Wycherley was ambitious of the reputation of wit and libertinism, and he
attained it: he was probably capable of reaching the fame of true
comedy and instructive ridicule. Otway had a genius finely turned to the
pathetic; but he neither observed strictly the rules of the drama, nor
the rules, still more essential, of propriety and decorum. By one single
piece, the duke of Buckingham did both great service to his age and
honor to himself. The earls of Mulgrave, Dorset, and Roscommon wrote in
a good taste; but their productions are either feeble or careless. The
marquis of Halifax discovers a refined genius; and nothing but leisure
and an inferior station seem wanting to have procured him eminence in
literature.

Of all the considerable writers of this age, Sir William Temple is
almost the only one that kept himself altogether unpolluted by that
inundation of vice and licentiousness which overwhelmed the nation. The
style of this author, though extremely negligent, and even infected with
foreign idioms, is agreeable and interesting. That mixture of vanity
which appears in his works, is rather a recommendation to them. By means
of it we enter into acquaintance with the character of the author, full
of honor and humanity; and fancy that we are engaged, not in the perusal
of a book, but in conversation with a companion. He died in 1698, aged
seventy.

Though Hudibras was published, and probably composed, during the reign
of Charles II., Butler may justly, as well as Milton, be thought to
belong to the foregoing period. No composition abounds so much as
Hudibras in strokes of just and inimitable wit; yet are there many
performances which give as great or greater entertainment on the whole
perusal. The allusions in Butler are often dark and far-fetched; and
though scarcely any author was ever able to express his thoughts in
so few words, he often employs too many thoughts on one subject, and
thereby becomes prolix after an unusual manner. It is surprising how
much erudition Butler has introduced with so good a grace into a work
of pleasantry and humor: Hudibras is perhaps one of the most learned
compositions that is to be found in any language. The advantage which
the royal cause received from this poem, in exposing the fanaticism and
false pretences of the former parliamentary party, was prodigious. The
king himself had so good a taste as to be highly pleased with the merit
of the work, and had even got a great part of it b