e of Marvell's public actions for the rest of his
days, and if at times he may need forgiveness for the savagery of his
satire, it ought to be found easy to forgive him.

The two members for Hull were soon immersed in matters of much local
importance. They began by quarrelling with one another, Marvell writing
"the bond of civility betwixt Col. Gilby and myself being unhappily
snappt in pieces, and in such manner that I cannot see how it is
possible ever to knit them again." House of Commons quarrels are usually
soon made up, and so was this one. The custom was for _both_ members to
sign these letters, though they are all written in Marvell's hand--but
if this was for any reason inconvenient, Marvell signed alone. No
letters, unless in Marvell's writing, are preserved at Hull, which is a
curious fact.

One of these bits of local business related to a patent alleged to have
been granted by the Crown to certain persons, authorising them to erect
and maintain _ballast wharfs_ in the various ports, and to make charges
in respect of them. This was resented by the members for the ports, and
on Marvell's motion the matter was referred to the Committee of
Grievances, before whom the patentees were summoned. When they came it
appeared that the patent warranted none of the exactions that had been
demanded, and also that the warrant sent down to Hull naming these
charges was nothing more than a draft framed by the patentees
themselves, and not authorised in any way. The patent was at once
suspended. Marvell, like a true member of Parliament, wishes to get any
little local credit that may be due for such prompt action, and
writes:--

"In this thing (although I count all things I can do for your service
to be mere trifles, and not worth taking notice of in respect of what
I owe you) I must do myself that right to let you know that I, and I
alone, have had the happiness to do that little which hitherto is
effected."

The matter required delicate handling, for a reason Marvell gives:
"Because, if the King's right in placing such impositions should be
weakened, neither should he have power to make a grant of them to you."

Another much longer business related to a lighthouse, which some
outsiders were anxious to build in the Humber. The corporation of Hull,
acting on Marvell's advice, had petitioned the Privy Council, and were
asked by their business-like member "to send us up a dormant credit for
an hundred pound,