the office of Latin Secretary; and that friend

or to relax the vigour of his opposition. Of his writings in prose and verse, which are numerous and respectable, one of the most considerable is, "The Rehearsal transprosed," a satirical piece, named after the Duke of Buckingham's famous Rehearsal, and directed against the noted Dr. Parker, whose flexibility eventually raised him to the Episcopal bench, and who, with ability and learning, but faithless in friendship, and destitute of principle, might be regarded as the Hof his age. The poetry of Marvell is strong, manly, and full of thought, and his lines, which were prefixed to the second edition of the Paradise Lost, are as reputable to his judgment and poetic talent, as they are to his friendship. He died in 1678 in his 58th year, when his constitution was yet entire and vigorous. From this circumstance, and from his obnoxiousness to the Court, as a member of the country party, his death has been imputed to the effect of poison. He was buried in the church of St. Giles in the Fields: and on his tomb, with the strictest adherence to truth, might have been inscribed," "Here lies a truly valuable man, the scholar, the wit, the firm and zealous friend, the disinterested, and incorruptible patriot."

I am tempted to lengthen this long note by adding to it, from the Biographia Britannica,* an interesting narrative respecting the death of this estimable man's father.

"Andrew Marvell, M. A. was vicar of Kingston-upon-Hull, in Yorkshire, in the 17th century. Some time before the beginning of the civil wars, he was unfortunately drowned in crossing the Humber. On that shore of the Humber opposite to Kingston, lived a Lady, whose virtue and good sense recommended her to the csteem of Mr. Marvell, as his piety and understanding obliged her to take a particular notice of him. This lady had an only daughter, whose duty, ingenuity, devotion, and general exemplary behaviour, had endeared her to all who knew her, and rendered her the darling of her mother; so that, she could scarce bear to let her child be ever out of her sight.

* Article, Marvell.

ship between him and Milton was ratified,

Mr. Marvell, desirous to increase the amity between the two families, asked her to let her beloved daughter come over to Kingston, to stand god-mother to one of his children, which she consented to. The young lady came over to Kingston, and the ceremony was performed. The next day, when she came down to the water side in order to return home, she found the wind very high and the water so rough as to render the passage dangerous, so that the waterman earnestly dissuaded her from all thoughts of crossing: but she, who from her birth had never wilfully given her mother a moment's uneasiness, and who knew how miserable she would be until she saw her again, insisted on going, notwithstanding all that could be urged by the waterman or Mr. Marvell, who earnestly intreated her to return to his house and to wait for better weather.

Mr. Marvell, finding her resolutely bent to venture her life rather than run the risque of disobliging a fond parent, thought himself obliged, in honour and conscience, to share the danger with her; and accordingly having persuaded some waterman to attempt the passage, they both got into the boat. Just as they put off, Mr. Marvell threw his gold headed cane on shore to some friends who attended at the water-side, telling them, that, as he could not suffer the young lady to go alone and as he apprehended the consequence might be fatal, if he perished, he desired them to give that cane to his son, and bid him remember his father. Thus he, armed with innocence, and his fair charge, with filial duty and affection, set forward to meet their inevitable fate: the boat was overset, and they were lost.

"The lady, whose excessive fondness had plunged her daughter and friend into this terrible condition, went the same afternoon into her garden, and seated herself in an arbour, from whence she could view the water; and while with no small anxiety she beheld the tempestuous state it was in, she saw (or rather thought she saw) a most lovely boy with flaxen hair come into the garden; who, making up directly to her, said, "Madam, your daughter is safe now." The Lady, greatly surprised, said, "My pretty dear, how didst thou know any thing of my daughter?"-Then bidding him stay, she arose

which, beginning at a somewhat earlier period, was terminated only with their lives.

In 1658, Milton published, with the title of, "The Cabinet Council" a manuscript of Sir Walter Ralegh's, consisting of aphorisms on the art of government: but his mind was now to be called from these amusements of the press to attentions of a very afflicting and embarrassing nature.

In the September of this year, amid the wretchedness of apprehension and remorse, the Protector finished his splendid but criminal career; supplying one awful and monitory example more, to the many which had already been exhibited to the world, (if human passion could be brought to attend to the lesson of example,) of the impotence of ambition with her richest rewards to compensate the forfeiture of integrity. The confusions, which ensued upon

and went into the house for a pretty piece of new money to reward him for his care: but returning into the garden, the child was gone, and no tidings of him could be heard. This gave her some suspicion of her misfortune; which was soon after confirmed, with the additional aggravation that her friend was involved in the same mischief, and of course his family great sufferers; she having lost her pleasure, they their support thinking herself bound by every tie to make all the reparation in her power, she sent for the son of her late friend, the celebrated Andrew Marvell, charged herself with the expence of his future education, and at her death left him her fortune."

and

his death, induced the people to regret the loss even of an usurper, whose vigorous authority had suspended those dissensions of which they were now the prey, and had controlled the licentiousness of the army by whose caprices they were now insulted and oppressed. After a reign of less than nine months, Richard Cromwell descended, in the conscious security of innocence, and with a magnanimity which could disdain greatness when associated with guilt, from his high and giddy eminence to the safe level of a private station; and the council of officers, headed by Desborough and Fleetwood who had immediately contributed to Richard's abdication, summoned the relics of the Long Parliament to re-assume the guidance of the Commonwealth. A A part of this renowned assembly, which still legally existed, convened on this invitation; and, soon displaying its accustomed energy and talent, became in a short time the object of just alarm to its military tyrants, and again suffered a forcible interruption of

r

' Richard Cromwell might have supported himself on his Protectoral throne if he would have consented to the assassination of Desborough and Fleetwood; or would have accepted in time the military assistance offered to him by his brother Henry, the amiable and popular governor of Ireland. The letters of Henry Cromwell, on this occasion, discover a clear head and an excellent heart.

its sittings. On this last excess of the army, under the influence of men, destitute alike of ability and of public feeling and equally incapable of providing for their own interests or for those of the community, the nation experienced a species of anarchy, and fell into the extreme of degradation under a military despotism. The Presbyterians, discontented since the triumph of the Independents, but crushed beneath the weighty sceptre of Oliver and acquiescing in the succession of his son, now openly avowed their disaffection to the ruling powers and united themselves heartily with the Royalists.

This extraordinary confusion and conflict of parties opened a field to Monk, who had been placed by Cromwell at the head of the forces in Scotland and was now the governor of that kingdom, for the display of his inconstancy, his cunning, and his perfidy. Peculiarly favoured by his situation, and solicited by the Presbyterians, the People, and the Parliament for aid against an insolent soldiery, who, like the blind giant of classical fable, possessed brutal power without the vision requisite to divert it from self-destroying exertion, this wavering and narrowminded man, with mean talents but with deep dissimulation, was enabled to betray