chair of as stiff and uncomfortable an appearance as
that which is occupied after so upright a fashion by Andrew Marvel.

"I have answered you, my lord," said the patriot, "already. Methinks
there need be no further parley on the subject; it is not my first
temptation, though I most fervently desire it may be the last."

[Illustration: STAIRCASE.]

The nobleman took up his glove and drew it on. "I again pray you to
consider," he said, "whether, if with us, the very usefulness you so
much prize would not have a more extensive sphere. You would have larger
means of being useful."

"My lord, I should certainly have the means of tempting usefulness to
forsake duty."

The cavalier rose, but the displeasure that flushed his countenance soon
faded before the serene and holy expression of Milton's friend.

"And are you so determined?" said his lordship, sorrowfully. "Are you
really so determined? A thousand English pounds are there, and thrice
the sum--nay, any thing you ask----"

"My lord! my lord!" interrupted Marvel, indignantly, "this perseverance
borders upon insult. Nay, my good lord, you do not so intend it, but
your master does not understand me. Pray you, note this: two days ago
that meat was hot; it has remained cold since, and there is enough still
for to-morrow; and I am well content. A man so easily satisfied is not
likely to exchange an approving conscience for dross like that!"

We pray God that the sin of Marvel's death did not rest with the great
ones of those times; but it was strange and sudden.[D] He did not leave
wherewith to bury the sheath of such a noble spirit, but his
constituents furnished forth a decent funeral, and would have erected a
monument to his memory in the church of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, where
he was interred; but the rector, blinded by the dust of royalty to the
merits of the man, refused the necessary permission. Marvel's name is
remembered, though the rector's has been long forgotten.[E]

Wood tells us, that Marvel was in his conversation very modest, and of
few words; and Cooke, the writer of his life, observes that he was very
reserved among those whom he did not know, but a most delightful and
improving companion among his friends. John Aubrey, who knew him
personally, thus describes him: 'He was of a middling stature, pretty
strong set, roundish cherry-checked, hazle-eyed, brown-haired.' He was
(as Wood also says) in conversation very modest, and of a very few
words. He