The parish record bears the entry, “Christopher Marlowe, slain by ffrancis Archer, the 1 of June 1593.”  M. is the father of the modern English drama, and the introducer of the modern form of blank verse.  In imagination, richness of expression, originality, and general poetic and dramatic power he is inferior to Shakespeare alone among the Elizabethans.  In addition to his plays he wrote some short poems (of which the best known is Come live with me and be my love), translations from Ovid’s Amores and Lucan’s Pharsalia, and a glowing paraphrase of Musaeus’ Hero and Leander, a poem completed by Chapman.

Ed. of Works by Dyce, Cunningham, and Bullen; Ingram’s C.  Marlowe and his Associates, etc.

MARMION, SHACKERLEY (1603-1639).—­Dramatist, s. of a country gentleman of Northamptonshire, was ed. at Oxford.  After a youth of extravagance, he fought in the Low Countries.  His writings consist of an epic, Cupid and Psyche, and three comedies, Holland’s Leaguer, A Fair Companion, and The Antiquary.  His plays show some power of satire, and were popular, but he had little of the dramatist.

MARRYAT, FREDERICK (1792-1848).—­Novelist, s. of a West India merchant, was b. in London.  In 1806 he entered the navy as a midshipman under Lord Cochrane (afterwards Earl of Dundonald), and saw much service in the Mediterranean, at Walcheren, and in the Burmese War of 1824.  He returned in 1830 as a Captain and C.B.  The scenes and experiences through which he had passed were the preparation for and the foundation of his numerous novels, of which the first, Frank Mildmay, was pub. in 1829.  It was followed by over 30 others, of which perhaps the best are Peter Simple, Jacob Faithful (1834), Mr. Midshipman Easy (1836), The Dog Fiend (1837), and The Phantom Ship (1839).  M. is the prince of sea story-tellers; his knowledge of the sea, vigorous definition of character, and hearty and honest, if somewhat broad, humour never failing to please.

MARSH, HERBERT (1757-1839).—­Theologian and controversialist, s. of a clergyman, ed. at Canterbury, Cambridge, and Leipsic, was the first to introduce the German methods of Biblical criticism into England, and gave lectures on the subject at Camb., which excited great interest and controversy.  In 1816 he was made Bishop of Llandaff, and was translated to Peterborough in 1819.  His critical views and his opposition to the evangelical party in the Church, to the Bible Society, to hymns in Divine service, and to Catholic emancipation, involved him in controversy with high, low, and broad churchmen alike.  He was the author of a History of the Politics of Great Britain and France (1799), Comparative View of the Churches of England and Rome, and Horae Pelasgicae.