pro-French stance. But while he was spitting out his satires, he was also creating beautiful and enigmatic epigrams in Latin, and writing his glorious lyric "The Garden". He engaged with debates about toleration--which meant toleration of people like Marvell, of course--and produced The Rehearsal Transpros'd: a return to the fisticuffs of Civil War pamphleteering and Protestant polemic, a slam in the mouth for Anglican compromise, and a work so wickedly funny that Charles II--well--tolerated it. Even Marvell's Catholic opponents laughed and praised its wit. The spectacle of Samuel Parker running naked and erect down the street, still spouting orotund oratory, was ribtickling for the whole of Restoration culture.
from The Independent: Andrew Marvell: The Chameleon, By Nigel Smith
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