The Life of Andrew Marvell (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: [As the history of Parker, Bishop of Oxford, is so much blended with that of Marvell's, and gave rise to one of his best productions, we deem a Biographical Sketch of him not inapplicable, as an Appendix to Marvell's Life.] Samuel Parker was born at Northampton, in the year 1640. He was the Son of John Parker, Esq. afterwards Serjeant at Law, and one of the Barons of the Exchequer, in 1659. Young Parker was educated among the Puritans, at Northampton, from whence he was sent to Wadham College, Oxford, and admitted in 1659. Here it is said he led a strict and religious life, and entered into a weekly society, which met at a house in Halywell, where they fed on thin broth, made of oatmeal and water only, for which they were commonly called Gruellers. Among these, says Marvell, " it was observed he was wont to put more graves than all the rest into his porridge," and was deemed " one of the preciousest young men in the University." These mortified saints, it seems, held their chief meetings at the House of " Bess Hampton, an old and crooked maid, that drove the trade of laundry, who being from her youth very much given to the godly party, as they called themselves, had frequent meetings, especially for those that were her customers." Such is the dry humour of honest Anthony Wood, who paints like the Ostade of literary history. But the age of sectarism, and thin gruel, was losing all its coldness in the sunshine of the Restoration; and this " preciousest young man," from praying, and caballing against Episcopacy, suddenly acquainted the world, in one of his dedications, that Dr. Ralph Bathurst had rescued him from the chains and fetters of an unhappy education," and, without any intermediate apology, from a sullen sectarist, turned a flaming highflyer for the " supreme dominion...