ABSTRACT
JohnDrydeniscustomarilyperceivedbycriticsasanapologistforthe Stuartregime.Hisviewsonpoliticsandreligionaremostoftenreadas beingsupportiveoftheprevailingStuartideologyofbenevolentpatriarchy. PoemssuchasTheMedal,TheHindandthePanther,andofcourse,AbsalomandAchitophel,arepartisandocumentsintendedtoparticipateactively inadebateaboutparty.Asaresultofhisunequivocalsupportforthelate Stuartmonarchyandthecontinualchargesofturncoatlevelledagainsthim duringhislifetime,Dryden'sreputationhassuffered.Bornintoaprominent puritanfamilyandacivilservantunderCromwell,indeedtheauthorofa fulsomeelegyuponCromwell'sdeathandpresentinhisfuneralentourage, Drydenwasfeltbycontemporariesopportunisticallytohavecuthisclothto suittheprevailingpoliticalsituation.Thefollowingisrepresentative:
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Dryden quickly moved to support the restored monarchy and Episcopal Church government in 1660, satirised ruthlessly the puritan class to which he belonged, and to put the cap on it converted to Catholicism when the Duke of York succeeded to the throne in 1685. Yet Dryden deserves better treatment than many have accorded him. The critical orthodoxy on Dryden's lack of principles first published in the nineteenth century, and continually reiterated since have only recently been rigorously challenged.2
