6 and confuting various positions advanced in his Ec clesiastical Polity' and it's Defence') silenced the priest, and humbled his whole party. Even the King himself, in behalf of whose power Parker had written, was charmed with the wit of the Rehearsal': it was read, with avidity, by all ranks of people; and the Archdeacon, driven as it were from London by his defeat, did not again make his appearance in print for many years.* From this time to the year 1676, Marvell attended closely to the duties of his parliamentary trust, without engaging in controversial writing, his hours of leisure being chiefly employed in transmitting to his constituents and friends accounts of public measures and courtly intrigues. These Epistles are preserved in his works. In the year last-mentioned, he published another controversial piece entitled, Mr. Smirke, or the Di vine in Mode, being certain Annotations upon the Animadversions on The Naked Truth.' Together with 4 * Wood himself, though of Parker's party, says in his 'Athenæ Oxonienses,' that "it was thought by many of those, who were otherwise favourers of Parker's cause, that the victory lay on Marvell's side;-and for ever after it took down Parker's high spirit." Burnet represents him, as successfully attacked by the "liveliest droll of the age; " and Swift, in his 'Apology to the Tale of a Tub' remarks, "we still read Marvell's answer to Parker with pleasure (as the work of 'a great genius') though the book it answers be sunk long ago." The title of the book was taken from the Rehearsal,' a witty comedy, which appeared to Marvell to furnish a parallel to his adversary in the incoherent and ridiculous character of Bays. In the subsequent work, he denominates the Rev. Dr. Turner Mr. Smirk,' from a character in the comedy of the Man of Mode.' a Short Historical Essay concerning General Councils, Creeds, and Impositions in Matters of Religion.* The Naked Truth' had been more particularly directed against Dr. Turner, then Master of St. John's College, Cambridge, a great defender of ecclesiastical authority. An answer to it, under the title of Animadversions on the Naked Truth,' appeared soon after it's publication; but the writer was not known: as it was suspected, however, to be his old antagonist Parker, Marvell once more took up his masterly pen in opposition to him, and a second time silenced his high-church adversary. Having completed his victory over the advocates for spiritual despotism, he resolved to attempt a similar conquest in respect to political tyranny. This gave birth to his 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 last meeting of parliament, July 16, 1677.'† In this work, the principles of our excellent constitution are clearly laid down; the legal authority of the Kings of England is precisely ascertained; and the glory of the monarch, and the happiness of the people, are proved equally to depend upon a strict observance of their respective obligations. In comparing the sovereigns * First printed in the name of Andreas Rivetus, junior, of which the Anagram is, Res Nuda Veritas. The Naked Truth,' published anonymously in the preceding year, by An Humble Moderator,' was the production of Dr. Herbert Croft, Bishop of Hereford. + He wrote, also, 'A Seasonable Question, and an Useful Answer;' and 'A Seasonable Argument to the Grand Juries of England to Petition for a New Parliament,' of England with other potentates, he observes :→→ "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 where the monarch, as with us, enjoys a capacity of doing all the good ima ginable to mankind, under a disability to do all that is evil." 6 He, likewise, draws a striking contrast of the miseries of a nation living under a Popish administration, and the blessings enjoyed under a Protestant government; nor can a stronger proof be adduced of the complexion of the reigning politics of that æra, than the disgust excited at court by the free sentiments contained in this work. It has been denied by some historians, that Charles II. either encouraged Popery, or governed arbitrarily and yet Marvell's publication was stiled in the Gazette a seditious and scandalous libel,' and a reward of 100/. was offered for the discovery of the hander of it to the press, and of 501. for that of the author, printer, or publisher. No prosecution, however, ensued. But Marvell had now rendered himself so obnoxious to the venal friends of a corrupt court, and to the heir presumptive, James Duke of York (himself a bigoted Papist) that he was beset on all sides by powerful enemies, who even proceeded so far as to menace his life. Hence, he was Hence, he was obliged to use great caution, to appear seldom in public, and frequently to conceal the place of his abode: but all his care, it is to be feared, proved ineffectual to preserve him from their vengeance; for he died in August, 1678, not without strong suspicions (as his constitution was still entire and vigorous) of having suffered under the effect of poison. The public, however, reaped the benefits of his patriotism the following year. His speeches, and writings, had opened the eyes of several members of the House of Commons; and those, who had long been obsequious to government now formed so strong an opposition to it's measures, that the King found himself under the necessity, in the beginning of 1679, of dissolving this favourite assembly, which with the exception of one prorogation had sat for eighteen years under the odious epithet of The Pensionary Parliament.' The new parliament, which met in March 1679, seemed to have imbibed the sentiments of the deceased Marvell: the growth of Popery, the arbitrary measures of the ministry, and the expediency of excluding the Duke of York from the succession, being the chief objects which engaged their attention. This produced their dissolution in the following July. But the spirit of civil liberty having now gone forth among the people, the next parliament, which assembled in 1680, still more steadily opposed the Popish succession, and was therefore, like it's predecessor, prematurely dissolved in 1681. From the ashes of Andrew Marvell had sprung up, as it were, a new race of patriots, whose hostility to the court made the ministry dread a new election; and though some of them fell a sacrifice to their zeal, it may with truth be asserted, that their vigorous integrity laid the foundation of the glorious Revolution. Marvell was a dark-complexioned man, with an expressive countenance; silent and reserved among strangers, but in the company of his intimates lively and facetious.* His early poems express a fondness for the charms of rural nature, with much delicacy of sentiment; and are full of fancy, after the manner of Cowley and his contemporaries. His great wit was debased indeed, as it has been observed, by the coarseness of the time, and his imagination by it's conceits; but he had a true, and a fine, vein of poetry. On his tomb, indeed, as Dr. Symmons observes,† with the strictest adherence to truth might have been inscribed, "Here lies a truly invaluable man, the scholar, the wit, the firm and zealous friend, the disinterested and incorruptible patriot!" That such a man would not be indifferent to the danger of his illustrious collegue Milton,+ after the Restoration, Of a middling stature, says Aubrey, pretty strong set, roundish-faced, cherry-cheeked, hazel-eyed, and brown-haired; in his conversation (as Wood also observes) very modest, and of very few words. He was wont to assert, that he would not drink high or freely with any one, with whom he would not trust his life.' In his 'Life of Milton.' This great man Marvel thus characterises, in his 'Rehearsal Transprosed,' II. "John Milton was, and is, a man of as great learning and sharpness of wit as any man. It was his misfortune, living in a tumultuous time, to be tossed on the wrong side; and he writ, flagrante bello, certain dangerous treatises. At his Majesty's happy return John Milton did partake, even as you yourself (Secretary Parker) did, for all your puffing, of his regal clemency, and has ever since expiated himself in a retired silence. "It was after that, I well remember it, that being one day at his house, I there first met you, and accidentally. Then it was, |