Aubrey states that James Harrington, the author of 'Oceana,' was his intimate friend, and adds that Marvell 'made a good epitaph for him, but it would have given offence' (Letters from the Bodleian, ii. 376, 438). The same authority classes Marvell with Cyriae Skinner and Dr. Paget as Milton's 'familiar learned acquaintance.' Rumour credited Milton with a share in the composition of the 'Rehearsal Transprosed,' and he was consequently attacked with great virulence by Parker and Parker's allies. In reply Marvell vindicated Milton from the charge, describing him as a man 'of great learning and sharpness of wit,' and incidentally observing that he had first met Parker under Milton s roof. In 1674 he contributed to the second edition of 'Paradise Lost' prefatory lines of unstinted appreciation, hailing Milton as ' mighty poet,' and praising the vastness of his design, the ease and gravity of his style, and the verse created, like his theme, sublime (Masson, Life of Milton, vi. 704; Grosart, i. 146, Hi. 498). With this eulogium on 'Paradise Lost' was coupled a scornful rebuke to Dry den for his attempt to convert it into a rhyming opera, which Dryden subsequently replied to by comparing Marvell to Martin Marprelate, 'the first presbyterian scribbler who sanctified libels and scurrility to the use of the good old cause' (Preface to Religio Laici). Marvell praised Butler for his excellent wit, saying, 'Whoever dislikes his choice of subject cannot but commend his performance,' though Aubrey records the criticism that Rochester was 'the only man in England who had the true vein of satire' (Grosart, iii. 35, 494).
Marvell's literary work is remarkable for its variety. In his own age his reputation rested mainly on his pamphlets, which have ceased to be read since the controversies which gave rise to them have been forgotten. Yet Swift, himself to some extent Marvell's pupil, refers to him as a great genius, and says, 'We still read Marvell's answer to Parker with pleasure, though the book it answers be sunk long ago' (Swift, Works, ed. Scott, 1824, x. 22). To the generation which immediately succeeded Marvell he seems to have been best known as a political satirist; and the number of pieces ascribed to him in 'Poems on State Affairs' and similar collections is evidence of his celebrity. But the satires, like the pamphlets, are essentially of temporary interest, and are mainly of historical value. They are full of allusions unintelligible without a commentary, and so personal that they frequently become mere lampoons. The vice he attacks loses none of its grossness in his verses. Moreover, his lines are hasty and rough-hewn, and in employing the heroic couplet Marvell is never completely master of his instrument. Yet despite these defects there is much both in his satires and pamphlets which still amuses; a gift of humorous exaggeration which suggests Sydney Smith, and an irony which occasionally recalls Swift (cf. Leigh Hunt, Wit and Humour, ed. 1876, pp. 34, 218).
As a poet, Marvell essentially belongs to the pre-Restoration period. The fanciful ingenuity of his early love poems reveals the influence of Cowley and Donne. Afterwards he learnt, as he himself expresses it, to 'read in Nature's mystic book,' and his poems on country life show a keen love of natural beauty. 'All his serious poetry,' says Lamb, 'is full of a witty delicacy,' and sometimes he abandons conceits to rise to the highest strains of passion and imagination. Marvell's greatest achievement is the 'Horatian Ode' to Cromwell, first printed in 1776. 'It worthily presents the figures and events of the great tragedy as they would impress themselves on the mind of an ideal spectator, at once feeling and dispassionate. Better than anything else in our language, this poem gives an idea of a grand Horatian measure, as well as of the diction and spirit of an Horatian ode' (Mr. Goldwin Smith in Ward, English Poets, ii. 383).
Poems.—Very few of Marvell's poems were published in his lifetime. Those few are: Two poems to King Charles I, in 'Musa Cantabrigiensis,' 1637; poems upon the death of Lord Hastings, in 'Lacryuue Musarum,' 1649; poems prefixed to Lovelace s 'Poems,' 1649, to Robert Witties translation of Dr. James Primerose's ' Popular Errors,' 1661, and to the second edition of 'Paradise Lost,' 1674. 'The first Anniversary of the government under his Highness the Lord Protector' was printed in 16T>5, 4to. 'The Character of Holland' appeared in a mutilated version in 1665 and 1672 (cf. Harleian Miscellany, ed. Park, v. 613). Of the satires, Clarendon's House-Warming' was published in 1667, and the 'Dialogue between two Horses' in 1675. The satires generally were collected in 'Poems on Affairs of State,' 3 parts, 4to, 1689, and 4 vols, 8vo, 1703-7. The best bibliography of the poetry is contained in Aitken's ' Marvell,' vol. L p. lxviii.
Prose Works.—
- 'The Rehearsal Transpros'd, or Animadversions upon a late book intituled "A Preface showing what Grounds there are of Fears and Jealousies of Popery," ' 8vo, 1672.
- 'The Rehearsal Transprosed:
