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Britain and Ireland were engulfed in turmoil in the early 1680s as a result of an alleged ‘Popish Plot’ to assassinate King Charles ii and replace him on the throne with his Roman Catholic brother, James. John Dryden (1631–1700) was a Tory and Anglican who used the biblical story of Absalom’s rebellion against King David to attack the Whig politicians who tried to use the ‘Plot’ to exclude James from the throne. Dryden’s epic poem would almost certainly have seen him fall foul of the libel laws had he not taken the sensible precaution of setting it in Ancient Israel. However, readers knew that each character in the poem was intended to be read as a figure active in contemporary politics, and many readers went to the trouble (like the owner of this copy) of writing the name of the politician attacked by Dryden beside the mention of each ancient Israelite

Citation:
John Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel: a poem (Dublin, 1681),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
accessed July 5, 2025,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/items/show/606