Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/137

Rh God for your lordſhip, and to beg grace of him, to approve myſelf Mr. Marvel’s firſt appearance in public buſineſs at home, was, in being aſſiſtant to Milton as Latin ſecretary to the Protector. He himſelf tells us, in a piece called The Rehearſal Tranſpoſed, that he never had any, not the remoteſt relation to public matters, nor correſpondence with the perſons then predominant, until the year 1657, when indeed, ſays he, ‘I entered into an employment, for which I was not altogether improper, and which I conſidered to be the moſt innocent, and inoffenſive towards his Majeſty’s affairs of any in that uſurped, and irregular government, to which all men were then expoſed; and this I accordingly diſcharged, without diſobliging any one perſon, there having been opportunities, and endeavours ſince his Majeſty’s happy return, to have diſcovered, had it been otherwiſe.’

A little before the Reſtoration, he was choſen by his native town, Kingſton upon Hull, to ſit in that Parliament which began at Weſtminſter April 25, 1660, and again after the Reſtoration for that which began at the ſame place May 8, 1661. In this ſtation our author diſcharged his truſt with the utmoſt fidelity, and always ſhewed a peculiar regard for thoſe he repreſented; for he conſtantly ſent the particulars of every proceeding in the Houſe, to the heads of the town for which he was elected; and to thoſe accounts he always joined his own opinion. This reſpectful behaviour gained ſo much on their affections, that they allowed him an honourable penſion to his death, all which time he continued in Parliament. Mr.