what a pitch the libertinism of the
spectators, and the depravity of the poet, had proceeded. Had he even
impregnated them with the utmost wit, which however is not the case, the
privilege of laughing himself, or of making others laugh, would have been
too dearly purchased at the expense of decency and good manners.(203) And
in this case it may well be said, that it were better to have no wit at
all, than to make so ill a use of it.(204) F. Brumoi is very much to be
commended for having taken care, in giving a general idea of
Aristophanes's writings, to throw a veil over those parts of them that
might have given offence to modesty. Though such behaviour be the
indispensable rule of religion, it is not always observed by those who
pique themselves most on their erudition, and sometimes prefer the title
of scholar to that of Christian.

The old comedy subsisted till Lysander's time; who, upon having made
himself master of Athens, changed the form or the government, and put it
into the hands of thirty of the principal citizens. The satirical liberty
of the theatre was offensive to them, and therefore they thought fit to
put a stop to it. The reason of this alteration is evident, and confirms
the reflection made before upon the privilege which the poets possessed of
criticizing with impunity the persons at the head of the state. The whole
authority of Athens was then invested in tyrants. The democracy was
abolished. The people had no longer any share in the government. They were
no more the prince; their sovereignty had expired. The right of giving
their opinions and suffrages upon affairs of state was at an end; nor
dared they, either in their own persons or by the poets, presume to
censure the sentiments and conduct of their masters. The calling persons
by their names upon the stage was prohibited: but poetical ill-nature soon
found the secret of eluding the intention of the law, and of making itself
amends for the restraint which was imposed upon it by the necessity of
using feigned names. It then applied itself to discover what was
ridiculous in known characters, which it copied to the life, and from
thence acquired the double advantage of gratifying the vanity of the
poets, and the malice of the audience, in a more refined manner: the one
had the delicate pleasure of putting the spectators upon guessing their
meaning, and the other of not being mistaken in their suppositions, and of
affixing the right name to the charac