One exception there
was. In Andrew Marvel Milton found one congenial spirit, incorruptible
amid poverty, unbowed by defeat. Marvel was twelve years Milton's
junior, and a Cambridge man (Trinity), like himself. He had had better
training still, having been for two years an inmate of Nunappleton, in
the capacity of instructor to Mary, only daughter of the great Lord
Fairfax. In 1652, Milton had recommended Marvel for the appointment of
assistant secretary to himself, now that he was partially disabled
by his blindness. The recommendation was not effectual at the time,
another man, Philip Meadows, obtaining the post. It was not till 1657,
when Meadows was sent on a mission to Denmark, that Marvel became
Milton's colleague. He remained attached to him to the last. It were
to be wished that he had left some reminiscences of his intercourse
with the poet in his later years, some authentic notice of him in his
prose letters, instead of a copy of verses, which attest, at least,
his affectionate admiration for Milton's great epic, though they are a
poor specimen of his own poetical efforts.
Of Marchmont Needham, and Samuel Hartlib mention has been already
made.
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