The Head of Nile: Or the Turnings and Windings of the Factious Since Sixty, in a Dialogue Between Whigg and Barnaby
Restoration-era political satire demonstrating the emerging Whig and Tory parties during the Exclusion Crisis. The pamphlet combines a dialogue between 'Whigg' and 'Barnaby', the latter supporting the royalist point of view and the former representing the dissenting point of view (i.e., rabid anti-Catholicism, religious dissent, and parliamentary factionalism) in a decidedly negative light. The title refers to the convoluted, impossible to trace politics of the previous two decades, comparing it with the age-old quixotic search for the source of the River Nile; the authorship of the pamphlet, also shrouded in a veil of secrecy, is attributed to Thomas Baker.
London: Printed, and are to be sold by Walter Davis in Amen-Corner, 1681. 44 pp. Quarto. References: Wing B518; ESTC R3068. Disbound. Outer leaves soiled, stained, chipped with some losses and somewhat brittle. Toned with some foxing throughout. Fair. Item #222Price: $225.00