Than _Sheva_, none more loyal Zeal have shown, Wakefull, as _Judah's_ Lion for the Crown, Who for that Cause still combats in his Age, For which his Youth with danger did engage. In vain our factious Priests the Cant revive, In vain seditious Scribes with Libels strive T'enflame the Crow'd, while He with watchfull Eye Observes, and shoots their Treasons as they fly. Their weekly Frauds his keen Replies detect, He undeceives more fast than they infect. So _Moses_ when the Pest on _Legions_ prey'd, Advanc'd his Signal and the Plague was stay'd.[13] Parochial as these concerns seem today, the _Observator_ in its totality goes far beyond the Harry Cares and "Elephant" Smiths in its exhortation to greater rationality in areas ancillary to but transcending politics proper. Its assiduous ridicule of Enthusiasm, following in the steps of Meric Casaubon and Henry More,[14] its analyses of political manipulation of the naive populace, its explanations of psychological appeals, its Orwellian warnings against the snares of loaded diction and the dangers of affective political rhetoric--all these efforts evident in the few _Observators_ represented here are an important step in the direction of a less superstitious, less hysterical century. Paradoxically, L'Estrange mobilized progressive ideas in the service of an archaic political and religious administration, thereby familiarizing the man on the street with notions and attitudes commonly known as Enlightened. The sugar coating in the _Observator_ is, however, as significant as the pill, and distinguishes L'Estrange's journalism from his predecessors'. Apart from the traditional satiric blend of verbal banter and polemic, which has received ample commentary,[15] his use of established literary modes further enhances the colloquies, making them especially diverting for his audience and interesting for us. As dialogues, the papers belong to a genre whose popularity has remained constant from Plato onward. The appeal of the form lies in its pleasurable verisimilitude, immediacy, adaptability to differing points of view, and, especially after the Restoration, in its potentiality for humorous repartee.[16] As _satiric_ dialogues, L'Estrange's sheets satisfy what seems to be a universal love of ridicule, an innate trait of the human mind, although there is no agreement among students of satire as to its exact psychological operations. In addition to adopting this form, which belongs to imaginative literature rather than to journalism, L'Estrange spices his _Observator_ with a number of other devices designed to provide variety, change in speed, and amusement for his reader, who is in turn bullied, joshed, castigated, reasoned, or laughed into accepting L'Estrange's views.