_Dryden_ answers that _Jupiter_ can do us no Harm.[358] He is known to be an Idol of Lewd Memory, and therefore his Example can have no Force: Under Favour this is a mistake: For won't Pitch daub when a dirty Hand throws it; or can't a Toad spit Poyson because she's ugly? Ribaldry is dangerous under any Circumstances of Representation. And as _Menander_ and St. _Paul_ express it, _Evil Communications corrupt good Manners_. I mention them both, because if the _Apostle_ should be dislik'd, the _Comedian_ may pass. But after all, Mr. _Dryden_ has not so much as a Heathen President for his Singularities. What then made him fall into them? Was it the Decency of the Thing, and the Propriety of _Character_, and Behaviour? By no means. For as I have observ'd before, Nature and Operations, ought to be proportion'd, and Behaviour suited to the Dignity of Being. To draw a Monkey in Royal Robes, and a Prince in _Antick_, would be Farce upon Colours, entertain like a Monster, and please only upon the score of Deformity. Why then does Mr. _Dryden_ cross upon Nature and Authority, and go off as he Confesses, from the Plan of _Plautus_, and _Moliere_? Tho' by the way, the English _Amphitryon_ has borrow'd most of the Libertine Thoughts of _Moliere_, and improv'd them. But to the former question. Why must the beaten Road be left? He tells us, _That the difference of our_ Stage _from the Roman and the French did so require it_.[359] That is, our _Stage_ must be much more Licentious. For you are to observe that Mr. _Dryden_, and his Fraternity, have help'd to debauch the _Town_, and Poyson their Pleasures to an unusal Degree: And therefore the Diet must be dress'd to the Palate of the _Company_. And since they are made _Scepticks_, they must be entertain'd as such. That the English _Amphitryon_ was contriv'd with this View is too plain to be better interpreted. To what purpose else does _Jupiter_ appear in the shape of _Jehovah_? Why are the incommunicable _Attributes_ burlesqu'd, and Omnipotence applyed to Acts of Infamy? To what end can such Horrible stuff as this serve, unless to expose the Notion, and extinguish the Belief of a Deity? The Perfections of God, are Himself. To ridicule his Attributes and his Being, are but two words for the same Thing. These Attributes are bestow'd on _Jupiter_ with great Prodigality, and afterwards execrably outrag'd. The Case being thus, the Cover of an Idol, is too thin a pretence to Screen the Blasphemy. Nothing but Mr. _Dryden's Absolom_ and _Achitophel_ can out-do This. Here I confess the Motion of his Pen is bolder, and the Strokes more Black'd. Here we have Blasphemy on the top of the Letter, without any trouble of Inference, or Construction. This Poem runs all upon Scripture Names, Upon Suppositions of the true Religion, and the right Object of Worship. Here Profaness is shut out from Defence, and lies open without Colour or Evasion. Here are no Pagan Divinities in the