La Valetta, Malta.
* * * * *
Minor Queries.
_Was Andrew Marvell poisoned?_--I have just been reading the three
ponderous quarto volumes comprising _The Works_ of Andrew Marvell, as
collected and edited by his townsman, Capt. Edward Thompson of Hull. In the
"Life," near the end of vol. iii., we are told that the patriot died on
Aug. 16, 1678, "and by poison for he was healthful and vigorous to the
moment he was seized with the premeditated ruin." And again, in a summary
of his merits, we are told that "all these patriot virtues were
insufficient to guard him against the jesuitical machinations of the
_state_; for what vice and bribery could not influence, was perpetrated by
poison." This heinous crime, so formally averred against the enemies of
Marvell, may have been committed by "some person or persons unknown;" but,
as not a tittle of evidence is adduced or indicated by the zealous
biographer in support of the charge--Query, had it any foundation in fact?
In the court, and out of the court, the anti-popish, anti-prelatical
Puritan had enemies numerous and bitter enough; but is there really any
other ground for the abominable imputation of foul play alluded to, beyond
his actually sudden death? Is the hypothesis of poison coeval with the date
of Marvell's demise? If so, was there any official inquiry--any "crowner's
quest?" Surely his admiring compatriots on the banks of the Humber did not
at once quietly sit down with the conviction, that _thus_ "fell one of the
first characters of this kingdom or of any other."