Dr John Aikin (1744–1822) retired from medical practice in 1798 to devote himself to various literary pursuits, including the editing of the Monthly Magazine and the Athenaeum. His General Biography; or Lives of the Most Eminent Persons was published in ten volumes, 1799–1815. Although largely biographical, the account of Marvell was much pillaged, particularly the concluding succinct evaluation of his poetic style.
Extract from the grangerized version in twenty-two volumes (1818) with the assistance of William Enfield and others, XIV, pp. 607–9,
MARVELL, ANDREW, a witty writer and incorruptible patriot, was born in 1620, at Kingston-upon-Hull… From the records of Trinity college, it appears, that in 1641, Marvell with some others was excluded from its benefits on account of non-attendance. Possibly he might then have begun the course of travels which we find he pursued through Holland, France, and Italy, and which doubtless contributed to that enlargement of mind which distinguished him from the mere party writers of the time. His propensity to ridicule was displayed by a humorous though carelessly-written satire upon one Flecknoe, an English priest and poetaster at Rome; and in a burlesque poem addressed to an abbot de Maniban at Paris, a pretender to fortune-telling. Of his residence and employment for many subsequent years, we have very little information. From a letter of his to Oliver Cromwell, dated in 1653, it appears that he was engaged by the protector to superintend the education of a Mr. Dutton, who was lodged with Mr. Oxenbridge at Eton…. If some of the poems attributed to him in the last edition of his works be genuine, he was a greater panegyrist of that usurper than might be wished; but the vigour with which Cromwell ruled contending factions, and the honour acquired by the nation under his government, seem to have dazzled men of undoubted patriotism…. It was not till the parliament of October 1665 that, from his letters to his constituents, his attendance seems to have been constant and uninterrupted. From that period to 1674 he made a regular report of the proceedings of both houses to the mayor and corporation of Hull. The corruptions of the court, and the tendency to arbitrary measures, which marked the unprincipled reign of Charles II. necessarily threw a man of Marvell's character into opposition; and his whole efforts in and out of parliament were directed to the preservation of civil and religious liberty. He rarely spoke in the house, but his influence over the members of both houses was considerable. The patriotic earl of Devonshire was on terms of intimacy with him; and prince Rupert often privately visited him and took his advice; insomuch that when he gave a vote on the popular side, it was commonly said by the courtiers ‘that he had been with his tutor.’
By his writings Marvell obtained the character of the wittiest man of his time, and doubtless was of great service to the cause he espoused, which had in general been defended rather by serious argument than by ridicule. He occasionally threw out a number of poetical effusions of the humorous and satirical kind, in which he did not spare majesty itself. These are careless and loose in their composition, and frequently pass the bounds of decorum; but they were well calculated for effect as party pieces, and became very popular. He exercised his wit still more copiously in prose. In 1672, Dr. Sam. Parker, afterwards bishop of Oxford, a flaming and intolerant high churchman, published a work of bishop Bramhall's, to which he added a preface of his own, maintaining the most extravagant positions concerning the rights of sovereigns over the consciences of their subjects. This piece Marvell attacked in the same year in a work which he entitled ‘The Rehearsal Transprosed.’ With a profusion of witty sarcasm, it contains much solid argument, and may be reckoned one of the ablest exposures of the maxims of religious tyranny. Parker wrote an answer, to which Marvell replied; and the reverend champion did not choose to carry the controversy further….
Notwithstanding the acrimony with which Marvell opposed the court and its plans, his character as a man of wit ingratiated him with the mirth-loving monarch, and his powers as a writer made the ministry extremely desirous of silencing or gaining him over….
Marvell was a dark-complexioned man, with an expressive countenance, silent and reserved among strangers, but lively and facetious in the company of his intimates. His early poems express a fondness for the charms of rural nature, and much delicacy of sentiment; they are ingenious and full of fancy, after the manner of Cowley and his contemporaries.