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JOHN PATRICK MONTANO. Courting the Moderates: Ideology, Propaganda, and the Emergence of Party, 1660-1678. Newark: Delaware, 2002. Pp. 406. $60.
Focusing on the turbulent period between the Restoration and the fall of Danby, Mr. Montaflo's study traces the production and dissemination of an official "ideology of moderation," and the relation of this government ideology to the formation of political parties. After analyzing the evolution of this ideology through varied forms of contemporary political culture, he argues for its central role in the emergence of an organized court party in Parliament during this period, culminating in the activities of Danby. In this account, government tactics, rather than the first Whigs, initiate English parties.
The first part, seven chapters occupying almost two-thirds of the narrative, focuses on the ideology itself. A useful opening summary of current historiographical thinking about the period is followed by a chapter examining how a rhetoric of moderation developed between 1660 and 1662, particularly its impoverishment by early associations of unity with conformity. Four chapters examine diverse forms through which this ideology was articulated: verse, stage productions and street spectacles, Anglican sermons, and polemical pamphlets. A seventh chapter on government efforts to control the press ends the section.
The second part, three chapters and a conclusion, joins the ideological exposition of the initial section with issues of organization. Complementing Andrew Swatland's work on organized parties in the House of Lords during...