happy restoration."[202:1]

Mock King's Speeches have often been made, but this is the first, and I think still the best of them all.

There was no shaking off religion from the debates of those days. A new Oaths Bill suddenly appeared in the House of Lords, where it gave rise to one of the greatest debates that assembly has ever witnessed, lasting seventeen days. The bishops were baited by the peers with great spirit, and the report of the proceedings may still be read with gusto.

Marvell, in his Growth of Popery, thus describes what happened:—

"While these things were upon the anvil, the 10th of November was come for the Parliament's sitting, but that was put off till the 13th of April 1675. And in the meantime, which fell out most opportune for the conspirators, these counsels were matured, and something further to be contrived, that was yet wanting; the Parliament accordingly meeting, and the House of Lords, as well as that of the Commons, being in deliberation of several wholesome bills, such as the present state of the nation required, the great design came out in a bill unexpectedly offered one morning in the House of Lords, whereby all such as injoyed any beneficial office, or imployment, ecclesiastical, civil, or military, to which was added privy counsellors, justices of the peace, and members of Parliament, were under a penalty to take the oath, and make the declaration, and abhorrence, insuring:—

'I A.B. do declare, that it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up arms against the King, and that I do abhor that traiterous position of taking arms by his authority against his person, or against those that are commissioned by him in pursuance of such commission. And I do swear, that I will not at any time indeavour the alteration of the government either in Church or State. So help me God.'

"This same oath had been brought into the House of Commons in the plague year at Oxford, to have been imposed upon the nation, but there, by the assistance of those very same persons that now introduce it, 'twas thrown out, for fear of a general infection of the vitals of this kingdom; and though it passed then in a particular bill, known by the name of the Five Mile Act, because it only concerned the non-conformist preachers, yet even in that, it was thoroughly opposed by the late Earl of Southampton, whose judgement might well have been reckoned for the standard of prudence and loyalty."[204:1]

Of the proposed oath Marvell says, "No Conveyancer could ever in more compendious or binding terms have drawn a dissettlement of the whole birthright of England."

This was no mere legal quibbling.

"These things are no niceties, or remote considerations (though in making of laws, and which must come afterwards under construction of judges, durante bene placito, all cases are to be put and imagined) but there being an act in Scotland for 20,000 men to march into England upon call, and so great a body of English soldiery in France, within summons, besides what foreigners may be obliged by treaty to furnish, and it being so fresh in memory, what sort of persons had lately been in commission among us, to which add the many books then printed by license, writ, some by men of the black, one of the green cloth, wherein the absoluteness of the English monarchy is against all law asserted.

"All these considerations put together were sufficient to make any honest and well advised man to conceive indeed, that upon the passing of this oath and declaration, the whole sum of affairs depended.

"It grew therefore to the greatest contest, that has perhaps ever been in Parliament, wherein those Lords, that were against this oath, being assured of their own loyalty and merit, stood up now for the English liberties with the same genius, virtue, and courage, that their noble ancestors had formerly defended the great Charter of England, but with so much greater commendation, in that they had here a fairer field and a more civil way of decision; they fought it out under all the disadvantages imaginable; they were overlaid by numbers; the noise of the House, like the wind, was against them, and if not the sun, the fireside was always in their faces; nor being so few, could they, as their adversaries, withdraw to refresh themselves in a whole day's ingagement: yet never was there a clearer demonstration how dull a thing is humane eloquence, and greatness how little, when the bright truth discovers all things in their proper colours and dimensions, and shining, shoots its beams thorow all their fallacies. It might be injurious, where all of them did so excellently well, to attribute more to any one of those Lords than another, unless because the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Shaftesbury, have been the more reproached for this brave action, it be requisite by a double proportion of praise to set them two on equal terms with the rest of their companions in honour. The particular relation in this debate, which lasted many days, with great eagerness on both sides, and the reasons but on one, was in the next Session burnt by order of the Lords, but the sparks of it will eternally fly in their adversaries' faces."[205:1]

In a letter to his constituents, dated April 22, 1675, Marvell was content to say: "The Lords sate the whole day yesterday till ten at night without rising (and the King all the while but of our addresses present) upon their Bill of Test in both houses and are not yet come to the question of committing it."

After prolonged discussion the Oath Bill was sent to the Commons, where doubtless it must have passed, had not a furious privilege quarrel over Sir John Fagg's case made prorogation in June almost a necessity. In October Parliament met again, and at once resolved itself into a Committee upon Religion to prevent the growth of Popery. This time the king made almost an end of the Parliament by a prorogation which lasted from November 1675 until February 1677—a period of fifteen months.

On the re-assembling of Parliament the Duke of Buckingham fathered the argument much used during the long recess, that a prorogation extending beyond twelve months was in construction of law a dissolution.

For the expression of this opinion and the refusal to recant it the Duke of Buckingham and three other lords were ordered to the Tower, the king being greatly angered by the duke's request that his cook might be allowed to wait on him. On this incident Marvell remarks: "Thus a prorogation without precedent was to be warranted by an imprisonment without example. A sad instance! Whereby the dignity of Parliament and especially of the House of Peers did at present much suffer and may probably more for the future, for nothing but Parliament can destroy Parliament. If a House shall once be felon of itself and stop its own breath, taking away that liberty of speech which the King verbally, and of course, allows them (as now they had done in both houses) to what purpose is it coming thither?"[206:1]

The character of this House of Commons did not improve with age.

Marvell writes in the Growth of Popery:—

"In matters of money they seem at first difficult, but having been discoursed with in private, they are set right, and begin to understand it better themselves, and to convert their brethren: for they are all of them to be bought and sold, only their number makes them cheaper, and each of them doth so overvalue himself, that sometimes they outstand or let slip their own market.

"It is not to be imagined, how small things, in this case, even members of great estates will stoop at, and most of them will do as much for hopes as others for fruition, but if their patience be tired out, they grow at last mutinous, and revolt to the country, till some better occasion offer.

"Among these are some men of the best understanding were they of equal integrity, who affect to ingross all business, to be able to quash any good motion by parliamentary skill, unless themselves be the authors, and to be the leading men of the House, and for their natural lives to continue so. But these are men that have been once fooled, most of them, and discovered, and slighted at Court, so that till some turn of State shall let them in their adversaries' place, in the mean time they look sullen, make big motions, and contrive specious bills for the subject, yet only wait the opportunity to be the instruments of the same counsels which they oppose in others.

"There is a third part still remaining, but as contrary in themselves as light and darkness; those are either the worst, or the best of men; the first are most profligate persons, they have neither estates, consciences, nor good manners, yet are therefore picked out as the necessary men, and whose votes will go furthest; the charges of their elections are defrayed, whatever they amount to, tables are kept for them at Whitehall, and through Westminster, that they may be ready at hand, within call of a question: all of them are received into pension, and know their pay-day, which they never fail of: insomuch that a great officer was pleased to say, 'That they came about him like so many jack-daws for cheese at the end of every Session.' If they be not in Parliament, they must be in prison, and as they are protected themselves, by privilege, so they sell their protections to others, to the obstruction so many years together of the law of the land, and the publick justice; for these it is, that the long and frequent adjournments are calculated, but all whether the court, or the monopolizers of the country party, or those that profane the title of old cavaliers, do equally, though upon differing reasons, like death apprehend a dissolution. But notwithstanding these, there is an handful of salt, a sparkle of soul, that hath hitherto preserved this gross body from putrefaction, some gentlemen that are constant, invariable, indeed Englishmen; such as are above hopes, or fears, or dissimulation, that can neither flatter, nor betray their king or country: but being conscious of their own loyalty and integrity, proceed throw good and bad report, to acquit themselves in their duty to God, their prince, and their nation; although so small a scantling in number, that men can scarce reckon of them more than a quorum; insomuch that it is less difficult to conceive how fire was first brought to light in the world than how any good thing could ever be produced out of an House of Commons so constituted, unless as that is imagined to have come from the rushing of trees, or battering of rocks together, by accident, so these, by their clashing with one another, have struck out an useful effect from so unlikely causes. But whatsoever casual good hath been wrought at any time by the assimilation of ambitious, factious and disappointed members, to the little, but solid, and unbiassed party, the more frequent ill effects, and consequences of so unequal a mixture, so long continued, are demonstrable and apparent. For while scarce any man comes thither with respect to the publick service, but in design to make and raise his fortune, it is not to be expressed, the debauchery, and lewdness, which, upon occasion of election to Parliaments, are now grown habitual thorow the nation. So that the vice, and the expence, are risen to such a prodigious height, that few sober men can indure to stand to be chosen on such conditions. From whence also arise feuds, and perpetual animosities, over most of the counties and corporations, while gentlemen of worth, spirit, and ancient estates and dependances, see themselves overpowered in their own neighbourhood by the drunkness and bribery, of their competitors. But if nevertheless any worthy person chance to carry the election, some mercenary or corrupt sheriff makes a double return, and so the cause is handed to the Committee of elections, who ask no better, but are ready to adopt his adversary into the House if he be not legitimate. And if the gentleman agrieved seek his remedy against the sheriff in Westminster-Hall, and the proofs be so palpable, that the King's Bench cannot invent how to do him injustice, yet the major part of the twelve judges shall upon better consideration vacate the sheriff's fine and reverse the judgement; but those of them that dare dissent from their brethren are in danger to be turned off the bench without any cause assigned. While men therefore care not thus how they get into the House of Commons, neither can it be expected that they should make any conscience of what they do there, but they are only intent how to reimburse themselves (if their elections were at their own charge) or how to bargain their votes for a place or a pension. They list themselves straightways into some Court faction, and it is as well-known among them, to what Lord each of them retain, as when formerly they wore coats and badges. By this long haunting so together, they are grown too so familiar among themselves, that all reverence of their own Assembly is lost, that they live together not like Parliament men, but like so many good fellows met together in a publick house to make merry. And which is yet worse, by being so thoroughly acquainted, they understand their number and party, so that the use of so publick a counsel is frustrated, there is no place for deliberation, no perswading by reason, but they can see one another's votes through both throats and cravats before they hear them.

"Where the cards are so well known, they are only fit for a cheat, and no fair gamester but would throw them under the table."[209:1]

It is a melancholy picture.

Here, perhaps, may be best inserted the story about the proffered bribe. The story is entitled to small credit, but as helping to swell and maintain a tradition concerning an historical character about whom little is positively known, it can hardly escape mention in any biography of Marvell. A pamphlet printed in Ireland (1754) supplies an easy flowing version of the tale.

"The borough of Hull, in the reign of Charles II., chose Andrew Marvell, a young gentleman of little or no fortune, and maintained him in London for the service of the public. His understanding, integrity, and spirit, were dreadful to the then infamous administration. Persuaded that he would be theirs for properly asking, they sent his old school-fellow, the Lord Treasurer Danby, to renew acquaintance with him in his garret. At parting, the Lord Treasurer, out of pure affection, slipped into his hand an order upon the treasury for L1000, and then went to his chariot. Marvell, looking at the paper, calls after the Treasurer, 'My Lord, I request another moment.' They went up again to the garret, and Jack, the servant boy, was called. 'Jack, child, what had I for dinner yesterday?' 'Don't you remember, sir? you had the little shoulder of mutton that you ordered me to bring from a woman in the market.' 'Very right, child.' 'What have I for dinner to-day?' 'Don't you know, sir, that you bid me lay by the blade-bone to broil.' ''Tis so, very right, child, go away.' 'My Lord, do you hear that? Andrew Marvell's dinner is provided; there's your piece of paper. I want it not. I knew the sort of kindness you intended. I live here to serve my constituents: the ministry may seek men for their purpose; I am not one.'"[210:1]

One more letter remains to be quoted:—

To William Ramsden, Esq. "June 10, 1678.

"DEAR WILL,—I have time to tell you thus much of publick matters. The patience of the Scots, under their oppressions, is not to be paralleled in any history. They still continue their extraordinary and numerous, but peaceable, field conventicles. One Mr. Welch is their arch-minister, and the last letter I saw tells, people were going forty miles to hear him. There came out, about Christmas last, here, a large book concerning the growth of popery and arbitrary government. There have been great rewards offered in private, and considerable in the Gazette, to any one who could inform of the author or printer, but not yet discovered. Three or four printed books since have described, as near as it was proper to go, the man being a Member of Parliament, Mr. Marvell, to have been the author; but if he had, surely he should not have escaped being questioned in Parliament or some other place. My good wishes attend you."

The last letter Andrew Marvell wrote to his constituents is dated July 6, 1678. The member for Hull died in August 1678. The Parliament in which he had sat continuously for eighteen years was at last dissolved on the 30th of December in the year of his death.

FOOTNOTES:

[181:1] Grosart, vol. iv. p. 248.

[183:1] Ranke's History of England, vol. iii. p. 471.

[185:1] Ranke, vol. iii. p. 520.

[187:1] Grosart, vol. iv. (Growth of Popery), p. 275.

[187:2] Ibid., p. 279.

[189:1] See note to Dr. Airy's edition of Burnet's History, vol. ii. p. 73.

[199:1] Marvell's commendatory verses on "Mr. Milton's Paradise Lost" (so entitled in the volume of 1681) were first printed in the Second Edition (1674) of Milton's great poem. Marvell did not agree with Dryden in thinking that Paradise Lost would be improved by rhyme, and says so in these verses.

[202:1] Printed in Captain Thompson's edition, vol. i. p. 432.

[204:1] Grosart, vol. iv. p. 304.

[205:1] Grosart, vol. iv. p. 308.

[206:1] Grosart, vol. iv. p. 322.

[209:1] Grosart, vol. iv. p. 327.

[210:1] This story is first told in a balder form by Cooke in his edition of 1726. It may be read as Cooke tells it in the Dictionary of National Biography, xxxvi., p. 329. There was probably some foundation for it.



CHAPTER VII

FINAL SATIRES AND DEATH

Marvell was no orator or debater, and though a member of Parliament for nearly eighteen years, but rarely opened his mouth in the House of Commons. His old enemy, Samuel Parker, whilst venting his posthumous spite upon the author of the Rehearsal Transprosed, would have us believe "that our Poet could not speak without a sound basting: whereupon having frequently undergone this discipline, he learnt at length to hold his tongue." There is no good reason for believing the Bishop of Oxford, but it is the fact that, however taught, Marvell had learnt to hold his tongue. His longest reported speech will be found in the Parliamentary History, vol. iv. p. 855.[211:1] When we remember how frequently in those days Marvell's pet subjects were under fierce discussion, we must recognise how fixed was his habit of self-repression.

On one occasion only are we enabled to catch a glimpse of Marvell "before the Speaker." It was in March 1677, and is thus reported in the Parliamentary History, though no mention of the incident is made in the Journals of the House:—

"Debate on Mr. Andrew Marvell's striking Sir Philip Harcourt, March 29.—Mr. Marvell, coming up the house to his place, stumbling at Sir Philip Harcourt's foot, in recovering himself, seemed to give Sir Philip a box on the ear. The Speaker acquainting the house 'That he saw a box on the ear given, and it was his duty to inform the house of it,' this debate ensued.

"Mr. Marvell. What passed was through great acquaintance and familiarity betwixt us. He neither gave him an affront, nor intended him any. But the Speaker cast a severe reflection upon him yesterday, when he was out of the house, and he hopes that, as the Speaker keeps us in order, he will keep himself in order for the future.

"Sir John Ernly. What the Speaker said yesterday was in Marvell's vindication. If these two gentlemen are friends already, he would not make them friends, and would let the matter go no further.

"Sir Job. Charlton is sorry a thing of this nature has happened, and no more sense of it. You in the Chair, and a stroke struck! Marvell deserves for his reflection on you, Mr. Speaker, to be called in question. You cannot do right to the house unless you question it; and moves to have Marvell sent to the Tower.

"The Speaker. I saw a blow on one side, and a stroke on the other.

"Sir Philip Harcourt. Marvell had some kind of a stumble, and mine was only a thrust; and the thing was accidental.

"Sir H. Goodrick. The persons have declared the thing to be accidental, but if done in jest, not fit to be done here. He believes it an accident, and hopes the house thinks so too.

"Mr. Sec. Williamson. This does appear, that the action for that time was in some heat. He cannot excuse Marvell who made a very severe reflection on the Speaker, and since it is so enquired, whether you have done your duty, he would have Marvell withdraw, that you may consider of it.

"Col. Sandys. Marvell has given you trouble, and instead of excusing himself, reflects upon the Speaker: a strange confidence, if not an impudence!

"Mr. Marvell. Has so great a respect to the privilege, order, and decency, of the house, that he is content to be a sacrifice for it. As to the casualty that happened, he saw a seat empty, and going to sit in it, his friend put him by, in a jocular manner, and what he did was of the same nature. So much familiarity has ever been between them, that there was no heat in the thing. He is sorry he gave an offence to the house. He seldom speaks to the house, and if he commit an error, in the manner of his speech, being not so well tuned, he hopes it is not an offence. Whether out or in the house, he has a respect to the Speaker. But he has been informed that the Speaker resumed something he had said, with reflection. He did not think fit to complain of Mr. Seymour to Mr. Speaker. He believes that is not reflective. He desires to comport himself with all respect to the house. This passage with Harcourt was a perfect casualty, and if you think fit, he will withdraw, and sacrifice himself to the censure of the house.

"Sir Henry Capel. The blow given Harcourt was with his hat; the Speaker cast his eye upon both of them, and both respected him. He would not aggravate the thing. Marvell submits, and he would have you leave the thing as it is.

"Sir Robert Holmes saw the whole action. Marvell flung about three or four times with his hat, and then gave Harcourt a box on the ear.

"Sir Henry Capel desires, now that his honour is concerned, that Holmes may explain, whether he saw not Marvell with his hat only give Harcourt the stroke 'at that time.' Possibly 'at another time' it might be.

"The Speaker. Both Holmes and Capel are in the right. But Marvell struck Harcourt so home, that his fist, as well as his hat, hit him.

"Sir R. Howard hopes the house will not have Harcourt say he received a blow, when he has not. He thinks what has been said by them both sufficient.

"Mr. Garraway hopes, that by the debate we shall not make the thing greater than it is. Would have them both reprimanded for it.

"Mr. Sec. Williamson submits the honour of the house to the house. Would have them made friends, and give that necessary assurance to the house, and he, for his part, remains satisfied.

"Sir Tho. Meres. By our long sitting together, we lose, by our familiarity and acquaintance, the decencies of the house. He has seen 500 in the house, and people very orderly; not so much as to read a letter, or set up a foot. One could scarce know anybody in the house, but him that spoke. He would have the Speaker declare that order ought to be kept; but as to that gentleman (Marvell) to rest satisfied."

The general impression left upon the mind is that of a friendly-familiar but choleric gentleman, full of likes and dislikes, readier with his tongue in the lobby than with "set" speeches in the Chamber. A solitary politician with a biting pen. Satirists must not complain if they have enemies.

Marvell's vein of satire was never worked out, and the political poems of his last decade are fuller than ever of a savage humour. How he kept his ears is a repeated wonder. He is said to have been on terms of intimate friendship with Prince Rupert, and it is a steady tradition that the king was one of his amused readers. It is hard to believe that even Charles the Second could have seen any humour, good or bad, in such a couplet:—

"The poor Priapus King, led by the nose, Looks as a thing set up to scare the crows."

Nor can the following verses have been read with much pleasure, either at Whitehall or in a punt whilst fishing at Windsor. Their occasion was the setting up in the stocks-market in the City of London of a statue of the king by Sir Robert Viner, a city knight, to whom Charles was very heavily in debt. Sir Robert, having a frugal mind, had acquired a statue of John Sobieski trampling on the Turk, which, judiciously altered, was made to pass muster so as to represent the Pensioner of Louis the Fourteenth and the Vendor of Dunkirk trampling on Oliver Cromwell.

"As cities that to the fierce conqueror yield Do at their own charges their citadels build; So Sir Robert advanced the King's statue in token Of bankers defeated, and Lombard Street broken.

Some thought it a knightly and generous deed, Obliging the city with a King and a steed; When with honour he might from his word have gone back; He that vows in a calm is absolved by a wrack.

But now it appears, from the first to the last, To be a revenge and a malice forecast; Upon the King's birthday to set up a thing That shows him a monkey much more than a King.

When each one that passes finds fault with the horse, Yet all do affirm that the King is much worse; And some by the likeness Sir Robert suspect That he did for the King his own statue erect.

Thus to see him disfigured—the herb-women chid, Who up on their panniers more gracefully rid; And so loose in his seat—that all persons agree, E'en Sir William Peak[215:1] sits much firmer than he.

But Sir Robert affirms that we do him much wrong; 'Tis the 'graver at work, to reform him, so long; But, alas! he will never arrive at his end, For it is such a King as no chisel can mend.

But with all his errors restore us our King, If ever you hope in December for spring; For though all the world cannot show such another, Yet we'd rather have him than his bigoted brother."

Of a more exalted vein of satire the following extract may serve as an example:—

BRITANNIA AND RALEIGH

"Brit. Ah! Raleigh, when thou didst thy breath resign To trembling James, would I had quitted mine. Cubs didst thou call them? Hadst thou seen this brood Of earls, and dukes, and princes of the blood, No more of Scottish race thou would'st complain, Those would be blessings in this spurious reign. Awake, arise from thy long blessed repose, Once more with me partake of mortal woes!

Ral. What mighty power has forced me from my rest? Oh! mighty queen, why so untimely dressed?

Brit. Favoured by night, concealed in this disguise, Whilst the lewd court in drunken slumber lies, I stole away, and never will return, Till England knows who did her city burn; Till cavaliers shall favourites be deemed, And loyal sufferers by the court esteemed; Till Leigh and Galloway shall bribes reject; Thus Osborne's golden cheat I shall detect: Till atheist Lauderdale shall leave this land, And Commons' votes shall cut-nose guards disband: Till Kate a happy mother shall become, Till Charles loves parliaments, and James hates Rome.

Ral. What fatal crimes make you for ever fly Your once loved court, and martyr's progeny?

Brit. A colony of French possess the Court, Pimps, priests, buffoons, i' the privy-chamber sport. Such slimy monsters ne'er approached the throne Since Pharaoh's reign, nor so defiled a crown. I' the sacred ear tyrannic arts they croak, Pervert his mind, his good intentions choke; Tell him of golden Indies, fairy lands, Leviathan, and absolute commands. Thus, fairy-like, the King they steal away, And in his room a Lewis changeling lay. How oft have I him to himself restored. In's left the scale, in 's right hand placed the sword? Taught him their use, what dangers would ensue To those that tried to separate these two? The bloody Scottish chronicle turned o'er, Showed him how many kings, in purple gore, Were hurled to hell, by learning tyrant lore? The other day famed Spenser I did bring, In lofty notes Tudor's blest reign to sing; How Spain's proud powers her virgin arms controlled, And golden days in peaceful order rolled; How like ripe fruit she dropped from off her throne, Full of grey hairs, good deeds, and great renown. ...

Ral. Once more, great queen, thy darling strive to save, Snatch him again from scandal and the grave; Present to 's thoughts his long-scorned parliament, The basis of his throne and government. In his deaf ears sound his dead father's name: Perhaps that spell may 's erring soul reclaim: Who knows what good effects from thence may spring? 'Tis godlike good to save a falling king.

Brit. Raleigh, no more, for long in vain I've tried The Stuart from the tyrant to divide; As easily learned virtuosos may With the dog's blood his gentle kind convey Into the wolf, and make his guardian turn To the bleating flock, by him so lately torn: If this imperial juice once taint his blood, 'Tis by no potent antidote withstood. Tyrants, like lep'rous kings, for public weal Should be immured, lest the contagion steal Over the whole. The elect of the Jessean line To this firm law their sceptre did resign; And shall this base tyrannic brood invade Eternal laws, by God for mankind made?

To the serene Venetian state I'll go, From her sage mouth famed principles to know; With her the prudence of the ancients read, To teach my people in their steps to tread; By their great pattern such a state I'll frame, Shall eternize a glorious lasting name. Till then, my Raleigh, teach our noble youth To love sobriety, and holy truth; Watch and preside over their tender age, Lest court corruption should their souls engage; Teach them how arts, and arms, in thy young days, Employed our youth—not taverns, stews, and plays; Tell them the generous scorn their race does owe To flattery, pimping, and a gaudy show; Teach them to scorn the Carwells, Portsmouths, Nells, The Clevelands, Osbornes, Berties, Lauderdales: Poppaea, Tigelline, and Arteria's name, All yield to these in lewdness, lust, and fame. Make them admire the Talbots, Sydneys, Veres, Drake, Cavendish, Blake, men void of slavish fears, True sons of glory, pillars of the state, On whose famed deeds all tongues and writers wait. When with fierce ardour their bright souls do burn, Back to my dearest country I'll return."

The dialogue between the two horses, which bore upon their respective backs the stone effigies of Charles the First at Charing Cross and Charles the Second at Wool-Church, is, in its own rough way, masterly satire for the popular ear.

"If the Roman Church, good Christians, oblige ye To believe man and beast have spoken in effigy, Why should we not credit the public discourses, In a dialogue between two inanimate horses? The horses I mean of Wool-Church and Charing, Who told many truths worth any man's hearing, Since Viner and Osborn did buy and provide 'em For the two mighty monarchs who now do bestride 'em. The stately brass stallion, and the white marble steed, The night came together, by all 'tis agreed; When both kings were weary of sitting all day, They stole off, incognito, each his own way; And then the two jades, after mutual salutes, Not only discoursed, but fell to disputes."

The dialogue is too long to be quoted. Charles the Second's steed boldly declares:—

"De Witt and Cromwell had each a brave soul, I freely declare it, I am for old Noll; Though his government did a tyrant resemble, He made England great, and his enemies tremble."

Mr. Hollis, when he sent the picture of Cromwell by Cooper to Sidney Sussex College, is said to have written beneath it the lines just quoted.

The satire ends thus:—

"Charing Cross. But canst them devise when things will be mended?

Wool-Church. When the reign of the line of the Stuarts is ended.

Charing Cross. Then England, rejoice, thy redemption draws nigh; Thy oppression together with kingship shall die.

Chorus. A Commonwealth, a Commonwealth we proclaim to the nation, For the gods have repented the King's restoration."

These probably are the lines which spread the popular, but mistaken, belief that Marvell was a Republican.

Andrew Marvell died in his lodgings in London on the 16th of August 1678. Colonel Grosvenor, writing to George Treby, M.P. (afterwards Chief of the Common Pleas), on the 17th of August, reports "Andrew Marvell died yesterday of apoplexy." Parliament was not sitting at the time. What was said of the elder Andrew may also be said of the younger: he was happy in the moment of his death. The one just escaped the Civil War, the other the Popish Plot.

Marvell was thought to have been poisoned. Such a suspicion in those bad times was not far-fetched. His satires, rough but moving, had been widely read, and his fears for the Constitution, his dread of

"The grim Monster, Arbitrary Power, The ugliest Giant ever trod the earth,"

infested many breasts, and bred terror.

"Marvell, the Island's watchful sentinel, Stood in the gap and bravely kept his post."

The post was one of obvious danger, and

"Whether Fate or Art untwin'd his thread Remains in doubt."[220:1]

The doubt has now been dissipated by the research of an accomplished physician, Dr. Gee, who in 1874 communicated to the Athenaeum (March 7, 1874) an extract from Richard Morton's {Greek: Pyretologia} (1692), containing a full account of Marvell's sickness and death. Art "untwin'd his thread," but it was the doctor's art. Dr. Gee's translation of Morton's medical Latin is as follows:—

"In this manner was that most famous man Andrew Marvell carried off from amongst the living before his time, to the great loss of the republic, and especially the republic of letters; through the ignorance of an old conceited doctor, who was in the habit on all occasions of raving excessively against Peruvian bark, as if it were a common plague. Howbeit, without any clear indication, in the interval after a third fit of regular tertian ague, and by way of preparation (so that all things might seem to be done most methodically), blood was copiously drawn from the patient, who was advanced in years." [Here follow more details of treatment, which I pass over.] "The way having been made ready after this fashion, at the beginning of the next fit, a great febrifuge was given, a draught, that is to say, of Venice treacle, etc. By the doctor's orders, the patient was covered up close with blankets, say rather, was buried under them; and composed himself to sleep and sweat, so that he might escape the cold shivers which are wont to accompany the onset of the ague-fit. He was seized with the deepest sleep and colliquative sweats, and in the short space of twenty-four hours from the time of the ague-fit, he died comatose. He died, who, had a single ounce of Peruvian bark been properly given, might easily have escaped, in twenty-four hours, from the jaws of the grave and the disease: and so burning with anger, I informed the doctor, when he told me this story without any sense of shame."

Marvell was buried on the 18th of August, "under the pews in the south side of St. Giles's Church in the Fields, under the window wherein is painted on glass a red lion." So writes the invaluable Aubrey, who tells us he had the account from the sexton who made the grave.

In 1678 St. Giles's Church was a brick structure built by Laud. The present imposing church was built on the site of the old one in 1730-34.

In 1774 Captain Thompson, so he tells us, "visited the grand mausoleum under the church of St. Giles, to search for the coffin in which Mr. Marvell was placed: in this vault were deposited upwards of a thousand bodies, but I could find no plate of an earlier date than 1722; I do therefore suppose the new church is built upon the former burial place."

The poet's grand-nephew, Mr. Robert Nettleton, in 1764 placed on the north side of the present church, upon a black marble slab, a long epitaph, still to be seen, recording the fact that "near to this place lyeth the body of Andrew Marvell, Esquire." At no great distance from this slab is the tombstone, recently brought in from the graveyard outside, of Georgius Chapman, Poeta, a fine Roman monument, prepared by the care and at the cost of the poet's friend, Inigo Jones. Still left exposed, in what is now a doleful garden (not at all Marvellian), is the tombstone of Richard Penderel of Boscobel, one of the five yeomen brothers who helped Charles to escape after Worcester. Lord Herbert of Cherbury, in 1648, and Shirley the dramatist, in 1666, had been carried to the same place of sepulture.

Aubrey describes Marvell "as of middling stature, pretty strong-set, roundish faced, cherry-cheeked, hazell eye, brown hair. He was, in his conversation, very modest, and of very few words. Though he loved wine, he would never drink hard in company, and was wont to say that he would not play the good fellow in any man's company in whose hands he would not trust his life. He kept bottles of wine at his lodgings, and many times he would drink liberally by himself and to refresh his spirit and exalt his muse. James Harrington (author of Oceana) was his intimate friend; J. Pell, D.D., was one of his acquaintances. He had not a general acquaintance."

Dr. Pell, one may remark, was a great friend of Hobbes.

In March 1679 joint administration was granted by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Mariae Marvell relictae et Johni Greni Creditori. This is the first time we hear of there being any wife in the case. A creditor of a deceased person could not obtain administration without citing the next of kin, but a widow was entitled, under a statute of Henry VIII., as of right, to administration, and it may be that Mr. Green thought the quickest way of being paid his debt was to invent a widow. The practice of the court required an affidavit from the widow deposing that she was the lawful relict of the deceased, but this assertion on oath seems in ordinary cases to have been sufficient, if the customary fees were forthcoming. Captain Thompson roundly asserts that the alleged Mary Marvell was a cheat, and no more than the lodging-house keeper where he had last lived—and Marvell was a migratory man.[223:1] Mary Marvell's name appears once again, in the forefront of the first edition of Marvell's Poems (1681), where she certifies all the contents to be her husband's works. This may have been a publisher's, as the affidavit may have been a creditor's, artifice. As against this, Mr. Grosart, who believed in Mary Marvell, reminds us that Mr. Robert Boulter, the publisher of the poems, was a most respectable man, and a friend both of Milton's and Marvell's, and not at all likely either to cheat the public with a falsely signed certificate, or to be cheated by a London lodging-house keeper. Whatever "Mary Marvell" may have been, "widow, wife, or maid," she is heard of no more.

Hull was not wholly unmindful of her late and (William Wilberforce notwithstanding) her most famous member. "On Thursday the 26th of September 1678, in consideration of the kindness the Town and Borough had for Andrew Marvell, Esq., one of the Burgesses of Parliament for the same Borough (lately deceased), and for his great merits from the Corporation. It is this day ordered by the Court that Fifty pounds be paid out of the Town's Chest towards the discharge of his funerals (sic), and to perpetuate his memory by a gravestone" (Bench Books of Hull).

The incumbent of Trinity Church is said to have objected to the erection of any monument. At all events there is none. Marvell had many enemies in the Church. Sharp, afterwards Archbishop of York, was a Yorkshire man, and had been domestic chaplain to Sir Heneage Finch, a lawyer-member, much lashed by Marvell's bitter pen. Sharp had also taken part in the quarrel with the Dissenters, and is reported to have been very much opposed to any Hull monument to Marvell. Captain Thompson says "the Epitaph which the Town of Hull caused to be erected to Marvell's memory was torn down by the Zealots of the King's party." There is no record of this occurrence.

There are several portraits of Marvell in existence—one now being in the National Portrait Gallery. A modern statue in marble adorns the Town Hall of Hull.

FOOTNOTES:

[211:1] In reading the early volumes of the Parliamentary History the question has to be asked, What authority is there for the reports of speeches? In Charles the Second's time some of the speakers, both in the Lords and Commons, evidently communicated their orations to the press.

[215:1] Lord Mayor, 1667.

[220:1] See Marvell's Ghost, in Poems on Affairs of State.

[223:1] The cottage at Highgate, long called 'Marvell's Cottage,' has now disappeared. Several of Marvell's letters were written from Highgate.



CHAPTER VIII

WORK AS A MAN OF LETTERS

Marvell's work as a man of letters easily divides itself into the inevitable three parts. First, as a poet properly so called; Second, as a political satirist using rhyme; and Third, as a writer of prose.

Upon Marvell's work as a poet properly so called that curious, floating, ever-changing population to whom it is convenient to refer as "the reading public," had no opportunity of forming any real opinion until after the poet's death, namely, when the small folio of 1681 made its appearance. This volume, although not containing the Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland or the lines upon Cromwell's death, did contain, saving these exceptions, all the best of Marvell's verse.

How this poetry was received, to whom and to how many it gave pleasure, we have not the means of knowing. The book, like all other good books, had to take its chance. Good poetry is never exactly unpopular—its difficulty is to get a hearing, to secure a vogue. I feel certain that from 1681 onwards many ingenuous souls read Eyes and Tears, The Bermudas, The Nymph complaining for the Death of her Fawn, To his Coy Mistress, Young Love, and The Garden with pure delight. In 1699 the poet Pomfret, of whose Choice Dr. Johnson said in 1780, "perhaps no composition in our language has been oftener perused," and who Southey in 1807 declared to be "the most popular of English poets"; in 1699, I say, this poet Pomfret says in a preface, sensibly enough, "to please everyone would be a New Thing, and to write so as to please no Body would be as New, for even Quarles and Wythers (sic) have their Admirers." So liable is the public taste to fluctuations and reversals, that to-day, though Quarles and Wither are not popular authors, they certainly number many more readers than Pomfret, Southey's "most popular of English poets," who has now, it is to be feared, finally disappeared even from the Anthologies. But if Quarles and Wither had their admirers even in 1699, the poet Marvell, we may be sure, had his also.

Marvell had many poetical contemporaries—five-and-twenty at least—poets of mark and interest, to most of whom, as well as to some of his immediate predecessors, he stood, as I must suppose, in some degree of poetical relationship. With Milton and Dryden no comparison will suggest itself, but with Donne and Cowley, with Waller and Denham, with Butler and the now wellnigh forgotten Cleveland, with Walker and Charles Cotton, with Rochester and Dorset, some resemblances, certain influences, may be found and traced. From the order of his mind and his prose style, I should judge Marvell to have been both a reader and a critic of his contemporaries in verse and prose—though of his criticisms little remains. Of Butler he twice speaks with great respect, and his sole reference to the dead Cleveland is kindly. Of Milton we know what he thought, whilst Aubrey tells us that he once heard Marvell say that the Earl of Rochester was the only man in England that had the true vein of satire.

Be these influences what they may or must have been, to us Marvell occupies, as a poet, a niche by himself. A finished master of his art he never was. He could not write verses like his friend Lovelace, or like Cowley's Chronicle or Waller's lines "On a Girdle." He had not the inexhaustible, astonishing (though tiresome) wit of Butler. He is often clumsy and sometimes almost babyish. One has frequently occasion to wonder how a man of business could allow himself to be tickled by such obvious straws as are too many of the conceits which give him pleasure. To attribute all the conceits of this period to the influence of Dr. Donne is but a poor excuse after all. The worst thing that can be said against poetry is that there is so much tedium in it. The glorious moments are all too few. It is his honest recognition of this woeful fact that makes Dr. Johnson, with all his faults lying thick about him, the most consolatory of our critics to the ordinary reading man. "Tediousness is the most fatal of all faults.... Unhappily this pernicious failure is that which an author is least able to discover. We are seldom tiresome to ourselves.... Perhaps no man ever thought a line superfluous when he wrote it" (Lives of the Poets. Under Prior—see also under Butler).

That Marvell is never tiresome I will not assert. But he too has his glorious moments, and they are all his own. In the whole compass of our poetry there is nothing quite like Marvell's love of gardens and woods, of meads and rivers and birds. It is a love not learnt from books, not borrowed from brother-poets. It is not indulged in to prove anything. It is all sheer enjoyment.

"Bind me, ye woodbines, in your twines, Curb me about, ye gadding vines, And oh, so close your circles lace, That I may never leave this place! But, lest your fetters prove too weak, Ere I your silken bondage break, Do you, O brambles, chain me too, And, courteous briars, nail me through. ... Here at the fountain's sliding foot, Or at some fruit-tree's mossy root, Casting the body's vest aside, My soul into the boughs does glide; There, like a bird, it sits and sings."

No poet is happier than Marvell in creating the impression that he made his verses out of doors.

"He saw the partridge drum in the woods; He heard the woodcock's evening hymn; He found the tawny thrush's broods, And the shy hawk did wait for him. What others did at distance hear And guessed within the thicket's gloom Was shown to this philosopher, And at his bidding seemed to come."

(From Emerson's Wood Notes.)

Marvell's immediate fame as a true poet was, I dare say, obscured for a good while both by its original note (for originality is always forbidding at first sight) and by its author's fame as a satirist, and his reputation as a lover of "liberty's glorious feast." It was as one of the poets encountered in the Poems on Affairs of State (fifth edition, 1703) that Marvell was best known during the greater part of the eighteenth century. As Milton's friend Marvell had, as it were, a side-chapel in the great Miltonic temple. The patriotic member of Parliament, who refused in his poverty the Lord-Treasurer Danby's proffered bribe, became a character in history before the exquisite quality of his garden-poetry was recognised. There was a cult for Liberty in the middle of the eighteenth century, and Marvell's name was on the list of its professors. Wordsworth's sonnet has preserved this tradition for us.

"Great men have been among us; hands that penn'd And tongues that utter'd wisdom, better none: The later Sydney, Marvell, Harrington."

In 1726 Thomas Cooke printed an edition of Marvell's works which contains the poetry that was in the folio of 1681, and in 1772 Cooke's edition was reprinted by T. Davies. It was probably Davies's edition that Charles Lamb, writing to Godwin on Sunday, 14th December 1800, says he "was just going to possess": a notable addition to Lamb's library, and an event in the history of the progress of Marvell's poetical reputation. Captain Thompson's edition, containing the Horatian Ode and other pieces, followed in 1776. In the great Poetical Collection of the Booksellers (1779-1781) which they improperly[229:1] called "Johnson's Poets" (improperly, because the poets were, with four exceptions, the choice not of the biographer but of the booksellers, anxious to retain their imaginary copyright), Marvell has no place. Mr. George Ellis, in his Specimens of the early English poets first published in 1803, printed from Marvell Daphne and Chloe (in part) and Young Love. When Mr. Bowles, that once famous sonneteer, edited Pope in 1806, he, by way of belittling Pope, quoted two lines from Marvell, now well known, but unfamiliar in 1806:—

"And through the hazels thick espy The hatching throstle's shining eye."

He remarked upon them, "the last circumstance is new, highly poetical, and could only have been described by one who was a real lover of nature and a witness of her beauties in her most solitary retirement." On this Mark Pattison makes the comment that the lines only prove that Marvell when a boy went bird-nesting (Essays, vol. ii. p. 374), a pursuit denied to Pope by his manifold infirmities. The poet Campbell, in his Specimens (1819), gave an excellent sketch of Marvell's life, and selected The Bermudas, The Nymph and Fawn, and Young Love. Then came, fresh from talk with Charles Lamb, Hazlitt, with his Select Poets (1825), which contains the Horatian Ode, Bermudas, To his Coy Mistress, The Nymph and Fawn, A Drop of Dew, The Garden, The Gallery, Upon the Hill and Grove at Billborow. In this choice we may see the hand of Charles Lamb, as Tennyson's may be noticed in the selection made in Palgrave's Golden Treasury (1863). Dean Trench in his Household Book of English Poetry (1869) gives Eyes and Tears, the Horatian Ode, and A Drop of Dew. In Mr. Ward's English Poets (1880) Marvell is represented by The Garden, A Drop of Dew, The Bermudas, Young Love, the Horatian Ode, and the Lines on Paradise Lost. Thanks to these later Anthologies and to the quotations from The Garden and Upon Appleton House in the Essays of Elia, Marvell's fame as a true poet has of recent years become widespread, and is now, whatever vicissitudes it may have endured, well established.

As a satirist in rhyme Marvell has shared the usual and not undeserved fate of almost all satirists of their age and fellow-men. The authors of lines written in heat to give expression to the anger of the hour may well be content if their effusions give the pain or teach the lesson they were intended to give or teach. If you lash the age, you do so presumably for the benefit of the age. It is very hard to transmit even a fierce and genuine indignation from one age to another. Marvell's satires were too hastily composed, too roughly constructed, too redolent of the occasion, to enter into the kingdom of poetry. To the careful and character-loving reader of history, particularly if he chance to have a feeling for the House of Commons, not merely as an institution, but as a place of resort, Marvell's satirical poems must always be intensely interesting. They strike me as honest in their main intention, and never very wide of the mark. Hallam says, in his lofty way, "We read with nothing but disgust the satirical poetry of Cleveland, Butler, Oldham, Marvell," and he adds, "Marvell's satires are gross and stupid."[231:1] Gross they certainly occasionally are, but stupid they never are. Marvell was far too well-informed a politician and too shrewd a man ever to be stupid.

As a satirist Marvell had, if he wanted them, many models of style, but he really needed none, for he just wrote down in rough-and-ready rhyme whatever his head or his spleen suggested to his fancy. Every now and again there is a noble outburst of feeling, and a couplet of great felicity. I confess to taking great pleasure in Marvell's satires.

As a prose writer Marvell has many merits and one great fault. He has fire and fancy and was the owner and master of a precise vocabulary well fitted to clothe and set forth a well-reasoned and lofty argument. He knew how to be both terse and diffuse, and can compress himself into a line or expand over a paragraph. He has touches of a grave irony as well as of a boisterous humour. He can tell an anecdote and elaborate a parable. Swift, we know, had not only Butler's Hudibras by heart, but was also (we may be sure) a close student of Marvell's prose. His great fault is a very common one. He is too long. He forgets how quickly a reader grows tired. He is so interested in the evolutions of his own mind that he forgets his audience. His interest at times seems as if it were going to prove endless. It is the first business of an author to arrest and then to retain the attention of the reader. To do this requires great artifice.

Among the masters of English prose it would be rash to rank Marvell, who was neither a Hooker nor a Taylor. None the less he was the owner of a prose style which some people think the best prose style of all—that of honest men who have something to say.

FOOTNOTES:

[229:1] "Indecently" is the doctor's own expression.

[231:1] See Hallam's History of Literature, vol. iv. pp. 433, 439.



INDEX

A

"Account of the Growth of Popery and Arbitrary Government in England," 180-1, 187; quoted, 188.

Act of Uniformity, 143, 184.

Addison, 65.

Aitken, Mr., 47.

Amersham, 145.

Amsterdam, 59, 197.

Angier, Lord, 196.

Appleton House, 66.

Arlington, 185, 186.

Ars Poetica, 47.

Ashley, Lord, 120, 150, 185.

Athenae Oxonienses, 10.

Aubrey, 222.

Austin, John, 159.

Autobiography (Clarendon), 136.

Autobiography of Matthew Robinson, 11 n.

Axtell, Lieut.-Colonel, 28, 29.

B

Baker's Chronicle, 80.

Baker, Thomas, 24.

Bampfield, Thomas, 80.

Banda Islands, 127.

Barbadoes, 58.

Barnard, Edward, 95.

Barron, Richard, 64.

Baxter, Richard, 52, 93, 179.

Bedford, 162.

Bench Books of Hull, 223.

Bennet, Sir John, 195.

Berkeley, Charles, 115.

Berkenhead, Sir John, 191.

Bermudas, The, 66, 225, 230.

Besant, Sir Walter, 118 n.

Bill for "the Rebuilding of London," 123, 124, 125, 126 n.; amended, 148.

Bill of Conventicles, 142, 146, 147, 148.

Bill of Subsidy, 193.

Bill of Test, 205.

Bill of Uniformity, 101.

"Bind me, ye woodbines," 227.

Blackheath, 188.

Blake, Admiral, 59, 69, 71, 75.

Blaydes, James, 6.

—— Joseph, 6.

Blenheim (Addison), 70.

Blood, Colonel, 196.

Bodleian Library, 31, 116.

Boulter, Robert, 223.

Bowles, 229.

Bowyer, 64.

Boyle, Richard, 115.

Bradshaw, John, Lord-President of the Council, 28, 48, 52, 94, 95.

Braganza, Catherine of, 33.

Bramhall Preface, 162.

Breda, 88; Declaration, 102, 127, 136.

"Britannia and Raleigh," 216 seq.

Brunswick, Duke of, 196.

Buckingham, Duke of, 150, 185, 196, 205, 206.

Bucknoll, Sir William, 195.

Bunyan, 162.

Burnet, Bishop, 3, 163.

Butler, 62 n., 154, 226.

C

"Cabal," 184.

Cadsand, 186.

Calamy, Edmund, 93, 94.

Cambridge, 48, 175.

Canary Islands, 70.

Canterbury, Prerogative Court of, 222.

Capel, 172.

Carey, Henry, 126 n.

Carlisle, Lady, 113.

—— Lord, 101, 108, 113.

Carteret, Sir George (Treasurer of Navy), 120, 141, 143.

Castlemaine, Lady, 134.

Character of Holland, The, 60.

Charles I., 29, 167.

Charles II., 76, 80, 81, 90, 93, 95, 127, 182, 184, 185, 186, 188, 189, 195, 196, 203, 205, 206, 214, 222.

Chateaubriand, 24.

Chatham, 128.

Cherry Burton, 6.

Choice (Pomfret), 225.

Chronicle (Cowley), 227.

Chute, Chaloner, 80.

Civil War, 23, 219.

Clare, Lord, 193, 195.

Clarendon, Earl of, 28, 52, 77, 82; History, 88, 114, 120; Life, 129, 134, 135, 136, 138, 148 n.

Cleveland, Duke of, 226.

—— Duchess of, 196.

Clifford, 154, 185, 186.

Clifford's Inn, 125.

Cole, William, 5.

Collection of Poems on Affairs of State, 35.

Complete Works in Verse and Prose of Andrew Marvell, M.P., The, 8.

Conventicle Act, 144.

Convention Parliament, 87, 91, 95.

Cooke, Thomas, 229.

Cooper, 219.

Copenhagen, 113.

Cosin, Dr., Bishop of Durham, 94, 148.

Cotton, Charles, 226.

Council of Trent, 178.

Court of Chancery, 125.

Coventry, Sir John, 191.

Cowley, 226.

Crew, Bishop of Durham, 202.

Critic (Sheridan), 154.

Cromwell, Oliver, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 59, 60, 63, 64, 68, 73, 75, 77, 89, 92, 93, 94, 95, 127, 137, 140, 145, 215, 219.

—— Lord Richard, 77, 79, 80, 81.

—— the Lady Mary, 71.

D

Danby, Lord-Treasurer, 209, 228.

Daphne and Chloe, 229.

Dartmouth, Lord (Colonel Legge), 141 n.

Davies, T., 229.

"Debate on Mr. Andrew Marvell's striking Sir Philip Harcourt, March 29," etc., 212.

Declaration of Indulgence, 187, 188.

Declaration of War, The, 187.

Defence and Continuation of Ecclesiastical Politie, A (Parker), 153.

Defensio Secunda pro populo Anglicano (Milton), 48.

Denham, Sir John, 27, 129, 226.

De Ruyter, 115, 128, 136.

"Description of Holland, A" (Butler), 62.

De Witt, John, 63, 187, 197.

Dialogue between two horses, Charles I. at Charing Cross, and Charles II. at Wool Church, 218, 219.

Dictionary of National Biography, 9, 210 n.

Directions to a Painter (Denham), 129.

Directory of Public Worship, 90, 103.

Discourse by Way of Vision concerning the Government of Oliver Cromwell (quoted), 73, 92.

Discourse concerning Government (Sidney), 64.

"Discourse of Ecclesiastical Politie wherein the Authority of the Civil Magistrate over the Consciences of Subjects in matters of external Religion is asserted," etc., 153.

Donne, Dr., 226, 227.

Don Quixote (Shelton's translation), 78.

Dorset, 226.

Dort, 187.

Dover, 90.

Drama Commonplaces, 154.

Drop of Dew, A, 230.

Dryden, John, 20, 24, 27, 69, 130.

Dublin Castle, 196.

Dunciad, 21.

Dunkirk, 127, 137, 193, 215.

Dutch War, 126.

Dutton, Mr. (Cromwell's ward), 54.

E

East India Company, 127.

Ecclesiastical Politie (quoted), 157-8, 159-60.

Edgar, Prince, 196.

Elizabeth (Queen), 143.

"Employment of my Solitude, The" (Fairfax), 32.

"England's Way to Win Wealth," 56; quoted, 56, 57, 58.

Erith, 139.

Essays of Elia, 230.

Eton College, 51.

Evelyn, John, 19, 121, 138, 139 n.

Eyes and Tears, 225, 230.

F

Fagg, Sir John, 205.

Fairfax, Lady Mary, 27, 28, 32, 63.

—— Lord, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 48, 50, 63.

—— Sir William, 33, 36.

Fanshaw, Sir Richard, 49 n.

Fauconberg, Lady, 95.

—— Viscount (afterwards Earl), 71.

Finch, Sir Heneage, 91, 224.

First Anniversary of the Government under His Highness the Lord-Protector, The, 60.

Five Mile Act, 117, 162, 203.

Flagellum Parliamentum, 97.

Flanders, 196.

Flecknoe, Richard, 20, 21.

France, 183, 184, 197, 204.

"Free Impartial Censure of the Platonick Philosophy, A" (Parker), 152 n., 174.

French Alliance, 188.

G

Gallery, The, 230.

"Garden Poetry," 75.

Garden, The, 66, 225.

Gee, Dr., 220.

Gilbey. Colonel, 95, 98, 101.

Gillingham, 127.

Gladstone, 23, 104 n.

Golden Remains (Hales), 51.

Golden Treasury (1863), (Palgrave), 230.

Gombroon, 194.

Government of the People of England, etc. (Parker), 172.

Green, Mr., 222.

Grosart, Mr., 7, 65, 84, 85, 106, 165-9 n., 176 n., 178 n., 181 n., 187 n., 204-6 n., 209 n., 223.

Grosvenor, Colonel, 219.

Growth of Popery (quoted), 203, 206.

H

Hague, The, 197.

Hale, Sir Matthew, 92, 125.

Hales, John, 51.

Hallam, 231.

Hamilton, 172.

Harding, Dean, 118.

Harrington, James, 76, 222.

Harrison, 29, 30.

Harwich, 115.

Hastings, Lord Henry, 27.

Hazlitt, 61, 239.

Herrick, 27.

His Majesty's most Gracious Speech to Both Houses of Parliament, 200.

Historical Dictionary (Jeremy Collier), 24 n.

History of England (Ranke), 59, 183, 185 n.

History of His Own Time (Burnet), 129, 136, 152 n., 189 n.

History of His Own Time (Parker), 96 n., 170 n.

History of Literature (Hallam), 231 n.

History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, The, 136.

Hobbes, 11, 12, 156, 157.

Holland, 120, 135, 182-4, 186, 197.

—— Lord, 172.

Hollis, Thomas, 64, 219.

Holy Dying, 151.

Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland, 63, 66, 225, 229, 230.

Hortus (quoted), 45-6.

Household Book of English Poetry (1809) (Dean Trench), 230.

Houses of Convocation, 101.

Howard, Sir Robert, 195.

Hudibras (Butler), 231.

Hull, 2, 5, 8, 17, 18, 50, 59, 84, 95, 98, 99, 101, 209, 223, 224; Town Hall, 224.

Hull, History of (Gent), 17.

Humber, The, 99.

Hyde, Mrs., 202.

—— Sir Edward (Earl of Clarendon), 49 n.

I

Imposition upon wines, 196.

Indies, East and West, 93.

Inigo Jones, 221-2.

Insolence and Impudence Triumphant, 153.

Ireland, 122, 196, 209.

Irish Cattle Bill, 122.

J

Jessopp, Mr., 120.

Johnson, Dr., 225, 227.

"Johnson's Poets," 229.

K

Kremlin, 108.

L

Lamb, William, 20, 61.

Lambert, General, 29, 31, 82.

Lambeth, 175.

Last Instructions to a Painter about the Dutch Wars, The, 129; quoted, 130 seq., 135.

Laud, Archbishop, 91, 167, 221.

Lauderdale, Lord, 150, 185, 201, 202.

Lawson, Admiral, 115.

Lenthall, Speaker, 81, 83.

"Letter from a Parliament Man to his Friend" (Shaftesbury), 97.

Leviathan (Hobbes), 156.

Life of the Great Lord Fairfax (Markham) (quoted), 31.

Lines on Paradise Lost, 230.

Locke, John, 6, 179.

London, 90; Great Fire of, 17, 119, 209; Great Plague of, 115, 116, 119.

Lort, Dr. (Master of Trinity), 10.

Louis XIV., 183, 185, 186, 188, 189, 193, 196, 215.

Lovelace, Richard, 25, 26, 227.

Lucasta, 25, 26.

M

Macaulay, 70, 92.

"MacFlecknoe" (quoted), 21.

Manton, Dr., 162.

Mariae Marvell relictae et Johni Greni Creditori, 222.

Marlborough, Earl of, 115.

Martin Marprelate, 24.

Marvell, Andrew, born 1621, 4; ancestry, 4-5; Hull Grammar School, 8; school days, 8-9; goes to Trinity College, Cambridge, 10; life at Cambridge, 11-12; becomes a Roman Catholic, 12; recantation and return to Trinity, 14; life at Cambridge ends, 17; death of mother, 17; abroad in France, Spain, Holland, and Italy, 19; acquainted with French, Dutch, and Spanish languages, 19; poet, parliamentarian, and controversialist, 20; in Rome (1645), 20; invites Flecknoe to dinner, 22; neither a Republican nor a Puritan, 23; a Protestant and a member of the Reformed Church of England, 23; stood for both King and Parliament, 23; considered by Collier a dissenter, 24 n.; civil servant during Commonwealth, 24; rejoices at Restoration, 25; keeps Royalist company (1646-50), 25; contributes commendatory lines to Richard Lovelace in poems published 1649, 25; defends Lovelace, 26; loved to be alone with his friends, lived for the most part in a hired lodging, 26; one of thirty-three poets who wept for the early death of Lord H. Hastings, 27; went to live with Lord Fairfax at Nunappleton House as tutor to only child and daughter of the house (1650), 27; anonymity of verses, 34; small volume containing "The Garden Poetry" (1681), 34; tells story of Nunappleton House, 36-45; applies to Secretary for Foreign Tongues for a testimonial, 48; recommended by Milton to Bradshaw for post of Latin Secretary, 50; appointed four years later, 51: frequently visits Eton, 51; Milton intrusts him with a letter and copy of Secunda defensio to Bradshaw, 52; appointed by the Lord-Protector tutor to Mr. Dutton, 54; resides with Oxenbridges, 54; letters, 53, 54-5, 85-7, 92-3, 94-6, 99, 100-1, 104, 105, 109-12, 121, 122, 140, 141-3, 145-7, 148-50, 189-91, 191 seq., 210; begins his career as anonymous political poet and satirist (1653), 56; dislike of the Dutch, 56; impregnated with the new ideas about sea power, 59; reported to have been among crowd which witnessed Charles I.'s death, 64; first collected edition of works, verse and prose, produced by subscription in three volumes, 64; became Milton's assistant (1657), 68; friendship with Milton, 69; takes Milton's place in receptions at foreign embassies, 69; plays part of Laureate during Protector's life, 71; produces two songs on marriage of Lady Mary Cromwell, 72-3; attends Cromwell's funeral, 73; is keenly interested in public affairs, 75; becomes a civil servant for a year, 75; M.P. for Hull, 75; friend of Milton and Harrington, 76; well disposed towards Charles II., 77; remains in office till end of year (1659), 77; elected with Ramsden M.P. for Kingston-upon-Hull, 78; attended opening of Parliament (1659), 80; is not a "Rumper," 84; again elected for Hull (1660), 84; begins his remarkable correspondence with the Corporation of Hull, 84; a satirist, not an enthusiast, 85; lines on Restoration, 90; complains to House of exaction of L150 for release of Milton, 91; elected for third, and last, time member for Hull, 95; receives fee from Corporation of Hull for attendance at House, 96; reviled by Parker for taking this payment, 96; Flagellum Parliamentum attributed to, 97; goes to Holland, 100; is recalled, 101; while in Holland writes to Trinity House and to the Corporation of Hull on business matters, 101; goes as secretary to Lord Carlisle on an embassy to Sweden and Denmark, 106; public entry into Moscow, 108; assists at formal reception of Lord Carlisle as English ambassador, 109; renders oration to Czar into Latin, 109; Russians object to terms of oration, 109; replies, 109-12; returns from embassy, 113; reaches London, 113; attends Parliament at Oxford, 116; The Last Instructions to a Painter about the Dutch Wars, 129-35; bitter enemy of Hyde, 136; lines upon Clarendon House, 138; inquires into "miscarriages of the late war," 139; The Rehearsal Transprosed, 151; its great success, 152; literary method described by Parker, 162; called "a droll," "a buffoon," 163; replies to Parker, 163 seq.; intercedes, 168; abused by Parker in History of His Own Time, 170 n.; The Rehearsall Transpros'd (second part), 171-2; pictures Parker, 172 seq.; latterly fears subversion of Protestant faith, 179; his famous pamphlet, An Account of the Growth of Popery and Arbitrary Government in England, 180-1, 203-5, 206-8; gives account of quarrel with Dutch, 186-7; commendatory verses on "Mr. Milton's Paradise Lost" (1674), 199 n.; mock speech, His Majesty's Most Gracious Speech to Both Houses of Parliament, 200-2; story of proffered bribe, 209-10; last letter to constituents, 210; rarely speaks in the House of Commons, 211; longest reported speech, 211; speech reported in Parliamentary History (1677), 211; "Debate on Mr. Andrew Marvell's striking Sir Philip Harcourt," etc., 212-14; friend of Prince Rupert, 214; lines on setting up of king's statue, 214-15; "Britannia and Raleigh," 216-19; dies, 219; thought to have been poisoned, 219; this suspicion dissipated, 220; account of sickness and death, 220-1; burial, 221; obsequies, 223; epitaph, 221; humour and wit, 163; not a fanatic, 179; insatiable curiosity, 182; power of self-repression, 211; as poet, 225-30; as satirist, 228, 230-1; as prose writer, 231-2; love of gardens, 227; appearance described, 232; Hull's most famous member, 223; enemies, 224; portraits of, 224; statue of, 224; editions of works, 229.

Marvell, Rev. Andrew (father), 7.

—— Mary (wife), 3, 222-3.

"Marvell's Cottage," 223 n.

Marvell's Ghost (in Poems on Affairs of State), 220 n.

May, 119.

Mead, William, 191.

Meadows, Philip, 51, 54.

Medway, 139, 187.

Memorials (Whitelock), 29.

Milton, John, 2, 19, 20, 21, 48, 49, 52, 64, 68, 69, 73, 76, 77, 91, 129, 151, 199, 223, 226, 228.

Monk, General, Duke of Albemarle, 80, 83, 91, 128, 139, 140.

—— Dr., Provost of Eton. 94.

Monmouth, Duke of, 116, 191.

Monument ("tall bully"), 118.

More (Moore), Thomas, 7.

More, Robert, 6.

Morpeth, Lord, 113.

Moscow, 105, 107.

"Mr. Milton's Paradise Lost" (Marvell), 199 n.

Musa Cantabrigiensis, 16.

Muskerry, Lord, 115.

N

Napoleon, 24.

Narrative of the Restoration (Collins), 81.

National Portrait Gallery, 224.

Navigation Act, 59, 63.

Nettleton, Robert, 64; (Marvell's grand-nephew), 221.

New Amsterdam, 136.

New Guinea, 127.

Novgorod, 113.

Nunappleton House, 63.

Nymph and Fawn, The, 230.

Nymph complaining for the Death of her Fawn, The, 225.

O

Oaths Bill, 202, 205.

Oceana (James Harrington), 222.

Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland, The, 34.

Omniana (Southey), 20 n.

Opdam, Admiral, 115, 129.

Orleans, Duchess of, 185.

Ormond, Duke of, 196.

Orrery, 150.

Owen, Dr. John, 81.

Oxenbridge, John, 51.

Oxford, 116.

P

Paradise Lost, 10, 52, 69, 91.

Paradise Regained, 91.

Parker, Dr. Samuel, 9, 151-3, 155, 157, 159-60, 162-3, 167, 171-2, 211.

Parliamentary History, 211.

Paston, Sir Robert, 114.

Pattison, Mark, Essays, 230.

Peak, Sir William, 215.

Pease, Anne, 6.

Pelican (Inn), 21.

Pell, J., D.D., 222.

Pembroke, Earl of, 202.

Penderel, Richard, 222.

Penn, William, 191.

Pensionary or Long Parliament, 95, 96, 135.

Pepys, Samuel, 69, 90, 95, 96, 113, 117, 118, 120, 121; Diary, 129.

Pett, Mr. Commissioner, 133.

"Petty Navy Royal" (Dee), 56; (quoted), 57, 58.

Pickering, Sir Gilbert, 69.

Pilgrim's Progress, The, 158.

Plymouth, 136.

"Poem upon the Death of his late Highness the Protector, A," 74.

Poems (1081), 223.

Poems and Satires of Andrew Marvell, 47 n.

Poems on Affairs of State, 228.

Poleroone, 127, 136.

"Politic Plat (plan) for the Honour of the Prince, A," 56.

Poll Bill, 122.

Ponder, Nathaniel, 171.

Pope, 34, 130, 229.

Popish Plot, 219.

Popple, Edmund, 6.

—— William, 6.

Portland Papers, 116 n.

Portsmouth, 136.

Pride, Colonel, 94.

Prince of Orange, 63.

Prynne, 96.

{Greek: Pyretologia} (Richard Morton), 220.

Q

Quarles, 226.

R

Ramsden, John, 78, 84, 95.

—— William. 189, 210.

Rehearsal (Duke of Buckingham), 154; quoted, 154-5.

Rehearsal Transprosed, The (quoted), 23-4, 51 n., 151, 152n., 162; (second part), 171; quoted, 172-8, 211.

Religio Laici, 24 n.

Reproof to the Rehearsal Transprosed (quoted), 162, 168, 169 seq.

Reynolds, Dr., Bishop of Norwich, 93.

Riga, 113.

Robinson, Matthew, 11.

Rochester, Earl of, 226.

Rome, 193.

Roos Divorce Bill, 148, 149.

"Rota" Club, 3, 76.

Rouen, 139, 139 n.

Royal Charles, The, 115, 136.

Rump Parliament, 81, 82, 83.

Rupert, Prince, 3, 214.

Rushworth, 28.

S

St. Giles's Church in the Fields, 221.

St. John, Oliver, 51.

Saint's Rest (Baxter), 151.

Samson Agonistes, 91.

Santa Cruz, 69.

Savoy Conference, 90, 101, 103, 104.

Scotland, 204.

Scroggs, Lord Chief Justice, 100.

Secunda defensio, 52.

Select Poets (Hazlitt), 230.

Shadwell, 20, 21.

Shaftesbury, Earl of, 205.

Sharp, Archbishop, 224.

Sheerness, 127, 128, 136.

Sheldon, Dr., Archbishop of Canterbury, 153.

Shirley (dramatist), 118, 222.

Shrewsbury, Lady, 196.

Sidney Sussex College, 219.

Skinner, Mrs., 18.

Skynner, Mr., 54.

Sluys, 186.

Smith, Mr. Goldwin, 123 n.

Sobieski, John, 214.

Social England Illustrated, 56 n.

Solemn League and Covenant, 29.

Song of Agincourt (Drayton), 70.

Southampton, Lord, 95, 203.

Southey, 226.

Spain, 183, 184.

Specimens (Campbell), 230.

Specimens of Early English Poets (Mr. George Ellis), 229.

State Trials, 191.

Sterne, Bishop of Carlisle, 94.

Stockholm, 113.

Surat, 113, 194.

Surinam, 187.

Sutton, Mrs., 202.

Swift, Benjamin, 152, 231. {Transcriber's note: Referred to by surname only in the text. Probably means Jonathan.}

T

Table Talk (Selden), 179.

Tait, Archbishop, 23.

Temple, Sir William, 183.

Tender Conscience, 161; quoted, 161-2.

Tentamina Physico-Theologica (Parker), 174.

Test Bill, 188.

Texel, 127.

Thompson, Captain Edward, 10, 64, 68, 73, 84, 202 n., 221, 223, 224, 229.

Thurloe, John, 50, 52.

To his Coy Mistress, 66, 225, 230.

Torbay, 136.

Tower, The, 206.

Travels and Voyages (Harris), 106.

Treatise on Education (Milton), 9.

"Treatise on the breeding of the Horse," 32.

Treaty of Dover, 184, 150 n., 186.

Treby, George, M.P., 219.

Trench, Dean, 67 n.

Trevor, 150.

Trinity Church, Hull, 223.

—— College, Cambridge, 10.

—— House, 100.

Triple Alliance, The, 183, 184, 186.

Trot, Sir John, 197.

True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates, The (Bacon), 60.

Truth and Innocence Vindicated (Owen), 153.

Turner, Sir Edward, 135.

U

Unreformed House of Commons, The (Porritt), 96 n.

Upnor Castle, 128.

"Upon His House," 138.

Upon Appleton House, 230.

Upon the Hill and Grove of Billborow, 230.

Urquhart, Sir Thomas, 89.

V

Vane, Sir Harry, 89.

Van Tromp, 59, 61, 63, 115.

Vere, Lord, 32.

Villiers, George, Duke of Buckingham, 33.

Viner, Sir Robert, 214, 215.

Virginia, 58.

W

Walcheren, 186.

Walker, 226.

Waller, 73, 144, 145 n., 226.

"Walton's Life" (Wotton), 19; quoted, 20.

Ward, Seth, 153 n. {Transcriber's Note: 152}

Watts, Dr., 65.

Weckerlin, Georg Rudolph, 49; Latin Secretary to Parliament, 49 n., 50.

Welch, Mr., 210.

Westminster Hall, 140.

—— Parliament of, 83.

White, Bishop of Ely, 13.

Whitehall, 117.

Whitelock's Memorials, 29.

William and Margaret (Mallet), 65.

Wine Licenses, 196.

Winestead, 4.

Wise, Lieutenant, 140.

Wither, 226.

Wood, Anthony, 25.

Wordsworth, 229.

Worshipful Society of Masters and Pilots of Trinity House, 84.

Y

Yarmouth, 58.

York, Duchess of, 193, 196.

—— Duke of, 115, 188, 189.

Young Love, 225, 229, 230.



ENGLISH MEN OF LETTERS

Edited by JOHN MORLEY Cloth 12mo 75 cents net, each

* * * * *

GEORGE ELIOT. By Leslie Stephen.

WILLIAM HAZLITT. By Augustine Birrell.

MATTHEW ARNOLD. By Herbert W. Paul.

JOHN RUSKIN. By Frederic Harrison.

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER. By Thomas W. Higginson.

ALFRED TENNYSON. By Alfred Lyall.

SAMUEL RICHARDSON. By Austin Dobson.

ROBERT BROWNING. By G.K. Chesterton.

CRABBE. By Alfred Ainger.

FANNY BURNEY. By Austin Dobson.

JEREMY TAYLOR. By Edmund Gosse.

ROSSETTI. By Arthur C. Benson.

MARIA EDGEWORTH. By the Hon. Emily Lawless.

HOBBES. By Leslie Stephen.

ADAM SMITH. By Francis W. Hirst.

THOMAS MOORE. By Stephen Gwynn.

SYDNEY SMITH. By George W.E. Russell.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. By William A. Bradley.

WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT. By Harry Thurston Peck.

EDWARD FITZGERALD. By A.C. Benson.

ANDREW MARVELL. By Augustine Birrell.

* * * * *

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 64-66 Fifth Avenue, New York



ENGLISH MEN OF LETTERS

Edited by JOHN MORLEY

The earlier issues of this series are also to be had conveniently bound in twelve uniform volumes.

Cloth. $1.00 per volume

* * * * *

CHAUCER. By Adolphus William Ward. SPENSER. By R.W. Church. DRYDEN. By George Saintsbury.

MILTON. By Mark Pattison, B.D. GOLDSMITH. By William Black. COWPER. By Goldwin Smith.

BYRON. By John Nichol. SHELLEY. By John Addington Symonds. KEATS. By Sidney Colvin, M.A.

WORDSWORTH. By F.W.H. Myers. SOUTHEY. By Edward Dowden. LANDOR. By Sidney Colvin, M.A.

LAMB. By Alfred Ainger. ADDISON. By W.J. Courthope. SWIFT. By Leslie Stephen.

SCOTT. By Richard H. Hutton. BURNS. By Principal Shairp. COLERIDGE. By H.D. Traill.

HUME. By T.H. Huxley, F.R.S. LOCKE. By Thomas Fowler. BURKE. By John Morley.

FIELDING. By Austin Dobson. THACKERAY. By Anthony Trollope. DICKENS. By Adolphus William Ward.

GIBBON. By J. Cotter Morison. CARLYLE. By John Nichol. MACAULAY. By J. Cotter Morison.

SIDNEY. By J.A. Symonds. DE QUINCEY. By David Masson. SHERIDAN. By Mrs. Oliphant.

POPE. By Leslie Stephen. JOHNSON. By Leslie Stephen. GRAY. By Edmund Gosse.

BACON. By R.W. Church. BUNYAN. By J.A. Froude. BENTLEY. By R.C. Jebb.

* * * * *

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 64-66 Fifth Avenue, New York



ENGLISH MEN OF LETTERS

Edited by JOHN MORLEY Cloth 12mo 40 cents each

* * * * *

ADDISON. By W.J. Courthope. BACON. By R.W. Church. BENTLEY. By Prof. Jebb. BUNYAN. By J.A. Froude. BURKE. By John Morley. BURNS. By Principal Shairp. BYRON. By Prof. Nichol. CARLYLE. By Prof. Nichol. CHAUCER. By Prof. A.W. Ward. COLERIDGE. By H.D. Traill. COWPER. By Goldwin Smith. DEFOE. By W. Minto. DE QUINCEY. By Prof. Masson. DICKENS. By A.W. Ward. DRYDEN. By G. Saintsbury. FIELDING. By Austin Dobson. GIBBON. By J. Cotter Morison. GOLDSMITH. By William Black. GRAY. By Edmund Gosse. JOHNSON. By Leslie Stephen. HUME. By T.H. Huxley. KEATS. By Sidney Colvin. LAMB. By Alfred Ainger. LANDOR. By Sidney Colvin. LOCKE. By Prof. Fowler. MACAULAY. By J. Cotter Morison. MILTON. By Mark Pattison. POPE. By Leslie Stephen. SCOTT. By R.H. Hutton. SHELLEY. By J.A. Symonds. SHERIDAN. By Mrs. Oliphant. SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. By J.A. Symonds. SOUTHEY. By Prof. Dowden. SPENSER. By R.W. Church. STERNE. By H.D. Traill. SWIFT. By Leslie Stephen. THACKERAY. By A. Trollope. WORDSWORTH. By F.W.H. Myers.

* * * * *

The MacMillan Company 64-66 Fifth Avenue, New York

THE END

Previous Part     1  2  3  4  5
Home - Random Browse