Writers of the Times.

The Question first ask'd is, whether an Author is a Whig or a Tory; if
he be a Whig, or that Party which is in Power, his Praise is
resounded, he's presently cried up for an excellent Writer; if not,
he's mark'd as a Scoundrel, a perpetual Gloom hangs over his Head; if
he was Master of the sublime Thoughts of _Addison_, the easy flowing
Numbers of _Pope_, the fine Humour of _Garth_, the beautiful Language
of _Rowe_, the Perfection of _Prior_, the Dialogue of _Congreve_, and
the Pastoral of _Phillips_, he must nevertheless submit to a mean
Character, if not expect the Reputation of an Illitterate.

Writings for the Stage are of late so very much perverted by the
Violence of Party, that the finest Performance, without Scandal,
cannot be supported; _Shakespear_ and _Ben Johnson_, were they, now
living, would be wholly at a Loss in the Composure of a Play suitable
to the Taste of the Town; without a promiscuous heap of Scurrility to
expose a Party, or, what is more detestable, perhaps a particular
Person, no Play will succeed, and the most execrable Language, in a
Comedy, produc'd at this Time, shall be more applauded than the most
beautiful Turns in a _Love for Love_: Such are the Hardships a
Dramatick-Poet has to struggle with, that either Obscenity, Party, or
Scandal must be his Theme, and after he has performed his utmost in
either of these Ways, without a powerful Interest, he'll have more
Difficulty in the bringing his Play upon the Theatre than in the
Writing, and sometimes never be able to accomplish it.

These are the Inconveniencies which Writers for the Stage labour
under, besides 'tis observable, that an obsequious prolifick Muse
generally meets with a worse Reception than a petulant inanimate