Poet’s double life as a Dutch spy

[Eldorado]

"Andrew Marvell’s poetry is best known for discouraging the crime of coyness in courtship, but new research led by the University of Bristol has uncovered compelling evidence that the famous poet, celebrated in the eighteenth century as a politician and satirist, had his own illicit liaisons as a spy for the Dutch.

"This intriguing tale of espionage and subterfuge is revealed in an essay published today in The Times Literary Supplement, confirming a long-held suspicion among scholars that Marvell led a double life.

"Dr Edward Holberton, Lecturer in English, discovered the new evidence in a copy of Mr. Smirke, one of Marvell’s prose satires, which contains several handwritten notes by Marvell himself."

Full story at Bristol University: Link

Times Supplement: Link

[jaylemurph]

Poets and playwrights always make great spies: just look at Christopher Marlowe and Aphra Behn.

--Jaylemurph

[The-Sumerian]

Or Dr. John Dee in his secret communications with Mercator the map maker.

[Piney]

2 hours ago, The-Sumerian said:

Or Dr. John Dee in his secret communications with Mercator the map maker.

I can see him being a good double agent. He was about as shifty as Elizabethans got. 

[jaylemurph]

1 hour ago, Piney said:

I can see him being a good double agent. He was about as shifty as Elizabethans got. 

Exactly what Rudolph II, the Holy Roman Emperor, thought of him...

--Jaylemurph