It was not so when Judgement and Wit were something more than Pretence only, when they were in the Heighth of Excellence, under the Patronage of _Augustus_. My Lord _Roscommon_, in his Preface to _Horace_'s Art of Poetry writes thus: _I am below the Envy of the Criticks, but if I durst, I would beg them to remember, that_ Horace _ow'd his Favour and his Fortune to the Character given of him by_ Virgil _and_ Varius; _that_ Fundanius _and_ Pollio _are still valued by what_ Horace _say of them, and that in that Golden Age there was a good Understanding among the Ingenious; and those who were the most esteem'd were the best natur'd._ _Dryden_ has made the same Observation: _Certainly, the Poets of_ Ovid_'s Age enjoy'd much Happiness in the Conversation and Friendship of one another._ _The antient Criticks_, says the _Spectator_, _are full of the Praises of their Contemporaries. They discover Beauties which escap'd the Observation of the Vulgar, and very often find out Reasons for palliating and excusing such Slips and Oversights, as were committed in the Writings of eminent Authors._ Mr. _Addison_ has imitated them in his Remarks upon _Milton_'s _Paradice Lost_; but it must be allowed that the Task was made very easy, and the Beauties shine so brightly, that there's no taking one's Eye off of them. It has also been wish'd, that the two or three Slips in Expression which he quotes out of _Milton_ had been excused, as they might have been by observing, that if there's a Pun in the _Paradice Lost_, 'tis the Devil that makes it. One of the surest Signs, that the Wits of the past and present Age, _English_ and _French_, are not of the Size of those of the Age of _Augustus_, is their Jealousies and Broils. The _Spectator_ has this Remark, Nº 409; _I cannot think, that_ Corneille, Racine, Moliere, Boileau, La Fontaine, Bruyere, Bossu, _or the_ Dacier_'s, would have written so well as they did, had they not been Friends and Contemporaries._ 'Tis said very much in Favour of good Nature, and therefore is very agreeable: But I Question, whether Emulation, and sometimes even Resentment, may not produce very good Effects in the Works of the Ingenious. _Facit Indignatio versus._ _Godeau_, _Vaugelas_, _Malherbe_, were Men of great Merit; and so were also, _Maynard_, _La Mothe Le Vayer_, and _Costar_; yet they wrote against one another with some Acrimony. 'Tis Envy and Spleen, that produce a Set of Writers in _England_, call'd _Answerers_, whose Modesty may be conceived by some of their Titles, _The best Answer that ever was._ Part 1st. _The best Answer that ever was._ Part the 2d. _A better Answer_ than the _best Answer_. The _Unanswerable Answer_, by _Lesley_ and others. You can't publish a _Pamphlet_ or _Essay_, but it is immediately snapt at to be answer'd: Nay, Dr. _Halley_'s Calculation of the Eclipse in a Half-sheet had two or three _political_ Answers.