No More Learning

Prince Rupert continued to honour him with his
friendship long after the rest of his party had
honoured him by their hatred, and occasionally
visited the patriot at his lodgings. When he
voted on the side of Marvell, which was not in-
frequently the case, it used to be said that ** he
had been with his tutor. "

Inaccessible as Marvell was to flattery and
offers of preferment, it certainly was not for want
of temptations. The account of his memorable
interview with the Lord Treasurer Danby has
been often repeated, and yet it would be unpar-
donable to omit it here. Marvell, it appears, once
spent an evening at court, and fairly charmed
the merry monarch by his accomplishments and
wit At this we need not wonder : Charles loved
wit above all things — except sensual pleasure.
To his admiration of it, especially the humorous
species, he was continually sacrificing his royal



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XXll NOTICE OP THE AUTHOR.

dignity. On the morning after the above-men-
tioned interview, he sent Lord Danby to wait on
the patriot with a special message of regard. His
lordship had some difficulty in ferreting out Mar-
velFs residence ; but at last found him on a second
floor, in a dark court leading out of the Strand.
It is said, that groping up the narrow staircase,
he stumbled against the door of Marvell's humble
apartment, which, flying open, discovered him
writing. A little surprised, he asked his lordship
with a smile, if he had not mistaken his way.
The latter replied, in courtly phrase — " No ; not
since I have found Mr. Marvell. " He proceeded
to inform him that he came with a message from
the king, who was impressed with a deep sense
of his meiits, and was anxious to serve him.
Marvell replied with somewhat of the spirit of
the founder of the Cynics, but with a very differ-
ent manner, ^^ that his Majesty had it not in his
power to serve him.
" * Becoming more serious,
however, he told his lordship that he well knew



* Another and less authentic version of this anecdote has
been given, much more circumstantial, indeed, but on that
very account, in our judgment, more apocryphaJ. But if the
main additions to the story be fictitious, they are amongst
those fictions which have gained extensive circulatitm only
because they are felt to be not intrinsically improbable.
We have been at some pains to investigate the origin of this
version; but can trace it no further than to a pamphlet
printed in Ireland about the middle of the last century. Of
this we have not been able to get a perusal. Suffice it



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NOTICE OP THE AUTIIOH. XXIU

that he who accepts court favour is expected to
vote in its interest. On his lordship's saying,
" that his Majesty only desired to know whether
there was any place at court he would accept ; **
the patriot replied, ^ that he could accept nothing
with honour, for either he must treat the king
with ingratitude by refusing compliance with
court measures, or be a traitor to his country by
yielding to them. " The only favour, therefore,
he begged of his Majesty, was to esteem him as
a loyal subject, and truer to his interests in refuB-
ing his offers than he could be by accepting them.
His lordship having exhausted this species of
logic, tried the argumentum ad crumenam, and
told him that his Majesty requested his accept-
ance of £1,000. But this, too, was rejected with
fircdness ; " though,** says his biographer, ** soon
after the departure of his lordship, Marvell was
compelled to borrow a guinea from a friend. "

In 1672 commenced Marvell's memorable con-
troversy with Samuel Parker, afterwards Bishop
of Oxford, of which we shall give a somewhat
copious account. To this it is entitled from the
important influence which it had on Marveirs
reputation and fortunes; and as having led to the
composition of that work, on which his literary

to say, that the version it contains of the above interview,
and which has been extensively circulated, is not borna
out by the early biographies ; for example,, that of Cooke,.
1726.



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XXIV NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR.

fame, so far as he has any, principally depends —
we mean the Rehearsal Transprosed,

Parker was one of the worst specimens of the
highest of the high churchmen of the reign of
Charles II. It is difiicult in such times as these
to conceive of such a character as, by universal
testimony, Parker is proved to have been.