Civil Rage, that out high-spirited Poem took its Birth. lt is true, the Plan of Paradise Lost, has little to do with our present Manners; It treats of a sublimer Theme, and refuses the Measure of Human Actions: Yet it every where bears some Analogy to the Affairs of Mankind; and the Author (who had viewed the Progress of our Misery) has embellished it with all the proper Images his Travelling, Learning and Experience could afford him.
But as few of the Changes which Letters have undergone, pass unobserved by so quick an Eye. your Lordship will probably ask; "Since a polished Language, and the Deference paid to an absolute Court, are incompatible with the nobler kinds of Poetry, how came the new Comedy to excel the old, which had all liberty of Language and Manners, while the Other grew up under the Influence of Luxury, and the Awe of the Macedonian Power?
A learned and sententious Writer will not allow this to be true: "The Old Comedy, according to him, was employed in the Reformation of Manners,, in recommending Virtue, and pointing out the Abuses of the State; whereas the New was contented to trifle with Punks and Pandars; the old Chuff, the Davus, or Knave of the Family, and his young Master: The Scene,
