some of the writers. The close adherence also which the majority of
them manifest to the broadly marked types of "Horatian" and
"Juvenalian" satire, both in matter and manner, is not a little
remarkable. The genius for selecting from the classics those forms both
of composition and metre best suited to become vehicles for satire, and
adapting them thereto, did not begin to manifest itself in so
pronounced a manner until after the Restoration. The Elizabethan
mind--using the phrase of course in its broad sense as inclusive of the
Jacobean and the early Caroline epochs--was more engrossed with the
matter than the manner of satire. Perhaps the finest satire which
distinguished this wonderful era was the _Argenis_ of John Barclay, a
politico-satiric romance, or, in other words, the adaptation of the
"Milesian tale" of Petronius to state affairs.

During the Parliamentary War, satire was the only species of
composition which did not suffer more or less eclipse, but its
character underwent change. It became to a large extent a medium for
sectarian bitterness. It lost its catholicity, and degenerated in great
measure into the instrument of partisan antagonism, and a means of
impaling the folly or fanaticism, real or imagined, of special
individuals among the Cavaliers and Roundheads.[12] Of such a character
was the bulk of the satires produced at that time. In a few instances,
however, a higher note was struck, as, for example, when "dignified
political satire", in the hands of Andrew Marvell, was utilized to
fight the battle of freedom of conscience in the matter of the
observances of external religion. _The Rehearsal Transposed, Mr.
Smirke, or the Divine in Mode, and his Political Satires_ are
masterpieces of lofty indignation mingled with grave and ironical
banter. Among many others Edmund Waller showed himself an apt disciple
of Horace, and produced charming social satires marked by delicate wit