a
vein not laid open, and many a passage not searched into. But if I
have undergone the drudgery of the most loathsome part already (which
is his personal character), I will not defraud myself of what is more
truly pleasant, the conflict with, if it may be so called, his
reason."

It was not only in these "pen-combats" that this Literary Quarrel
proceeded; it seems also to have broken out in the streets; for a tale
has been preserved of a rencontre, which shows at once the brutal
manners of Parker, and the exquisite wit of Marvell. Parker meeting
Marvell in the streets, the bully attempted to shove him from the
wall: but, even there, Marvell's agility contrived to lay him
sprawling in the kennel; and looking on him pleasantly, told him to
"lie there for a son of a whore!" Parker complained to the Bishop of
Rochester, who immediately sent for Marvell, to reprimand him; but he
maintained that the doctor had so called himself, in one of his recent
publications; and pointing to the preface, where Parker declares "he
is 'a true son of his mother, the Church of England:' and if you read
further on, my lord, you find he says: 'The Church of England has
spawned two bastards, the Presbyterians and the Congregationists;'
ergo, my lord, he expressly declares that he is the _son of a
whore_!"

Although Parker retreated from any further attack, after the second
part of "The Rehearsal Transprosed," he in truth only suppressed
passions to which he was giving vent in secrecy and silence. That,
indeed, was not discovered till a posthumous work of his appeared, in
which one of the most striking parts is a most disgusting caricature
of his old antagonist. Marvell was, indeed, a republican, the pupil of
Milton, and adored his master: but his morals and his manners were
Roman--he lived on the turnip of Curtius, and he would have bled at
Philippi. We do not sympathise with the fierce republican spirit of
those unhappy times that scalped the head feebly protected by a mitre
or a crown. But the private virtues and the rich genius of such a man
are pure from the taint of party. We are now to see how far private
hatred can distort, in its hideous vengeance, the resemblance it
affects to give after nature. Who could imagine that Parker is
describing Marvell in these words?--

"Among these insolent revilers of great fame for ribaldry was one
Marvell. From his youth he lived in all manner of wickedness; and
thus, with a singular petulancy from