Andrew Marvell | Page 7

the Cambridge
undergraduate. The Latin verses, which are Horatian in style, contain
one pretty stanza, composed apparently before the sex of the new-born
infant was known at Cambridge.
"Sive felici Carolum figurâ Parvulus princeps imitetur almae Sive
Mariae decoret puellam Dulcis imago."
After taking his Bachelor's degree in 1639, Marvell, being still a
Scholar of the college, must have gone away, for the Conclusion Book
of Trinity, under date September 24, 1641, records as follows:--
"It is agreed by y^e Master and 8 seniors y^t M^r Carter and D^r
Wakefields, D^r Marvell, D^r Waterhouse, and D^r Maye in regard y^t
some of them are reported to be married and y^t others look not after
y^eir days nor Acts shall receave no more benefitt of y^e Coll and shall
be out of y^ier places unless y^ei shew just cause to y^e Coll for y^e
contrary in 3 months."
Dr. Lort, in his amiable letter of 1765, already mentioned, points out
that this entry contains no reflection on Marvell's morals, but shows
that he was given "notice to quit" for non-residence, "then much more
strictly enjoined than it is now." The days referred to in the entry were,
so the master obligingly explains, "the certain number allowed by
statute to absentees," whilst the "acts mean the Exercises also enjoyned
by the statutes." Dr. Lort adds, "It does not appear, by any subsequent
entry, whether Marvell did or did not comply with this order." We may

now safely assume he did not. Marvell's Cambridge days were over.
The vacations, no inconsiderable part of the year, were probably spent
by Marvell under his father's roof at Hull, where his two elder sisters
were married and settled. It is not to be wondered at that Andrew
Marvell should, for so many years, have represented Hull in the House
of Commons, for both he and his family were well known in the town.
The elder Marvell added to his reputation as a teacher and preacher the
character of a devoted servant of his flock in the hour of danger. The
plague twice visited Hull during the time of the elder Marvell, first in
1635 and again in 1638. In those days men might well pray to be
delivered from "plague, pestilence, and famine." Hull suffered terribly
on both occasions. We have seen, in comparatively recent times, the
effect of the cholera upon large towns, and the plague was worse than
the cholera many times over. The Hull preacher, despite the stigma of
facetiousness, which still clings to him, stuck to his post, visiting the
sick, burying the dead, and even, which seems a little superfluous,
preaching and afterwards printing "by request" their funeral sermons. A
brave man, indeed, and one reserved for a tragic end.
In April 1638 the poet's mother died. In the following November the
elder Marvell married a widow lady, but his own end was close upon
him. The earliest consecutive account of this strange event is in Gent's
History of Hull (1735):--"This year, 1640, the Rev. Mr. Andrew
Marvell, Lecturer of Hull, sailing over the Humber in company with
Madame Skinner of Thornton College and a young beautiful couple
who were going to be wedded; a speedy Fate prevented the designed
happy union thro' a violent storm which overset the boat and put a
period to all their lives, nor were there any remains of them or the
vessel ever after found, tho' earnestly sought for on distant shores."
Thus died by drowning a brave man, a good Christian, and an excellent
clergyman of the Reformed Church of England. The plain narrative just
quoted has been embroidered by many long-subsequent writers in the
interests of those who love presentiments and ghostly intimations of
impending events, and in one of these versions it is recorded, that
though the morning was clear, the breeze fair, and the company gay,

yet when stepping into the boat "the reverend man exclaimed, 'Ho for
Heaven,' and threw his staff ashore and left it to Providence to fulfil its
awful warning."
So melancholy an occurrence naturally excited great attention, and long
lingered in local memories. Everybody in Hull knew who was their
member's father.
There is an obstinate tradition quite unverifiable that Mrs. Skinner, the
mother of the beautiful young lady who was drowned with the elder
Marvell, adopted the young Marvell as a son, sending to Cambridge for
him after his father's death, and providing him with the means of travel,
and that afterwards she bequeathed him her estate. Whether there is any
truth in this story cannot now be ascertained. The Skinners were a
well-known Hull family, one of them, a brother of that Cyriac Skinner
who was urged by Milton in immortal verse to enjoy himself whilst the
mood was on him, having been Mayor of Hull.