The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland/Volume 4/Andrew Marvel
Andrew Marvel, Eſq;[1]
This ingenious gentleman was the ſon of Mr. Andrew Marvel, Miniſter and Schoolmaſter of Kingſton upon Hull in Yorkſhire, and was born in that town in the year 1620.[2] He was admitted into Trinity College in Cambridge December 14, 1633, where he had not been long before his ſtudies were interrupted by the following accident:
Some Jeſuits with whom he familiarly converſed, obſerving in him a genius beyond his years, uſed their utmoſt efforts to proſelyte him to their faith, which they imagined they could more eaſily accompliſh while he was yet young. They ſo far ſucceeded as to ſeduce him from the college, and carry him to London, where, after ſome months abſence, his father found him in a Bookſeller’s ſhop, and prevailed upon him to return to the college.
He afterwards purſued his ſtudies with the moſt indefatigable application, and in the year 1638, took the degree of bachelor of arts, and the ſame year was admitted ſcholar of the houſe, that is, of the foundation at Trinity College.[3] We have no farther account of him for ſeveral years after this, only that he travelled through the moſt polite parts of the world, but in what quality we are not certain, unleſs in that of ſecretary to the embaſſy at Conſtantinople.
While our author was in France, he wrote his poem entitled Cuidam, qui legendo Scripturam, deſcripſit Formam, Sapientiam, Sortemque Authoris. Illuſtriſſimo Viro Domino Lanceloto Joſepho de Maniban Grammatomanti.
The perſon to whom he addreſſes theſe verſes was an Abbot, famous for entering into the qualities of thoſe whom he had never ſeen, and prognoſticating their good, or bad fortune from an inſpection of their hand-writing.
During the troubles of the Republic we find him tutor to one Mr. Dutton, a young gentleman; as appears from an original letter of his to Oliver Cromwel. This letter ſent to ſo extraordinary a perſon by a man of Mr. Marvel’s conſequence, may excite the reader’s curioſity, with which he ſhall be gratified. It carries in it much of that ſtiffneſs and pedantry peculiar to the times, and is very different from the uſual ſtile of our author.
‘May it pleaſe your Lordſhip,
‘It might perhaps ſeem fit for me to ſeek out words to give your excellence thanks for myſelf. But indeed the only civility, which it is fit for me to practiſe with ſo eminent a perſon, is to obey you, and to perform honeſtly this work which you have ſet me about. Therefore I ſhall uſe the time that your lordſhip is pleaſed to allow me for writing, only ſo that purpoſe for which you have given me it, that is, to render you ſome account of Mr. Dutton. I have taken care to examine him ſeveral times in the preſence of Mr. Oxenbridge,[4] as thoſe who weigh and tell over money, before ſome witneſſes e’er they take charge of it; for I thought that there might be poſſibly ſome lightneſs in the coin, or error in the telling, which hereafter I might be bound to make good. Therefore Mr. Oxenbridge is the beſt to make your excellence an impartial relation thereof; I ſhall only ſay, that I ſhall ſtrive according to my beſt underſtanding to increaſe whatſoever talent he may have already. Truly he is of a gentle, and waxen diſpoſition; and, God be praiſed, I cannot ſay that he hath brought with him any evil impreſſion; and I hope to ſet nothing upon his ſpirit, but what ſhall be of a good ſculpture. He hath in him two things, which make youth moſt eaſily to be managed, modeſty, which is the bridle to vice, and emulation, which is the ſpur to virtue. And the care which your excellency is pleaſed to take of him, is no ſmall encouragement, and ſhall be repreſented to him; but above all, I ſhall labour to make him ſenſible of his duty to God, for then we begin to ſerve faithfully, when we conſider that he is our maſter; and in this both he and I owe infinitely to your lordſhip, for having placed in ſo godly a family as that of Mr. Oxenbridge, whoſe doctrine and example are like a book and a map, not only inſtructing the ear, but demonſtrating to the eye which way we ought to travel. I ſhall upon occaſion henceforward inform your excellency of any particularities in our little affairs. I have no more at preſent but to give thanks to God for your lordſhip, and to beg grace of him, to approve myſelf
Mr. Marvel’s firſt appearance in public buſineſs at home, was, in being aſſiſtant to Milton as Latin ſecretary to the Protector. He himſelf tells us, in a piece called The Rehearſal Tranſpoſed, that he never had any, not the remoteſt relation to public matters, nor correſpondence with the perſons then predominant, until the year 1657, when indeed, ſays he, ‘I entered into an employment, for which I was not altogether improper, and which I conſidered to be the moſt innocent, and inoffenſive towards his Majeſty’s affairs of any in that uſurped, and irregular government, to which all men were then expoſed; and this I accordingly diſcharged, without diſobliging any one perſon, there having been opportunities, and endeavours ſince his Majeſty’s happy return, to have diſcovered, had it been otherwiſe.’
A little before the Reſtoration, he was choſen by his native town, Kingſton upon Hull, to ſit in that Parliament which began at Weſtminſter April 25, 1660, and again after the Reſtoration for that which began at the ſame place May 8, 1661. In this ſtation our author diſcharged his truſt with the utmoſt fidelity, and always ſhewed a peculiar regard for thoſe he repreſented; for he conſtantly ſent the particulars of every proceeding in the Houſe, to the heads of the town for which he was elected; and to thoſe accounts he always joined his own opinion. This reſpectful behaviour gained ſo much on their affections, that they allowed him an honourable penſion to his death, all which time he continued in Parliament.
Mr. Marvel was not endowed with the gift of eloquence, for he ſeldom ſpoke in the houſe; but was however capable of forming an excellent judgment of things, and was ſo acute a diſcerner of characters, that his opinion was greatly valued, and he had a powerful influence over many of the Members without doors. Prince Rupert particularly eſteemed him, and whenever he voted agreeable to the ſentiments of Mr. Marvel, it was a ſaying of the oppoſite party, he has been with his tutor. The intimacy between this illuſtrious foreigner, and our author was ſo great, that when it was unſafe for the latter to have it known where he lived, on account of ſome miſchief which was threatened him, the prince would frequently viſit him in a diſguiſed habit. Mr. Marvel was often in ſuch danger of aſſaſſination, that he was obliged to have his letters directed to him in another name, to prevent any diſcovery that way. He made himſelf obnoxious to the government, both by his actions, and writings; and notwithſtanding his proceedings were all contrary to his private intereſt, nothing could ever ſhake his reſolution, of which the following is a notable inſtance, and tranſmits our author’s name with luſtre to poſterity.
One night he was entertained by the King, who had often been delighted with his company: his Majeſty next day ſent the lord treaſurer Danby to find oat his lodging; Mr. Marvel, then rented a room up two pair of ſtairs, in a little court in the Strand, and was writing when the lord treaſurer opened the door abruptly upon him. Surprized at the ſight of ſo unexpected a viſitor, Mr. Marvel told his lordſhip, that he believed he had miſtaken his way; the lord Danby replied, not now I have found Mr. Marvel: telling him that he came with a meſſage from his Majeſty, which was to know what he could do to ſerve him? his anſwer was, in his uſual facetious manner, that it was not in his Majeſty’s power to ſerve him: but coming to a ſerious explanation of his meaning, he told the lord treaſurer, that he well knew the nature of courts, and that whoever is diſtinguiſhed by a Prince’s favour, is certainly expected to vote in his intereſt. The lord Danby told him, that his Majeſty had only a juſt ſenſe of his merits, in regard to which alone, he deſired to know whether there was any place at court he could be pleaſed with. Theſe offers, though urged with the greateſt earneſtneſs, had no effect upon him; he told the lord treaſurer, that he could not accept it with honour, for he muſt either be ungrateful to the King by voting againſt him, or betray his country by giving his voice againſt its intereſt, at leaſt what he reckoned ſo. The only favour therefore which he begged of his Majeſty, was, that he would eſteem him as dutiful a ſubject as any he had, and more in his proper intereſt in rejecting his offers, than if he had embraced them. The lord Danby finding no arguments would prevail, told him, the King had ordered a thouſand pounds for him, which he hoped he would accept, ’till he could think what farther to aſk of his Majeſty. This laſt temptation was reſiſted with the ſame ſtedfaſtneſs of mind as the firſt.
The reader muſt have already taken notice that Mr. Marvel’s chief ſupport was the penſion allowed him by his conſtituents, that his lodgings were mean, and conſequentiy his circumſtances at this time could not be affluent. His reſiſting theſe temptations therefore in ſuch a ſituation, was perhaps one of the moſt heroic inſtances of patriotiſm the Annals of England can furniſh. But his conduct will be ſtill heightened into a more amiable light, when it is related, that as ſoon as the lord treaſurer had taken his leave, he was obliged to ſend to a friend to borrow a guinea.
As the moſt powerful allurements of riches, and honour, could never ſeduce him to relinquiſh the intereſt of his country, ſo not even the moſt immenſe dangers could deter him from purſuing it. In a private letter to a friend from Highgate, in which he mentions the inſuperable hatred of his foes to him, and their deſign of murthering him, he has theſe words; Præterea magis occidere metuo quam occidi, non quod vitam tanti æſtimem, ſed ne imparatus moriar, i. e. ‘Beſides, I am more apprehenſive of killing, than being killed, not that I value life ſo much, but that I may not die unprepared.’ Mr. Marvel did not remain an unconcerned member of the ſtate, when he ſaw encroachments made upon it both by the civil, and eccleſiaſtical powers. He ſaw that ſome of the biſhops had formed an idea of proteſtantiſm very different from the true one, and were making ſuch advances towards popery, as would ſoon iſſue in a reconciliation. Amongſt theſe eccleſiaſtics, none was ſo forward as Dr. Samuel Parker, who publiſhed at London 1672 in 8 vo. biſhop Bramhal’s Vindication of himſelf, and the Epiſcopal Clergy, from the Preſbyterian charge of Popery, as it is managed by Mr. Baxter in his Treatiſe on the Grotian Religion. Dr. Parker likewiſe preached up the doctrine of Non-reſiſtance, which ſlaviſh principle is admirably calculated to prepare the people for receiving any yoke. Marvel, whoſe talent conſiſted in drollery, more than in ſerious reaſoning, took his own method of expoſing thoſe opinions. He wrote a piece called The Rehearſal Tranſpoſed, in which he very ſucceſsfully ridiculed Dr. Parker. This ludicrous eſſay met with ſeveral anſwers, ſome ſerious, and others humorous; we ſhall not here enumerate all the Rejoinders, Replies, and Animadverſions upon it. Wood himſelf confeſſes, who was an avowed enemy to Marvel, ‘that Dr. Parker judged it more prudent rather to lay down the cudgels, than to enter the liſts again, with an untowardly combatant, ſo hugely well verſed, and experienced, in the then newly refined art of ſporting, and jeering buffoonery.’ And biſhop Burnet tells us in the Hiſtory of his own Time, ‘That Dr. Parker, after he had for ſome years entertained the nation with ſeveral virulent books, was attacked by the livelieſt droll of the age, who wrote in a burleſque ſtile, but with ſo peculiar, and entertaining a conduct, that from the King down to the tradeſman, his book was read with great pleaſure. This not only humbled Parker, but the whole party, for the author of The Rehearſal Tranſpoſed, had all the men of wit on his ſide.’ Dr. Swift likewiſe in his Apology for the Tale of a Tub, ſpeaking of the uſual fate of common anſwerers to books, and how ſhort-lived their labours are, obſerves, ‘That there is indeed an exception, when any great genius thinks it worth his while to expoſe a fooliſh piece; ſo we ſtill read Marvel’s anſwer to Parker with pleaſure, though the book it anſwers be ſunk long ago.’
The next controverſy in which we find Mr. Marvel engaged, was with an antagoniſt of the pious Dr. Croft, biſhop of Hereford, who wrote a diſcourſe entitled The Naked Truth, or A True State of the Primitive Church: By an humble Moderator. Dr. Turner, fellow of St. John’s College, wrote Animadverſions upon this book; Mr. Marvel’s anſwer to theſe Animadverſions, was entitled Mr. Smirk, or The Divide in Mode; being certain Annotations upon the Animadverſions on The Naked Truth, together with a Short Hiſtorical Eſſay concerning General Councils, Creeds, and Impoſitions in Matters of Religion, printed 1676.
Our author’s next work was An Account of the Growth of Popery, and Arbitrary Government in England; more particularly from the long prorogation of November 1675, ending February 15, 1676, ’till the meeting of Parliament July 15, 1677, printed in folio 1678. Our author in a letter dated June 10, 1678, wrote thus; ‘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, who would inform of the author, and Printer, but not yet diſcovered. Three or four printed books ſince have deſcribed (as near as was proper to go, the man being a member of Parliament) Mr. Marvel to be the author, but if he had, he ſurely could not have eſcaped being queſtioned in Parliament, or ſome other place.’ This book was ſo offenſive to the court at that time, that an order was publiſhed in theſe words,
‘Whereas there have been lately printed, and publiſhed ſeveral ſeditious, and ſcandalous libels againſt the proceedings of both Houſes of Parliament, and other his Majeſty’s Courts of Juſtice, to the diſhonour of his Majeſty’s government, and the hazard of the public peace; theſe are to give notice, that what perſon ſoever ſhall diſcover unto one of the ſecretaries of ſtate, the printer, publiſher, author, or hander to the preſs of any of the ſaid libels, ſo that full evidence may be made thereof to a Jury, without mentioning the informer, eſpecially one libel, entitled An Account of the Growth of Popery; and another called A Reaſonable Argument to all the Grand Juries, &c. the diſcoverer ſhall be rewarded as follows; he ſhall have fifty pounds for ſuch diſcovery as aforeſaid, of the printer or publiſher of it from the preſs, and for the hander of it to the preſs, one hundred pounds.’
Mr. Marvel begins this book with a panegyric on the conſtitution of the Engliſh government, ſhewing how happy the people are under ſuch wholeſome laws, which if faithfully obſerved, muſt make a people happy, and a monarch great. He obſerves, that the king and the ſubject are equally under the laws; and that the former is no longer king than he continues to obey them. ‘So that, ſays he, the kings of England, are in nothing inferior to other princes, ſave in being more abridged from injuring their own ſubjects, but have as large a field as any of external felicity, wherein to exerciſe their own virtue, and to reward and encourage it in others. In ſhort there is nothing that comes nearer the divine perfection, than when the monarch, as with us, enjoys a capacity of doing all the good imaginable to mankind, under a diſability of all that is evil.’
After ſlightly tracing popery from earlier times, he begins with the Dutch war in 1665; but dwells moſt upon the proceedings at Rome, from November 1675, to July 1677. He relates the occaſion of the Dutch war, ſhews that the papiſts, and the French in particular, were the true ſprings of all our councils; and draws the following picture of popery.
‘It is ſuch a thing, as cannot but for want of a word to expreſs it, be called a religion; nor is it to be mentioned with that civility, which is otherwiſe decent to be uſed in ſpeaking of the differences of human opinions about divine matters; were it either open Juadiſm, or plain Turkery, or honeſt Paganiſm, there is yet a certain Bona Fides in the moſt extravagant belief, and the ſincerity of an erroneous profeſſion may render it more pardonable: But this is a compound of all the three, an extract of whatever is moſt ridiculous or impious in them, incorporated with more peculiar abſurdities of its own, in which thoſe were deficient; and all this deliberately contrived, and knowingly carried on, by the ſolid impoſture of prieſts, under the name of Chriſtianity.’
This great man died, not without ſtrong ſuſpicions of being poiſoned, Auguſt 16, 1678, in the 58th year of his age, and was interred in the church of St. Giles’s in the Fields; and in the year 1688 the town of Kingſton upon Hull contributed a ſum of money to erect a monument over him, in St. Giles’s church, for which an epitaph was compoſed by an able hand; but the miniſter of that church, piouſly forbid both the inſcription and monument to be placed there.
Mr. Wood tells us, that in his converſation, he was very modeſt, and of few words; and Mr. Cooke obſerves, ‘that he was very reſerved among people he did not very well know; but a moſt delightful, and improving companion amongſt his friends.’
In the year 1680, his miſcellaneous poems were publiſhed, to which is prefixed this advertiſement. ‘Theſe are to certify every ingenious reader, that all theſe poems, as alſo the other things in this book contained, are printed according to the exact copies of my late dear huſband, under his own hand writing, both found ſince his death, among his other papers.
Witneſs my hand,
MARY MARVEL.
He was never married, and the ſame gentleman obſerves in another place, that in the editions of 1681, there are ſuch groſs errors, eſpecially in the Latin Poems, as make ſeveral lines unintelligible; and that in the volume of Poems on Affairs of State, the ſame miſtakes are as frequent; and in thoſe, ſome pieces are attributed to our author, which he never wrote. Moſt of his Poems printed in Dryden’s Miſcellanies are ſo imperfect, that whole ſtanzas are omitted in many places.
Theſe Mr. Cooke has reſtored in his edition of the works of Andrew Marvel, Eſq; printed at London 1726, in two volumes, and corrected ſuch faults as in either of the two former editions obſcure the ſenſe: in this edition are alſo added, ſome poems from original manuſcripts. Great care has likewiſe been taken by Mr. Cooke, to retrench ſuch pieces as he was ſure were not genuine.
Mr. Marvel, conſidered as a ſtateſman, makes a more conſpicuous figure than any of the age in which he lived, the preceeding, or the ſubſequent: He poſſeſſed the firſt quality of a ſtateſman, that is, inviolable integrity, and a heart ſo confirmed againſt corruption, that neither indigence, a love of pomp, or even dangers the moſt formidable, could move his ſettled purpoſe, to purſue in every reſpect, the intereſt of his country.
That Marvel underſtood the true intereſt of his country, is abundantly clear, from the great reverence paid to his opinion, by ſuch perſons as were moſt able to diſcern, and moſt diſpoſed to promote its welfare.
He has ſucceeded to a miracle in the droll way of writing; and when he aſſumes a ſeverity, and writes ſeriouſly, his arguments and notions are far removed from imbecility.
As a poet, I cannot better delineate his character than in the words of Mr. Cooke, ‘There are few of his poems (ſays he) that have not ſomething very pleaſing in them, and ſome he muſt be allowed to have excelled in; moſt of them ſeem to be the effect of a lively genius, and manly ſenſe, but at the ſame time ſeem to want that correctneſs he was capable of making. His moſt finiſhed pieces are upon Milton’s Paradiſe Loſt, and upon Blood’s ſtealing the crown; the latter of which is very ſatirical.’
On BLOOD’s ſtealing the Crown.
When daring Blood, his rent to have regain’d,
Upon the Engliſh diadem diſtrain’d;
He choſe the caſſoc, circingle, and gown,
The fitteſt maſk for one that robs the crown:
But his lay-pity underneath prevail’d,
And, while he ſav’d the keeper’s life, he fail’d.
With the prieſt’s veſtment had he but put on
The prelate’s cruelty, the crown had gone.
‘In his ſtate Poems, is contained much of the ſecret hiſtory of king Charles the IId, in which time they were all written. They were compoſed on various occaſions, and chiefly to expoſe a corrupt miniſtry, and the violence of thoſe who were for perſecuting all who differed from their in opinion. He has ſeveral Poems in Latin, ſome of which he tranſlated into Engliſh, and one in Greek. They have each their proper merit; he diſcovers a great facility in writing the Latin tongue.’
There are ſome ſmall pieces of his in proſe, which ought not to eſcape obſervation. From his letter to Sir John Trott, there ſeems to have been a friendly correſpondence between him and that gentleman. By his Familiar Letters, we may eaſily judge what part of his works are laboured, and what not. But of all his pieces in Proſe, the King’s Mock-Speech to both Houſes of Parliament, has moſt of ſpirit, and humour. As it will furniſh the beſt ſpecimen of Mr. Marvel’s genius for drollery, as well as the character of that prince and miniſtry, we ſhall here inſert it, as a performance of the moſt exquiſite humour we have ever ſeen.
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 ſuffer 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 lie 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 buſineſs, 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 by: 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 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 willful, 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 Carwel ducheſs of Portſmouth, and marry’d her ſiſter to the earl of Pembroke. I have, at ray 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 any thing 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 public 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 made a conſiderable retrenchment upon my expences 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 kitchenſtuff; 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 buſineſs, 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 Gontlemen,
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.’
In order to ſhew the verſification of Mr. Marvel, we ſhall add a beautiful dialogue between the reſolved ſoul, and created pleaſure. It is written with a true ſpirit of poetry, the numbers are various, and harmonious, and is one of the beſt pieces, in the ſerious way, of which he is author. A Dialogue between the Reſolved Soul
and Created Pleaſure.
Courage, my Soul, now learn to weild
The weight of thine immortal ſhield.
Cloſe on thy head thy helmet bright;
Ballance thy ſword againſt the fight.
See where an army, ſtrong as fair,
With ſilken banners ſpreads the air.
Now, if thou be’ſt that thing divine,
In this day’s combat let it ſhine;
And ſhew that nature wants an art
To conquer one reſolved heart.
PLEASURE.
Welcome the creation’s gueſt,
Lord of earth, and heaven’s heir;
Lay aſide that warlike creſt,
And of nature’s banquet ſhare:
Where the Souls of fruits and flow’rs,
Stand prepar’d to heighten yours.
SOUL.
I ſup above, and cannot ſtay,
To bait ſo long upon the way.
PLEASURE.
On theſe downy pillows lye,
Whoſe ſoft plumes will thither fly:
On theſe roſes, ſtrew’d ſo plain
Left one leaf thy ſide ſhould ſtrain.
SOUL.
My gentler reſt is on a thought,
Conſcious of doing what I ought.
PLEASURE.
If thou be’ſt with perfumes pleas’d,
Such as oft the gods appeas’d,
Thou in fragrant clouds ſhalt ſhow
Like another god below.
SOUL.
A Soul that knows not to preſume,
Is heaven’s, and its own, perfume.
PLEASURE.
Every thing does ſeem to vye
Which ſhould firſt attract thine eye:
But ſince none deſerves that grace,
In this cryſtal view thy face.
SOUL.
When the creator’s ſkill is priz’d,
The reſt is all but earth diſguis’d.
PLEASURE.
Hark how muſic then prepares,
For thy ſtay, theſe charming airs;
Which the poſting winds recall,
And ſuſpend the river’s fall.
SOUL.
Had I but any time to loſe,
On this I would it all diſpoſe.
Ceaſe Tempter. None can chain a mind,
Whom this ſweet cordage cannot bind.
CHORUS.
Earth cannot ſhew ſo brave a ſight,
As when a ſingle Soul does fence
The batt’ry of alluring ſenſe,
And Heaven views it with delight.
Then perſevere; for ſtill new charges ſound;
And if thou overcom’ſt thou ſhalt be crown’d.
PLEASURE.
All that’s coſtly, fair, and ſweet,
Which ſcatteringly doth ſhine,
Shall within one beauty meet,
And ſhe be only thine.
SOUL.
If things of ſight ſuch heavens be,
What heavens are thoſe we cannot ſee?
PLEASURE.
Whereſoe’er thy foot ſhall go
The minted gold ſhall lye;
’Till thou purchaſe all below,
And want new worlds to buy.
SOUL.
Wer’t not for price who’d value gold?
And that’s worth nought that can be ſold.
PLEASURE.
Wilt thou all the glory have
That war or peace commend?
Half the world ſhall be thy ſlave,
The other half thy friend.
SOUL.
What friends, if to my ſelf untrue?
What ſlaves, unleſs I captive you?
PLEASURE.
Thou ſhalt know each hidden cauſe;
And ſee the future time:
Try what depth the centre draws;
And then to heaven climb.
SOUL.
None thither mounts by the degree
Of knowledge, but humility.
CHORUS.
Triumph, triumph, victorious Soul;
The world has not one pleaſure more:
The reſt does lye beyond the pole,
And is thine everlaſting ſtore.
Near this place
Lieth the body of Andrew Marvel, Eſq;
A man ſo endowed by nature,
So improved by education, ſtudy, and travel,
So conſummated, by experience and learning;
That joining the moſt peculiar graces of wit
With a ſingular penetration and ſtrength of judgment,
And exerciſing all theſe in the whole courſe of his life,
With unalterable ſteadineſs in the ways of virtue,
He became the ornament and example of his age,
Beloved by good men, fear’d by bad, admired by all,
Tho’ imitated, alas! by few;
And ſcarce paralleled by any.
But a tombſtone can neither contain his character,
Nor is marble neceſſary to tranſmit it to poſterity.
It is engraved in the minds of this generation,
And will be always legible in his inimitable writings.
Nevertheleſs
He having ſerved near twenty-years ſucceſſively in parliament,
And that, with ſuch wiſdom, integrity, dexterity, and courage,
As became a true patriot,
The town of Kingſton upon Hull,
From whence he was conſtantly deputed to that Aſſembly,
Lamenting in his death the public loſs,
Have erected this monument of their grief and gratitude,
1688.
He died in the 58th year of his age
On the 16th day of Auguſt 1678.
Heu fragile humanum genus! heu terreſtria vana!
Heu quem ſpectatum continet urna virum!
- ↑ A diſappointment occaſioned our throwing this life out of the chronological order. But we hope the candid reader will pardon a fault of this kind: we only wiſh he may find nothing of more conſequence to accuſe us of.
- ↑ Cook’s Life of Andrew Marvel, Eſq; prefixed to the firſt volume of Mr. Marvel’s Works, London 1726.
- ↑ Life ubi ſupra.
- ↑ Mr. John Oxenbridge, who was made fellow of Eton College during the civil war, but ejected at the Reſtoration; he died in New England, and was a very enthuſiaſtic perſon.