Their early friendship was dissolved.

One of them became the chief of the Whig party, and was impeached by the Tories.

The other was entrusted with all the mysteries of Tory diplomacy, and was long kept close prisoner by the Whigs.

At length, after many eventful years, the associates, so long parted, were reunited in Westminster Abbey.
Whoever has read the tale of the Hind and Panther with attention must have perceived that, while that work was in progress, a great alteration took place in the views of those who used Dryden as their interpreter.
At first the Church of England is mentioned with tenderness and respect, and is exhorted to ally herself with the Roman Catholics against the Puritan sects: but at the close of the poem, and in the preface, which was written after the poem had been finished, the Protestant Dissenters are invited to make common cause with the Roman Catholics against the Church of England.
This change in the language of the court poet was indicative of a great change in the policy of the court.

The original purpose of James had been to obtain for the Church of which he was a member, not only complete immunity from all penalties and from all civil disabilities, but also an ample share of ecclesiastical and academical endowments, and at the same time to enforce with rigour the laws against the Puritan sects.