Just trawling the web sometimes can bring forth pearls. Here's part of a course description from Autumn 1995 from the University of Pennsylvania: The Age of Reason? English 3.303 The eighteenth century is often called an age of reason, propriety, and enlightenment; but it was also an age of squalor, filth, disease, crime, prostitution, violence, and insanity: and these less attractive (but perhaps more interesting) elements are favorites of eighteenth-century writers ... no punches pulled there! However, take a look at some songs from this period: bawdy they are! DW