ABSTRACT

The poet Andrew Marvell (1621–78) died suffering from vivax malaria, a common disease in the seventeenth century, endemic in estuary regions of eastern England. This article explores Marvell’s death alongside the literature and history of malaria and malaria treatments in this period. Marvell was long assumed to have been poisoned by political enemies until the rediscovery in 1874 of Richard Morton’s late seventeenth-century medical account, which blamed Marvell’s death on medical incompetence, noting that the anti-malarial quinine would have saved him. The article uncovers important new findings in the Marvell archives, re-examining Morton’s account in light of the manuscript, Hull History Centre, C DIAM/1 to argue that Marvell was in fact killed by the opiate, mithridate. The article offers new understanding of Marvell’s death and of the popularity of opiates as malaria treatments in Marvell’s day, of relevance to students of English literature, historical epidemiology, historical geography, and medical history.

摘要

诗人安德鲁·马维尔 (1621–78) 死于间日疟，这是一种 17 世纪的常见疾病，在英格兰东部的河口地区流行。本文探讨了 Marvell 之死以及这一时期疟疾和疟疾治疗的文献和历史。长期以来，Marvell 一直被认为是被政敌毒害，直到 1874 年理查德·莫顿 (Richard Morton) 的 17 世纪晚期医疗记录被重新发现，该记录将 Marvell 的死亡归咎于医疗无能，并指出抗疟疾奎宁会挽救他的生命。这篇文章揭示了 Marvell 档案中的重要新发现，根据手稿，赫尔历史中心，C DIAM/1 重新审视 Morton 的描述，以争辩说 Marvell 实际上是被鸦片制剂 mithridate 杀死的。