the reasons of this supposed excellence.


No. CXXXIII. Tuesday, February 12. 1754.

_At nostri proavi Plautinos et numeros et
Laudeveres sales; nimium patienter utrumque,
Ne dicam stule, mirati; si modo ego et vos
Scimus inurbanum lepido seponere dicto_.
HOR.

"And yet our fires with joy could Plautus hear;
Gay were his jests, his numbers charm'd their ear."
Let me not say too lavishly they prais'd;
But sure their judgment was full cheaply pleas'd,
If you or I with taste are haply blest,
To know a clownish from a courtly jest.
FRANCIS.

The fondness I have so frequently manifested for the ancients, has not
so far blinded my judgment, as to render me unable to discern, or
unwilling to acknowledge, the superiority of the moderns, in pieces of
Humour and Ridicule. I shall, therefore, confirm the general assertion
of Addison, part of which hath already been examined.

Comedy, Satire, and Burlesque, being the three chief branches of
ridicule, it is necessary for us to compare together the most admired
performances of the ancients and moderns, in these three kinds of
writing, to qualify us justly to censure or commend, as the beauties
or blemishes of each party may deserve.