No More Learning

The marriage never took place. See
Noble's Memoirs, i. 196, note. Ed.



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NOTICE OP THE AUTHOR. XV

good sense, and conscientiousness. ^^ I have taken
care," says he, "to examine him [his pupil]
several times in the presence of Mr. Oxen-
bridge, as those who weigh and tell over money
before some witness ere they take charge of it;
for I thought there might be, possibly, some
lightness in the coin, or error in the telling,
which, hereafter, I should be bound to make

good. '* "He is of a gentle and

waxen disposition ; and God be praised, I cannot
say he hath brought with him any evil impres-
sion, and I shall hope to set nothing into his
spirit but what may be of a good sculpture. He
hath in him two things that make youth most
easy to be managed — modesty* which is the bri-
dle to vice — and emulation, which is the spur to

virtue Above all, I shall labour

to make him sensible of his duty to God ; for
then we begin to serve faithfully when we con-
sider He is our master. "

On the publication of Milton's second " De-
fence," Marvell was commissioned to present it
to the Protector. After doing so, he addressed a
letter of compliment to Milton, the terms of
which evince the strong admiration with which
his illustrious friend had inspired him. His
eulogy of the " Defence " is as emphatic as that
of the Paradise Lost, in the well-known recom-
mendatory lines prefixed to most editions of that
poem.



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XVI NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR.

In 1657, Marvell entered upon his duties as
Assistant Latin Secretary with Milton.
Crom-
well died in the following year; and from this
period till the Parliament of 1660, we have no
further account of him. We have seen it stated
that he became member for Hull in 1658. But
this is not true, and would be at variance with
the statement in his epitaph, where it is said that
he had occupied that post nearly twenty years. *
Had he been first elected in 1658, he would
have been member somewhat more than that
period.

During his long parliamentary career, Marvell
maintained a close correspondence with his con-
stituents — regularly sending to them, almost every
post night during the sittings of Parliament, an
account of its proceedings. These letters were
first made public by Captain Thompson, and
occupy about four hundred pages of the first
volume of his edition of MarvelFs works. They
are written with great plainness, and with a busi-



* Perhaps we are not to expect verbal exactness in an
epitaph, or perhaps allowance was made for the period of
Marvell's absence from his duties, but if he had not been
chosen to the Parliament of 1658-9 under Richard's Pro-
tectorate, it would be hard to explain why Marvell, in return-
ing thanks to the Corporation of Hull in a letter dated 6th
April, 1661, should say, ** I perceive you have a^^in made
choice of me, now the third time, to serve you in Parlia-
ment. " According to the statement in the text, he should
have said second. £d.



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NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR. XVU

ness-like brevity, which must have satisfiecl, we
should think, even the most laconic of his mer-
chant constituents. Thoy ai-e chiefly valuable
now, as affording proofs of the ability and fidelity
with which their author discharged his public
duties.

Marvell's stainless probity and honour every-
where appear, and in no case more amiably than
in the unhappy misunderstanding with his col-
league, or ** his partner," as he calls him. Colonel
Gilby, in 1661, and which seems to have arisen-
out of some electioneering proceedings. With
such unrivalled talents for ridicule as Marvell
possessed, one might not unnaturally have ex-
pected that this dispute would have furnished an
irresistible tempation to some ebullition of witty
malice. But his magnanimity was far superior
to such mean retaliation.