Why is it said that the later half of the 18th century is an age of reaction?

The later half of the 18th century is an age of reaction, an age of transition, an age in which there is a marked conflict between the old and the new. The men of Pope’s time had reacted against the immorality of the Restoration era the excesses of the metaphysical.

They made reason and good sense their guides, developed a rigid formalism, distrusted emotion and enthusiasm, so that the atmosphere of their life and writing became hard and dry. In the age of Dr. Johnson, we find that there is a reaction against the self-complacency, the artificiality, the formalism and intellectuality of the previous age. There is renaissance of felling, and awakening to the wonder and mystery of the world around. “The emotions, long repressed, were now reinstated and all life was modified in consequence “(Hudson).