There is an obstinate tradition quite unverifiable that Mrs. Skinner,
the mother of the beautiful young lady who was drowned with the elder
Marvell, adopted the young Marvell as a son, sending to Cambridge for
him after his father's death, and providing him with the means of
travel, and that afterwards she bequeathed him her estate. Whether there
is any truth in this story cannot now be ascertained. The Skinners were
a well-known Hull family, one of them, a brother of that Cyriac Skinner
who was urged by Milton in immortal verse to enjoy himself whilst the
mood was on him, having been Mayor of Hull. The lady, doubtless, had
money, and Andrew Marvell was in need of money, and appears to have been
supplied with it. It is quite possible the tradition is true.


FOOTNOTES:

[6:1] Fuller's _Worthies_ (1662), p. 159.

[8:1] "The Fuller Worthies Library," 4 vols., 1872. Hereafter referred
to as _Grosart_.

[8:2] _Mr. Smirke or the Divine in Mode._--Grosart, iv. 15.

[11:1] _Autobiography of Matthew Robinson_. Edited by J.E.B. Mayor,
Cambridge, 1856.

[12:1] _Behemoth_, Hobbes' Works (Molesworth), vol. vi., see pp. 168,
218, 233-6.

[12:2] Worthington's _Diary_, vol. i. p. 5 (Chetham Society).