English Clandestine Satire, 1660-1702

In early modern Britain, the primary medium of free comment was the clandestine satire, circulated either orally or in manuscript. Part of the national political culture from Jacobean times, satire reached its greatest influence following the Restoration of Charles II, when a new ''easy'' style, combining courtly polish with demotic frankness and flagrant indecency, led to the composition of thous...