Part 15 (2/2)
The _Second Part_ is an exceedingly witty though too lengthy a performance Marvell's ”companion picture” of Parker is full of matter, and of the very spirit of the tih he caood mother, he had a very ill sire He was a man bred toward the Law, and betook himself, as his best practice, to be a sub-committee-man, or, as the stile ran, one of the assistant Committee in Northamptonshi+re In the rapine of that e the teeth of his ether so a un his fortune out of the sequestration of the estates of the King's Party, he, to perfect it the more, proceeded to take away their lives; not in the hot and military hich diminishes always the offence), but in the cooler blood and sedentary execution of an High Court of Justice
Accordingly he was preferr'd to be one of that nuainst the three Lords, Capel, Holland, and Ha in the Law he becao the Circuit, till for ainst But for a taste of his abilities, and the ratiate himself, he printed, in the year 1650, a very reland, precedent and present the same _Ad subscribentes confirmandum, Dubitantes informandum, Opponentes convincendum_; and underneath _Multa videntur quae non sunt, raven two hands joyn'd, with the motto, _Ut uniamur_; and beneath a sheaf of arroith this device, _Vis unita fortior_; and to conclude, _Concordia parvae res crescunt discordia dilabuntur_' A lyphical title, and sufficient to have supplied the s and atchievements of the family! By these parents he was sent to Oxford, with intention to breed him up to the ministry There in a short ti students ere used to fast and pray weekly together; but for their refection fed sometimes on broth, from whence they were commonly called Grewellers; only it was observed that he ont still to put e
And after that he pick'd acquaintance not only with the brotherhood at Wadhae, but with the sisterhood too, at another old Elsibeth's, one Elizabeth Hampton's, a plain devout wo their ser also the Sacraain'd such proficience, that he too began to exercise in that Meeting, and was estee men in the University But when thus, after several years' approbation, he was even ready to have taken the charge, not of an 'ad drove or heard,' as he now calls the ca the distractions of soood affections of others, and the weariness of all towards that happy Restauration, after so nity Nevertheless he broke not off yet froh it were now too late to obviate this inconvenience, yet he persisted as far as in hi--to obstruct the restoring of the episcopal govern himself discountenanced on those accounts by the then Warden of Wadhaes to Trinity, and, when there, went aithout his degree, scrupling, forsooth, the Subscription then required From thence he ca into all corners and co the duration of the Govern and ure, he at last satisfyed hi as this King lived; and from thence forward cast about how to be adhway to her prefered, not only his conversation, but his conscience, and was , like Muleasses King of Tunis (for I take witness that on all occasions I treat hi hi traced by his perfuht it necessary to part with any virtue to get a living; or that the Church of England did not require and incourage uilty of; whereas it hath alwayes been fruitful of ether with obedience to that discipline, have lived to the envy of the Nonconformists in their conversation, and without such could never either have been preserved so long, or after so long a dissipation have ever recover'd But neither was this yet, in his opinion, sufficient; and therefore he resolv'd to try a shorter path, which some few men had trod not unsuccessfully; that is, to print a Book; if that would not do, a second; if not that, a third of an higher extraction, and so forward, to give experiainst their forment His first proof-piece was in the year 1665, the _Tentaica_; a tedious transcript of his common-place book, wherein there is very little of his own, but the arrogance and the unparalleled censoriousness that he exercises over all other Writers When he had cook'd up these musty collections, he makes his first invitation to his 'old acquaintance' my lord Archbishop of Canterbury, who had never seen before nor heard of hilorious an Epistle, that had not ainst the most spiritual flattery, the Dedication only, without ever reading the Book, ht have serv'd to have fix'd him from that instant as his favourite Yet all this I perceive did not his work, but his Grace was so unht it necessary to spur-up again the next year with another new Book, to show more plainly what he would be at This he dedicates to Doctor Bathurst; and to evidence from the very Epistle that he was ready to renounce that very education, the civility of which he is so tender of as to bla it, he picks occasion to tell hi advice, Sir, do I owe my first rescue from the chains and fetters of an unhappy education' But in the Book, which he calls 'A free and impartial Censure of the Platonick Philosophy'
(censure 'tis sure to be, whatsoever he writes), he speaks out, and demonstrates himself ready and equipp'd to surrender not only the Cause, but betray his Party withoutany conditions for them, and to appear forthwith himself in the head of the contrary interest
Which, supposing the dispute to be just, yet in him was so mercenary, that none would have descended to act his part but a divine of fortune And even lawyers take the himself, in a cause where they have been entertain'd and instructed by their client But so flippant he was and forward in this book, that in despight of all chronology, he could introduce Plato to inveigh against Calvin, and froainst the Nonconformists (_Cens Plat Phil_, pp 26, 27, 28, etc) After this feat of activity he was ready to leap over the moon; no scruple of conscience could stand in his way, and no preferh for hi taken a turn at Cae to qualifie himself, he was received within doors to be ree of favour; which, considering the difference of their hu But whether indeed, in times of heat and faction, the ht in one that is spightful, and rave and serious persons do for relaxation divert thely by whiles with a creature that is unlucky, iniaentleman danced upon bell-ropes, vaulted fronity to another Having thus dexterously stuck his groat in Lambeth wainscot, itto lose it; and therefore he concern'd hi now that palace, which, if falling, he would out of instinct be the first should leave it His Majesty about that tience to his people, the Author therefore walking with his own shadow in the evening, took a great fright lest all were agoe And in this conceit being resolv'd to overner than the other, he set hierous Books which I have now to do with; wherein he first makes all that he will to be Law, and then whatsoever is Law to be Divinity”[176:1]
The Second Part is not all raillery There is much wisdom in it and a trace of Machiavelli:--
”But because you are subject to lish, I will explain my self as distinctly as I can, and as close as possible, what is overnht you blame-worthy, you may have as fair hold of me too, if you can find where to fix your accusation
”The power of the istrate does most certainly issue from the divine authority The obedience due to that power is by divine command; and subjects are bound, both as istrate actively in all things where their duty to God intercedes not, and however passively, that is, either by leaving their countrey, or if they cannot do that (thethe the least publick disturbance But the dispute concerning the ht to be superfluous; for that it is certainly founded upon his commission from God, and for the es There are few soveraign princes so abridged, but that, if they be not contented, they may envy their own fortune But thewith matters above them) would be, how far it is advisable for a prince to exert and push the rigour of that pohich no ht of succession from their ancestors, so they inherit froenerosity that runs in the blood above the allay of the rest ofmoreover at so ripes of avarice and twinges of anity toward their subjects What prince that sees soindustriously toward his revenue, or adventuring their lives in his service, and all of theious obedience, but conceives at the sa tenderness over them, whereof others out of the narrowness of their minds cannot be capable? But whoever shall cast his eye thorow the history of all ages, will find that nothing has alwayes succeeded better with princes then the cleovernuinary course, have been unfortunate to the separable For whether that royal andfrom a propensity of their nature, or be acquired and confir with it all the effects of Policy The wealth of a shepherd depends upon the oodness of their pasture, and the quietness of their feeding; and princes, whose dominion over mankind resembles in some measure that of men over other creatures, cannot expect any considerable increase to themselves, if by continual terrour they a the the an efficacy one word, and ood action has from a superior upon those under hiick there is in a prince who shall, by a constant tenour of hu upon the affections of his people There is not any privilege so dear, but ittheood humour I will not say what one prince h surely reat and durable design be acco an hereditary succession of any three taking up still where the other left, and dealing still in that fair and tender way of ement, it is impossible but that, even without reach or intention upon the prince's part, all should fall into his hand, and in so short a ti as publick liberty would, as it were by consent, expire and be for ever extinguish'd So that whatever the power of the istrate be in the institution, it is much safer for them not to do that with the left hand which they ht, nor by an extraordinary, what they oes to the top of his power is like hio to the bottom of his treasure”[178:1]
And as for the ”common people” he has this to say:--
”Yet neither do they want the use of reason, and perhaps their aggregated judgovernment, forasmuch as they are the first, to be sure, that shted, that though they know the diseases, they understand not the reood patients, they are ill physicians The istrate only is authorized, qualified, and capable tothe Ecclesiasticks For in all experience, as far as I can remember, they have never been forward to save the prince that labour If they had, there would have been no Wickliffe, no Husse, no Luther in history Or at least, upon so notable an eency as the last, the Church of Roht of rectifying itself in good earnest, that it ht have recover'd its ancient character; whereas it left the same divisions much wider, and the Christian people of the world to suffer, Protestants under Popish governors, Popish under Protestants, rather than let go any point of interested ambition”[178:2]
FOOTNOTES:
[152:1] ”But the ainst the sect was Parker, afterwardsJames: as full of satirical vivacity and was considerably learned, but was a ion rather impious: after he had for some years entertained the nation with several virulent books ith e, rit in a burlesque strain but with so peculiar and entertaining a conduct that froreat pleasure, that not only humbled Parker but the whole party, for the author of the _Rehearsal Transprosed_ had all the hers) on his side”--Burnet's _History of his Own Time_
[152:2] See the dedication to _A Free and Impartial Censure of the Plutonick Philosophy_, by Sam Parker, AM, Oxford 1666 Parker was a man of some taste, and I have in my small collection a beautifully bound copy of this treatise presented by the author to Seth Ward, then Bishop of Exeter, and afterwards of Salisbury
[165:1] Grosart, vol iii pp 145-8
[166:1] Grosart, vol iii pp 155-9
[167:1] Grosart, vol iii pp 170, 210-1
[167:2] Grosart, vol iii p 211
[168:1] Grosart, vol iii p 171
[168:2] Grosart, vol iii p 63
[169:1] Grosart, vol iii p 198
[170:1] For a still more unfriendly sketch of Andrew Marvell by the same spiteful hand, see Parker's _History of his Own Time_, a posthulish Translation by _Tho enuainst the life and throne of Charles the Second during the earlier part of his reign, a panegyric upon Archbishop Sheldon and plentiful abuse of Andrew Marvell Parker died in unhappy circumstances (see Macaulay's _History_, vol ii p 205), but he left behind hirandson founded the fa firm at Oxford