Restoration Satire

The Restoration age is known for the great efflorescence of the spirit of satire which was to reign supreme for
decades thereafter. In the hands of Dryden satire became for the first time a polished and highly effective
weapon of offence, correction, and even self-expression. The spirit of satire did not manifest itself only in
the satirical verse of Dryden, Butler, Oldham, Rochester Cotton, and others, but also in Restoration drama-
tragedy as well as comedy.

All satire, whether constructive or just destructive, arises from sense of dissatisfaction, anger, or disgust at
the departure of the real from the ideal, the falling short of things from their well-accepted standards of
excellence. Now with the restoration of Charles II to the throne of England, conventional, orthodox, and
puritanic morality and religiosity were dismissed as standards of excellence, and their place was given to
"fashion and genteel taste." Once these new standards were fixed, it became very easy to detect any
departure from them, which necessitated chastisement. says Cazamian: "Judging and condemning, as a
result, grew more simple and more facile operations." Moreover, with the Restoration came a greater
freedom of expression, and even the most scurrilous abuse or salacious condemnation in print came to be
tolerated-particularly so if it was directed against the Puritan fanatics or the political enemies of monarchy
and the king. Indeed, in the Restoration age appeared numerous satires on Puritans and their creed.
Butler's Hudibras is the most well known of them. Then, the political strife which bedevilled the Restoration
age was also responsible for giving rise to numerous satires. It was in this age that there came to be for
the first time a clear polarisation of the English political opinion (between the Whigs and Tories).
Dryden's Absalom and Achitopheland The Medal are basically political satires. Finally, the neo-classical
tendency which was in the ascendant in this period also encouraged the growth of the satiric spirit. An
increased interest in the study of classical writers-mostly the Roman writers of antiquity-prompted the
Restoration men of letters to take up the genre of satire as a vehicle of personal expression and public
improvement.

Samuel Butler (1612-80):

The Restoration period opens with a work very much exhibitive of its spmt—Hudibrasof Samuel Butler which
appeared in three parts in 1663, 1664 and 1678, each part consisting of three cantos. It was a powerful but
"low" satire on the Puritans who had been subdued with the restoration of Charles II to the throne of
England in 1660. Butler was not a courtier, nor was he a member of the nobility, and the story goes that he
died in poverty. Nevertheless, in his attack on the Puritans he outdid many a courtier. Hudibras enjoyed
excessive popularity with thecourtiers and the king himself who used to keep a copy of it always in his pocket.
The poem is formless, crabbed in versification and gross at numerous places, but none can deny the force of
punches Butler levelled against the Puritans.
In its form Hudibras is a burlesque of high romance representing puissant knights out to defend virtue. That
way it resembles Cervantes' Don Quixote which is also a burlesque of the same kind. But it has also elements
reminiscent of the French poet Scarron who burlesqued the epic of Virgil.
The name "Hudibras" is taken from Spenser's Faerie Queene. Butler's Hudibras is a Presbyterian who is
hypocritical, covetous, cowardly, and full of pedantic learning. Ralpho, an Independent, is his squire. The
hero rides a rickety horse and is equipped with rusty arms. In the company of his squire, he comes out
in search of some righteous adventure. However, his squire and he go all the time quarrelling about minute
points of religious doctrine, and their quarrels consume a sizable proportion of the poem. Hudib.ras is
described to be
in Logic a great critic,
Profoundly skill 'd in Analytic;
He could distinguish, and divide
A hair 'twixt south and south-west side;
On either which he would dispute,
Confute, change hands, and still confute.
Of course, Hudibras' logic-chopping is satirical of the puritanic casuistry.
The first adventure of Hudibras and Ralpho is their fight with a group of beafbaiters. The Puritans were
against all country sports including bear-baiting not because, as Macaulay puts it, bear-baiting gave pain to
the bear but because it gave pleasure to the spectators. In the beginning the two adventures are successful but
then they are vanquished and put in stocks as a couple of miscreants. Even when they are rn stocks they
continue mutual polemics.
In part II Hudibras is represented as having fallen in love with the property of a widow and incidentally, the
widow herself too. The widow asks him to submit to whipping for winning'her favour. Hudibras urges
Ralpho to serve as his substitute. A loud quarrel ensues between the twe.They consult an astrologer who is
discovered to be a humbug, is beaten up and left by the two adventurers for dead. Hudibras parts company
with Ralpho so that the latter maybe apprehended as the murderer.
In part III Hudibras is represented as going alone to the widow for pleading for her favour. On hearing a
knock he hides under a bed thinking that it is the ghost of the astrologer who has come to wreak vengeance.
His cowardice is discovered and he is soundly belaboured. After escaping ignominiously he consults a lawyer
who advise him to write love-letters to his beloved. The rest of this part does not advance the story at all. It is
probable that Butler desired to round off the work with a fourth part.
Basically this satire is intended'.against the Puritans, their hypocrisy, pedantry, covetousness, casuistry,
fanaticism, and querulousness. Of course, Hudibras and Ralpho are representatives of the Puritans. The
satire, however, here and there, becomes broader in purpose and significance. Butler is anti-intellectual, anti-
science and even anti-poetry. He was fighting a losing battle with his age and, to quote George Sherburn, "his
lot was to go dow n fighting scurrilously.''
The unit of the-poem is the octosyllabic couplet. But Butler's couplets are most rugged and unmusical. He Is
very fond of curious double rhymes which add a touch of the doggerel.
Among the rest of Butler's work may be mentioned his Satire on the Royal Society andThe Elephant in
the'Moon, both of which show his disapproval of the new learning.
John Dryden (1631-1700):
Dryden is the most distinguished of the Restoration satirists. It was he who established classical satire in
England, breaking away from the traditions of Donne, Hall, Cleveland, Butler, and others. His contemporary
Butler in his form and method falls more in line with the native tradition than the neo-classical tradition
initiated by Dryden. Butler's "ragged and jagged" versification puts one in mind of Langland, Skelton, and
Donne rather than the contemporary neoclassical French school represented chiefly by Boileau who
influenced a large number of English poets of the Restoration and the early eighteenth century. Before
Dryden, satire enjoyed a quite low level among literary genres. But Dryden, especially with his Absalom and
Achitophel, brought it near the dignity of the epic. The satirist was a very respectable member of the ancient
Roman society, and the satirist in the post-Restoration age became a very reputable, if not a very respectable
member of the English society.
Dryden found himself in his proper element when at the age of fifty he came to the writing of his most
outstanding satire entitled Absalom and Achitophel. This work is of the nature of a political satire and was
most probably written at the suggestion of the king himself to embody the royal and Tory point of view
regarding the Exclusion crisis. Charles Il.had no legitimate issue and his throne was to come to his brother,
the Duke of York, who was sought by the Whigs to be excluded from succession for his alleged Roman
Catholic sympathies. Charles It's illegitimate son the Duke of Monmouth, was favoured by the Whigs for
succession. Monmouth was thought to have been incited by the wily Earl of Shaftesbury to take up arms
against the king. Shaftesbury was put in the Tower. A week before the date of his trial came
Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel which was obviously meant to secure Shaftesbury's indictment. Therein
Dryden represented Shaftesbury as a wicked seducer of the innocent Duke of Monmouth who was tempted by
Shaftesbury as Adam had been seduced by Satan. Dryden also took occasion in the poem to lash at some
other Whig leaders. The main interest of the poem lies in the satiric portraits which in their execution show
the hand of a master.
There was also a sequence to this poem, composed mainly by Nahum Tate and containing some two hundred
lines by Dryden, in which he lashed Elkanah Settle and Thomas Shadwell as Doeg and Og respectively.
The Medal, again was political and topical in nature and genesis. In spite of Absalom and Achitophel and the
virulent propaganda by other Tories, Shaftesbury could not be indicted at the trial and was released from the
Tower. The Whigs were jubilant and struck a medal bearing the effigy of their hero to commemorate the
triumphant occasion. Dryden felt piqued and let out a virulent attack on Shaftesbury and his followers in The
Medal.
Mac Flecknoe is the only satire written by Dryden in which he attacks a personal enemy. He is Thomas
Shadwell who is satirised by Dryden as the occupant of the throne of dullness in succession to his "father,"
Flecknoe, a very dull Irish poet. The poem abounds in passages of brilliant wit and sarcasm and strokes of
mock-heroic characterization all masterfully calculated to scarify the allegedly dull poet and playwright.
Minor Satirists:
Among the other satirists of the age may be mentioned Oldham, Rochester, and Cotton. John Oldham (1653-
83), the young friend of Dryden, looked for inspiration and guidance wholly to the ancient Roman writers,
particularly Juvenal. He has often been called "the English Juvenal" but not for very good reason. He
erroneously believed that in his harsh diction and deliberately rugged versification he was following Juvenal.
His satire is too generalised and avoids personalities altogether. His most important and ambitious work is his
Satire upon the Jesuits. The inspiration of this satire is mostly classical, and as in the satires of Juvenal, there
is not much humour "to relieve", as Cazamian puts it, "the eloquence and irony of the execration."
Rochester is known for his poem On Nothing which was praised by Dr. Johnson. HisSatyr against
Mankind (1675) is a cynical but light-hearted denunciatioruof all humanity. Rochester has plenty of wit. but
most of his works other than the two named above are full of unprintable grossness.
Charles Cotton is known for Scarronides : or Virgile Travestie (1663) in which he burlesqued Virgil's heroic
poetry after the example of the French poet Scarron. The poem owed some of its popularity to the anti-heroic
cult initiated by Butler's Hudibras.