ABSTRACT
'Neoclassical' begs too many questions, and 'eighteenth-century' is not always accurate, besides sounding ponderous and pedantic after about three appearances. Semantic in-fights of this kind frequently mask disputes about larger issues. The real question at stake is the propriety of Saintsbury's enquiry; that is, the things he is bent on, not the precise mode of approach he adopts. The new area of concern might be defined as the conflict of the Augustans. The emphasis lies instead on the interaction at a specific moment in English history of various entities: social facts and imaginative fictions, private men and public causes, temporal powers and spiritual drives. The whole fabric of society was woven in seemingly alien ways; institutions of government and the law departed from those of today alike in function and in operation.
