Reading Marvell with John Aubrey (and occasionally Anthony Wood)

This paper explores how the recent critical reassessment of the biographer and antiquarian John Aubrey (1626–97) and the increasing availability of his writings can reveal new perspectives on Marvell’s early reception. Aubrey read all available instances of Marvell’s writing and studied them carefully and incisively, but criticism has not yet examined his engagement with Marvell as a comprehensive whole. This reveals that his primary interest was in data gathering: I use Aubrey’s letters, unpublished research manuscripts, and his biographical study Brief Lives, alongside the papers of his friend and collaborator Anthony Wood, to demonstrate how Marvell’s verse and prose were recognized as a valuable source for antiquarian and biographical research by early readers. For example, Aubrey emphasizes the importance of Marvell’s often neglected epitaphs. Aubrey also recognized that there were potential limitations for researchers using Marvell’s writing, not least his tendency to “severe” representations of his subjects. This severity could also endanger readers themselves, and I show how Aubrey and Wood tried to counteract accusations in the 1690s that they had shared the “Advice to a Painter” satires. This case demonstrates how the printed editions of the 1660s continued to possess an exceptional reputation for sedition which could be reactivated at moments of heightened political tension, and which far outstripped their actual content.