atires delivered merely in the
poet's own person must want, and with which the satirists of antiquity
were wholly unacquainted; for the Batrachomuomachia of Homer cannot be
considered as the model of these admirable pieces.

Lucian is the greatest master of Burlesque among the ancients: but the
travels of Gulliver, though indeed evidently copied from his true
history, do as evidently excel it. Lucian sets out with informing his
readers, that he is in jest, and intends to ridicule some of the
incredible stories in Ctesias and Herodotus: this introduction surely
enfeebles his satire, and defeats his purpose. The true history
consists only of the most wild, monstrous, and miraculous persons and
accidents: Gulliver has a concealed meaning, and his dwarfs and giants
convey tacitly some moral or political instruction. The Charon, or the
prospect, (Greek: epischopoyntes) one of the dialogues of Lucian, has
likewise given occasion to that agreeable French Satire, entitled,
"_Le Diable Boiteux_," or "The Lame Devil;" which has highly improved
on its original by a greater variety of characters and descriptions,
lively remarks, and interesting adventures. So if a parallel be drawn
between Lucian and Cervantes, the ancient will still appear to
disadvantage: the burlesque of Lucian principally consists in making
his gods and philosophers speak and act like the meanest of the
people; that of Cervantes arises from the solemn and important air
with which the most idle and ridiculous actions are related; and is,
therefore, much more striking and forcible. In a word, Don Quixote,
and its copy Hudibras, the Splendid Shilling, the Adventures of Gil
Blas, the Tale of a Tub, and the Rehearsal, are pieces of humour which
antiquity cannot equal, much less excel.

Theophrastus must yield to La Bruyere for his intimate knowledge of
human nature; and the Athenians never produced a writer whose humour
was so exquisite as that of Addison, or who delineated and supported a
character with so much nature and true pleasantry, as that of Sir
Roger de Coverly. It ought, indeed, to be remembered, that every
species of wit written in distant times and in dead languages, appears
with many disadvantages to present readers, from their ignorance of
the manners and customs alluded to and exposed; but the grosness, the
rudeness, and indelicacy of the ancients, will, notwithstanding,
sufficiently appear, even from the sentiments of such critics as
Cicero and Qu