The satire is equally good, whether its objects are mere names or realities.
But the moral question is quite distinct.

In that case we must ask whether Pope used words calculated or intended to fix an imputation upon particular people.

Whether he did it in prose or verse, the offence was the same.

In many cases he gives real names, and in many others gives unmistakable indications, which must have fixed his satire to particular people.

If he had written Addison for Atticus (as he did at first), or Lady Mary for Sappho, or Halifax for Bufo, the insinuation could not have been clearer.