Note 3 — Chapter II · ENGLISH SATIRE FROM DRYDEN TO BYRON
Reading edition
In the Preface to Absalom and Achitophel, Dryden is inclined to take pride in his fairness:—“I have but laughed at some men’s follies, when I could have declaimed against their vices; and other men’s virtues I have commended, as freely as I have taxed their crimes.”