It is always ascribed to Marvell (whose
verse was first collected and printed by his widow in 1681),
but there are faint doubts as to the authorship.
XXII
_Poems_ (1681). This elegant and romantic lyric appears to have
been inspired by a passage in the life of John Oxenbridge, of
whom, 'religionis causa oberrantem,' it is enough to note that,
after migrating to Bermudas, where he had a church, and being
'ejected' at the Restoration from an English cure, he went
to Surinam (1662-67), to Barbadoes (1667), and to New England
(1669), where he was made pastor of 'the First Church of Boston'
(1670), and where he died in 1674. These details are from Mr.
Grosart's _Marvell_ (1875), i. 82-85, and ii. 5-8.
XXIII
Dryden's second Ode for Saint Cecilia's Day, _Alexander's Feast,
or the Power of Sound_, as it is called, was written and printed
in 1697. As it was designed for music (it was set by Jeremiah
Clarke), the closing lines of every strophe are repeated by way
of chorus. I have removed these repetitions as impertinent to
the effect of the poem in print, and as interrupting the rushing
vehemency of the narrative. The incident described is the burning
of Persepolis.
XXIV
Written early in 1782, in memory of Robert Levett: 'an old and
faithful friend,' says Johnson, and withal 'a very useful and
very blameless man.
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