The Misclassification of Elkanah Settle’s Pindaric Ode <i>A View of the Times</i>

Although more famous as a Restoration playwright for works such as The Conquest of China and The Empress of Morocco, Elkanah Settle was also a keen political pamphleteer, writing both anti-popish works for the Whiggish factions in the early 1680s, and pro-repeal works for King James II and VII. Because of his shifting loyalties, his political works have often been dismissed as opportunistic and insincere in traditional historiography.2 Nonetheless, Settle crafted nuanced and complex arguments in favour of religious toleration and the repeal of the Test Acts throughout James’ brief reign, before he shifted allegiances once again. In early 1689, Settle wrote a pamphlet mixing his literary and political backgrounds to create a Pindaric ode. The anonymously published pamphlet has long been described as the piece in which Settle changed sides once again, pledging his support for William of Orange.3 For instance, the entry on Settle in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography proclaims ‘following the accession of William and Mary he changed allegiances, and published the Williamite Pindaric ode A View of the Times, with Britain's Address to the Prince of Orange in 1689.’4 Other authors have also cited Settle’s change of allegiance to this work.5 While Settle addressed William and Mary magnanimously throughout the ode, he continued to support James’ right to the crown throughout the pamphlet. Indeed, it is possible this poem was written prior to Mary and William accepting the throne. The Williamite misclassification likely stems from Frank Clyde Brown’s 1910 biography of Settle which states that ‘the poet allowed policy to shape his allegiance a third time, and celebrate the occasion by writing A View of the Times.’6 Subsequent authors have continued to classify it as a pro-Williamite work based on this sentence.7 While Settle addressed the piece to William and Mary, he continued to display his loyalty to James throughout the pamphlet, lamenting the vicious rumours and lies that had been spread about the King. He noted how James’ ‘Mercy is for strange Designs mistook/Against the Church and Laws; His kind Indulgences are took/For an Establishing the Roman Cause’ (View, 9). Despite his much-vaunted volte-face, Settle remained a committed proponent of James’ right to the crown. Settle called for the restoration of James, proclaiming: ‘There is no way to give us our Religion, Laws, Liberties, and Repose, but by recalling and fixing our King in his Lawful Throne’ (View, preface). Settle concluded the pamphlet with an explicit address to William and Mary. He told William ‘Your Glories cannot be compleat,/Till by a Justice more Illustrious yet,/You bring Great Caesar to his Rightful Throne.’ To Mary he said ‘Your Virtues are too Eminently Great,/To Rob a Father’s Head to Adorn your Own,’ reminding her that she ‘needs not th’Addition of a Lawless Crown’ (View, 12). This was not a Williamite piece, and the pamphlet shows that Settle remained loyal to James until after his cause was clearly lost, reminding us that the early months of 1689 were uncertain, and it was not set in stone that James would not be returning.

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