On the basis of the descriptive phrase ‘witty delicacy,’ repeatedly echoed, the essayist Charles Lamb (1775–1834) later received considerable, if undue, acclaim for having rediscovered Marvell as a poet, particularly a ‘garden-loving poet,’ as he referred to him in 1824 in the London Magazine.
(a) Extract from a letter to William Godwin (14 December 1800) in The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, ed. E.V.Lucas (1903–5), VI, p. 202.
I remember two honest lines by Marvel (whose poems by the way I am just going to possess)
Where every Mower's wholesome heat
Smells like an Alexander's Sweat.
[‘Appleton House,’ ll. 427–8]
(b) Extract from ‘The Old Benchers of the Inner Temple,’ London Magazine, September, 1821; reprinted from The Works, II, pp. 83–4.
It was a pretty device of the gardener, recorded by Marvell, who, in the days of artificial gardening, made a dial out of herbs and flowers. I must quote his verses a little higher up, for they are full, as all his serious poetry was, of a witty delicacy. They will not come in awkwardly, I hope, in a talk of fountains and sun-dials. He is speaking of sweet garden scenes:
[Quotes in telescoped fashion, stt. 5, 6, 7, then 9 of ‘The Garden’.]