MARVELL, ANDREW (1621-1678).—­Poet and satirist, s. of the Rector of Winestead, Yorkshire, where he was b., ed. Camb., and thereafter travelled in various Continental countries.  He sat in Parliament for Hull, proving himself an assiduous and incorruptible member, with strong republican leanings.  In spite of this he was a favourite of Charles II., who took pleasure in his society, and offered him a place at Court, and a present of L1000, which were both declined.  In his own day he was best known as a powerful and fearless political writer, and for some time from 1657 was assistant to Milton as Latin Sec.  After the Restoration he wrote against the Government, his chief work in this kind being on the Growth of Popery and Arbitrary Government in England (1677).  He was also the author of an Historical Essay regarding General Councils.  His controversial style was lively and vigorous, but sometimes coarse and vituperative.  His fame now rests on his poems which, though few, have many of the highest poetical qualities.  Among the best known are The Emigrants in the Bermudas, The Nymph complaining for the Death of her Fawn, and Thoughts in a Garden.  Of the last Palgrave says that “it may be regarded as a test of any reader’s insight into the most poetical aspects of poetry,” and his Horatian Ode on Cromwell’s Return from Ireland.  The town of Hull voted him a monument, which was, however, forbidden by the Court.  His appearance is thus described, “He was of middling stature, pretty strong-set, roundish-faced, cherry-cheeked, hazel-eyed, brown-haired.”

Life and Works by Cooke, 1726, reprinted 1772; Thomson, 1726; Dove, 1832; and specially Grosart (4 vols., 1872-74).

MASON, WILLIAM (1724-1797).—­Poet, s. of a clergyman, was b. at Hull, and ed. at Camb.  He took orders and rose to be a Canon of York.  His first poem was Musaeus, a monody on the death of Pope, and his other works include Elfrida (1752), and Caractacus (1759), dramas—­an Heroic Epistle to Sir William Chambers, the architect, in which he satirised some modern fashions in gardening, The English Garden, his largest work, and some odes.  He was a close friend of Gray, whose Life he wrote.  His language was too magnificent for his powers of thought, but he has passages where the rich diction has a pleasing effect.

MASSEY, GERALD (1828-1907).—­Poet, b. near Tring, Herts.  As a boy he worked in a silk-factory, and as a straw-plaiter and errand boy.  When he was 15 he came to London, where he was taken up by Maurice and Kingsley.  His first book was pub. in 1851, but he first attracted attention by Babe Christabel (1854).  This was followed by War Waits, Craigcrook Castle, and Havelock’s March.  A selection from these was pub. 1889, under the title of My Lyrical Life.  Later he wrote and lectured on spiritualism, and produced prose works on the origin of myths and mysteries in The Book of Beginnings (1881), The Natural Genesis (1883), and Ancient Egypt:  the Light of the World (1907).  He also wrote a book on the sonnets of Shakespeare.  M. had a true lyrical vein, but though often musical, he was at times harsh and rugged, and did not give sufficient attention to form and finish.