As proof of her love, she, when dying, settled her fortune upon
him; but unhappily his just right was disputed by her family.
The case therefore went into litigation, for the expenses of
which, together with other debts, Wycherley was cast into prison.
Here the brilliant wit, clever writer, and boon companion, was
allowed to remain seven long years. When released from this vile
bondage, another king than the merry monarch occupied the English
throne.
The name of Andrew Marvel is inseparably connected with this
period. He was born in the year 1620 in the town of Kingston-
upon-Hull; his father being a clever school-master, worthy
minister, and "an excellent preacher, who never broached what he
had never brewed, but that which he had studied some compitent
time before." At the age of fifteen, Andrew Marvell was sent to
Trinity College, Cambridge. But he had not long been there when
he withdrew himself, lured, as some authorities state, by wiles
of the wicked Jesuits; repulsed, as others say, by severities of
the head of his college. Leaving the university, he set out for
London, where his father, who hastened thither in search of him,
found him examining some old volumes on a book-stall. He was
prevailed to return to his college, where, in 1638, he took his
degree as bachelor of arts.
On the completion of his studies and death of his father, he
travelled through Holland, France, and Italy. Whilst abroad he
began to produce those satirical verses such as were destined to
render him famous.
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