nish every month with a particular description, as it may every season. Of the following eclogues I shall only say that these four comprehend all the subjects which the critics upon Theocritus and Virgil will allow to be fit for pastoral: that they have as much variety of description, in respect of the several seasons, as Spenser's; that in order to add to this variety, the several times of the day are observed, the rural employments in each season or time of day, and the rural scenes or places proper to such employments; not without some regard to the several ages of man, and the different passions proper to each age. But after all, if they have any merit, it is to be attributed to some good old authors, whose works as I had leisure to study, so I hope I have not wanted care to imitate. SPRING: THE FIRST PASTORal1, or Damon. TO SIR WILLIAM TRUMBAL 2. FIRST in these fields I try the sylvan strains, 1 These Pastorals were written at the age of sixteen, and then passed through the hands of Mr. Walsh, Mr. Wycherley, G. Granville afterwards Lord Lansdown, Sir William Trumbal, Dr. Garth, Lord Halifax, Lord Somers, Mr. Mainwaring, and others. All these gave our author the greatest encouragement, and particularly Mr. Walsh, whorn Mr. Dryden, in his postscript to Virgil, calls the best critic of his age. "The author (says he) seems to have a particular genius for this kind of poetry, and a judgment that much exceeds his years. He has taken very freely from the ancients. But what he has mixed of his own with theirs is no way inferior to what he has taken from them. It is not flattery at all to say, that Virgil had written nothing so good at his age. His preface is very judicious and learned." Letter to Mr. Wycherley, Ap. 1705. The Lord Lansdown, about the same time, mentioning the youth of our poet, says (in a printed letter of the character of Mr. Wycherley,)" that if he goes on as he hath begun in the pastoral way, as Virgil first tried his strength, we may hope to see English poetry vie with the Roman," &c. Notwithstanding the early time of their production, the author esteemed these as the most correct in the versification, and musical in the numbers, of all his works. The reason for his labouring them into so much softness was, doubtless, that this sort of poetry derives almost its whole beauty from a natural ease of thought and smoothwhereas that of most other kinds consists in ness of verse; the strength and fulness of both. In a letter of his to Mr. Walsh about this time, we find an enumeration of several niceties in versification, which perhaps have never been strictly observed in any English poem, except in these Pastorals. They were not printed till 1709. Our author's friendship with this gentleman commenced at very unequal years; he was under sixteen, but Sir William above sixty, and had lately resigned his employment of Secretary of State to King William. "Prima Syracosio dignata est ludere versu Nostra, nec erubuit sylvas habitare, Thalia." This is the general exordium and opening of the Pastorals, in imitation of the sixth of Virgil, which some have therefere not improbably thought to have been the first originally. In the beginnings of the other three Pastorals, he imitates expressly those which now stand first of the three chief poets in this kind, Spenser, Virgil, Theocritus. Fair Thames, flow gently from thy sacred spring, You, that too wise for pride, too good for power, Soon as the flocks shook off the nightly dews, Two swains, whom love kept wakeful, and the muse, Pour'd o'er the whitening vale their fleecy care, Fresh as the morn, and as the season fair: The dawn now blushing on the mountain's side, Thus Daphnis spoke, and Strephon thus replied. DAPHNIS. Hear how the birds, on every blooming spray, With joyous music wake the dawning day! Why sit we mute, when early linnets sing, When warbling Philomel salutes the spring! Why sit we sad, when Phosphor shines so clear, And lavish nature paints the purple year? STREPHON. Sing then, and Damon shall attend the strain, While yon slow oxen turn the furrow'd plain. Here the bright crocus and blue violet glow, Here western winds on breathing roses blow. I'll stake yon lamb, that near the fountain plays, And from the brink his dancing shade surveys. DAPHNIS. And I this bowl, where wanton ivy twines, And swelling clusters bend the curling viness: Four figures rising from the work appear, The various seasons of the rolling year; And what is that, which binds the radiant sky, Where twelve fair signs in beauteous order lie! DAMON. Then sing by turns, by turns the Muses sing, Now hawthorns blossom, now the daisies spring, Now leaves the trees, and flowers adorn the ground; Begin, the vales shall every note rebound. A shepherd's boy (he seeks no better name)Beneath the shade a spreading beech displays,Thyrsis, the music of that murmuring spring,are manifestly imitations of -A shepherd's boy (no better do him call) " "Tityre, tu patulæ recubans sub tegmine fagi." • Αδύ τι τὸ ψιθύρισμα καὶ ὁ πίτυς, αἰπόλι, τήνα. 4 Sir W. Trumbal was born in Windsor-forest, to which he retreated after he had resigned the post of Secretary of State of King William III. 5" Lenta quibus torno facili superaddita vitis, Diffusos hederâ vestit pallente corymbos."-VIRG, The Shepherd's hesitation at the name of the Zodiac imitates that in Virgil, "Et quis fuit alter, Descripsit radio totum qui gentibus orbem?" 6 Literally from Virgil, "Alternis dicetis, amant alterna Camoenæ : Et nunc omnis ager, nunc omnis parturit arbos; STREPHON. Inspire me, Phoebus, in my Delia's praise, With Waller's strains, or Granville's moving lays! A milk-white bull shall at your altars stand, That threats a fight, and spurns the rising sand2. DAPHNIS. O Love! for Sylvia let me gain the prize, And make my tongue victorious as her eyes: No lambs or sheep for victims I'll impart, Thy victim, Love, shall be the shepherd's heart. STREPHON. Me gentle Delia beckons from the plain, Then hid in shades, eludes her eager swain; But feigns a laugh, to see me search around, And by that laugh the willing fair is found. DAPHNIS. The sprightly Sylvia trips along the green, She runs, but hopes she does not run unseen; While a kind glance at her pursuer flies3, How much at variance are her feet and eyes! STREPHON. O'er golden sands let rich Pactolus flow, And trees weep amber on the banks of Po; Bright Thames's shores the brightest beauties yield, Feed here my lambs, I'll seek no distant field. DAPHNIS. Celestial Venus haunts Idalia's groves; Diana Cynthus, Ceres Hybla loves; If Windsor-shades delight the matchless maid, Cynthus and Hybla yield to Windsor-shade, STREPHON, All nature mourns', the skies relent in showers, Hush'd are the birds, and closed the drooping flowers; If Delia smile, the flowers begin to spring, DAPHNIS. STREPHON. Say, Daphnis, say, in what glad soil appears, A wondrous tree that sacred monarchs bears5; Tell me but this, and I'll disclaim the prize, And give the conquest to thy Sylvia's eyes. All nature laughs, the groves are fresh and fair, The sun's mild lustre warms the vital air; If Sylvia smiles, new glories gild the shore, And vanquish'd nature seems to charm no more. STREPHON. In spring the fields, in autumn hills I love, At morn the plains, at noon the shady grove, But Delia always; absent from her sight, Nor plains at morn, nor groves at noon delight. DAPHNIS. DAPHNIS. Nay tell me first, in what more happy fields DAMON. Cease to contend, for, Daphnis, I decree, The bowl to Strephon, and the lamb to thee: Blest swains, whose nymphs in every grace excel; Blest nymphs, whose swains those graces sing Sylvia's like autumn ripe, yet mild as May, More bright than noon, yet fresh as early day; Even spring displeases, when she shines not here; But blest with her, 'tis spring throughout the year. so well! Now rise, and haste to yonder woodbine bowers, 1 George Granville, afterwards Lord Lansdown, known for his Poems, most of which he composed very young, and proposed Waller as his model. 2 Virg."Pascite taurum, Qui cornu petat, et pedibus jam spargat arenam." Imitation of Virgil "Malo me Galatea petit, lasciva puella, Et fugit ad salices, sed se cupit ante videri." 4"Aret ager, vitio moriens sitit aëris herba," &c. Phyllidis adventu nostræ nemus omne virebit." VIRG. SUMMER: THE SECOND PASTORAL, OR Alexis. TO DR. GARTH. A SHEPHERD's boy (he seeks no better name) Accept, O GARTH! the Muse's early lays, Ye shady beeches, and ye cooling streams, Defence from Phoebus', not from Cupid's beams, To you I mourn, nor to the deaf I sing 10, The woods shall answer, and their echo ring". The hills and rocks attend my doleful lay, Why art thou prouder and more hard than they? 5 An allusion to the Royal Oak, in which Charles II. had been hid from the pursuit after the battle at Worcester. 6 Alludes to the device of the Scots monarchs, the thistle, worn by Queen Anne; and to the arms of France, the fleur-de-lys. The two riddles are in imitation of those in Virg. Ecl. iii. "Dic, quibus in terris inscripti nomina Regum 7 The scene of this pastoral by the river side, suitable to the heat of the season; the time, noon. 8"Jupiter et læto descendet plurimus imbri."-VIRG. 9 Dr. Samuel Garth, author of "The Dispensary," was one of the first friends of our poet, whose acquaintance with him began at fourteen or fifteen. Their friendship continued from the year 1703 to 1718, which was that of his death. 10 Non canimus surdis, respondent omnia sylvæ." 11 A line out of Spenser's Epithalamion. VIRO. The bleating sheep with my complaints agree, Where stray ye, Muses, in what lawn or While your Alexis pines in hopeless love? Oh! were I made by some transforming power And yet my numbers please the rural throng, See what delights in sylvan scenes appear! bowers; When weary reapers quit the sultry field, 1 "Quæ nemora, aut qui vos saltus habuere, puellæ * Virgil again, from the Cyclops of Theocritus- Cum placidum ventis staret mare; non ego Daphnim, "Habitarunt Di quoque sylvas."—VIRG. O deign to visit our forsaken seats, The mossy fountains, and the green retreats! But see, the shepherds shun the noon-day heat, AUTUMN: THE THIRD PASTORAL, OR TO MR. WYCHERLEY. BENEATH the shade a spreading beech displays, Thou, whom the Nine with Plautus' wit inspire, Now setting Phoebus shone serenely bright, Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs away! Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs along! 7" Me tamen urit amor, quis enim modus adsit amori?" 8 This pastoral consists of two parts, like the eighth of 9 Mr. Wycherley, a famous author of comedies; of which the most celebrated were the Plain Dealer and Country Wife. He was a writer of infinite spirit, satire, and wit. The only objection made to him was, that he had too much. However, he was followed in the same way by Mr. Congreve, though with a little more correctness. For her, the limes their pleasing shades deny; Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs along! Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs away! Come, Delia, come; ah, why this long delay? Thro' rocks and caves the name of Delia sounds, Delia, each cave and echoing rock rebounds. Ye powers, what pleasing frenzy soothes my mind! Do lovers dream, or is my Delia kind3 ? She comes, my Delia comes! Now cease my lay, And cease, ye gales, to bear my sighs away! Next Egon sung, while Windsor groves admired; Rehearse, ye Muses, what yourselves inspired. Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful strain ! Of perjured Doris, dying I complain : Here, where the mountains, lessening as they rise, Lose the low vales, and steal into the skies; While labouring oxen, spent with toil and heat, In their loose traces from the field retreat : While curling smokes from village-tops are seen, And the fleet shades glide o'er the dusky green. Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful lay! Beneath yon poplar oft we pass'd the day; Oft on the rind I carved her amorous vows, While she with garlands hung the bending boughs; The garlands fade, the vows are worn away; So dies her love, and so my hopes decay. From shepherds, flocks, and plains, I may remove, Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful strain ! Now bright Arcturus glads the teeming grain, Now golden fruits on loaded branches shine, And grateful clusters swell with floods of wine; Now blushing berries paint the yellow grove; Just gods! shall all things yield returns but love? Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful lay! The shepherds cry, "Thy flocks are left a prey" Ah! what avails it me, the flocks to keep, Who lost my heart while I preserved my sheep. Pan came, and ask'd what magic caused my smart, Or what ill eyes malignant glances dart4 ? What eyes but hers, alas, have power to move! And is there magic but what dwells in love! Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful strains! I'll fly from shepherds, flocks, and flowery plains, Thus sung the shepherds till the approach of night, The skies yet blushing with departing light, When falling dews with spangles deck'd the glade, And the low sun had lengthen'd every shade. WINTER: THE FOURTH PASTORAL, OR Daphne. TO THE MEMORY OF MRS. TEMPEST®. THYRSIS, the music of that murmuring spring THYRSIS. Behold the groves that shine with silver frost, Their beauty wither'd, and their verdure lost. Here shall I try the sweet Alexis' strain, That call'd the listening Dryads to the plain! Thames heard the numbers as he flow'd along, And bade his willows learn the moving song. LYCIDAS. So may kind rains their vital moisture yield, Begin; this charge the dying Daphne gave, THYRSIS. Ye gentle Muses, leave your crystal spring, 5 "Nunc scio quid sit Amor : duris in cotibus illum," &c. This lady was of an ancient family in Yorkshire, and particularly admired by the author's friend Mr. Walsh, who having celebrated her in a pastoral elegy, desired his friend to do the same, as appears from one of his letters, dated Sept. 9, 1706. "Your last eclogue being on the same subject with mine on Mrs. Tempest's death, I should take it very kindly in you to give it a little turn, as if it were to the memory of the same lady." Her death having happened on the night of the great storm in 1703, gave a propriety to this eclogue, which in its general turn alludes to it. The scene of the Pastoral lies in a grove; the time at midnight. Adú ri, &c. Theocr. Id. i. "Audiit Eurotas, jussitque ediscere lauros."-VIRG. "Inducite fontibus umbras Et tumulum facite, et tumulo superaddite carmen. "Let nature change, let heaven and earth deplore, For her the flocks refuse their verdant food, In notes more sad than when they sing their own; Her name with pleasure once she taught the shore, Or, hush'd with wonder, hearken from the sprays: But see! where Daphne, wondering, mounts on In reading several passages of the prophet Isaiah, which foretell the coming of Christ and the felicities attending it, I could not but observe a remarkable parity between many of the thoughts, and those in the Pollio of Virgil. This will not seem surprising, when we reflect, that the eclogue was taken from a Sibylline prophecy on the same subject. One may judge that Virgil did not copy it line by line, but selected such ideas as best agreed with the nature of pastoral poetry, and disposed them in that manner which served most to beautify his piece. I have endeavoured the same in this imitation of him, though without admitting any thing of my own; since it was written with this particular view, that the reader, by comparing the several thoughts, might see how far the images and descriptions of the Prophet are superior to those of the Poet. But as I fear I have prejudiced them by my management, I shall subjoin the passages of Isaiah, and those of Virgil, under the same disadvantage of a literal translation. YE nymphs of Solyma! begin the song: "Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedamus amori." Vid. etiam Sannazarii Ecl. et Spenser's Calendar. 5 These four last lines allude to the several subjects of the four Pastorals, and to the several scenes of them, particularized before in each. "A Virgin shall conceive.-All crimes shall cease," &c. "Now the Virgin returns, now the kingdom of Saturn returns, now a new progeny is sent down from high heaven. By means of thee, whatever reliques of our crimes remain shall be wiped away, and free the world from perpetual fears. He shall govern the earth in peace, with the virtues of his father." Isaiah, ch. vii. ver. 14.-" Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a son." Ch. ix. ver. 6, 7.“ Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; the Prince of Peace: of the increase of his government, and of his peace, there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order and to establish it, with judgment, and with justice, for ever and ever." |