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The complete character of this poem confists in fimplicity, brevity, and delicacy; the two firit of which render an eclogue natural, and the last delightful.

If we would copy Nature, it may be useful to take this Idea along with us, that Paftoral is an image of what they call the golden age. So that we are not to defcribe our fhepherds as fhep. herds at this day really are, but as they may be conceived then to have been; when the best of men followed the employment To carry this refemblance yet further, it would not be amifs to give these fhepherds fome skill in aftronomy, as far as it may be useful to that fort of life. And an air of piety to the Gods fhould shine through the Poem, which fo vifibly appears in all the works of antiquity and it ought to preferve fome relish of the old way of writing; the connection fhould be loofe, the narrations and defcriptions fhort, and the periods concife. Yet it is not fufficient, that the fentences only be brief, the whole Eclogue should be fo too. For we cannot fuppofe Poetry in thole days to have been the business of men, but their recreation at vacant hours.

But with a refpet to the prefent age, nothing more conduces to make thefe compofures natural, than when fome Knowledge in rural affairs is dif

d Rapin de Carm. Paft. p. 2.

Rapin, Reflex. fur l'Art Poet. d'Arift. p. 2. Refl. xxvii.

covered. This may be made to appear rather done by chance than on defign, and sometimes is best shewn by inference; left by too much study to feem natural, we destroy that easy fimplicity from whence arifes the delight. For what is inviting in this fort of poetry proceeds not fo much from the Idea of that bufinefs, as of the tranquillity of a country life.

We must therefore use some illufion to render a Paftoral delightful; and this confifts in expofing the best fide only of a fhepherd's life, and in concealing its miferies". Nor is it enough to introduce fhepherds difcourfing together in a natural way; but a regard must be had to the subject; that it contain fome particular beauty in itself, and that it be different in every Eclogue. Befides, in each of them a defigned fcene or profpect is to be prefented to our view, which fhould likewife have its variety h. This variety is obtained in a great degree by frequent comparisons, drawn from the most agreeable objects of the country; by interrogations to things inanimate; by beautiful digreffions, but thofe fhort; fometimes by infifting a little on circumstances; and laftly, by elegant turns on the words, which render the numbers extremely fweet and pleasing. As for the numbers themselves,

f Pref, to Virg. Paft, in Dryd. Virg.
g Fontenelle's Difc. of Paftorals,
h See the forementioned Preface.

though they are properly of the heroic measure, they should be the fmootheft, the moft eafy and flowing, imaginable.

It is by rules like these that we ought to judge of Paftoral. And fince the inftructions given for any art are to be delivered as that art is in perfection, they must of neceffity be derived from those in whom it is acknowledged fo to be. It is therefore from the practice of Theocritus and Virgil (the only undifputed authors of Paftoral) that the Critics have drawn the foregoing notions concerning it.

Theocritus excels all others in nature and fimplicity. The fubjects of his Idyllia are purely paftoral; but he is not fo exact in his perfons, having introduced reapers and fishermen as well as fhepherds. He is apt to be too long in his defcriptions, of which that of the Cup in the first pastoral is a remarkable inftance. In the manners he feems a little defective, for his fwains are fometimes abufive and immodeft, and perhaps too much inclining to rufticity; for inftance, in his fourth and fifth Idyllia. But 'tis enough that all others learnt their excellencies from him, and that his Dialect alone has a fecret charm in it, which no other could ever attain.

Virgil, who copies Theocritus, refines upon his original and in all points, where judgment is principally concerned, he is much fuperior to his matter.

IQEPIZTAI, Idyl. x. and AA1E17, Idyl, xxi,

Though fome of his fubjects are not paftoral in themselves, but only feem to be fuch; they have a wonderful variety in them, which the Greek was a ftranger to ". He exceeds him in regularity and brevity, and falls fhort of him in nothing but fimplicity and propriety of ftyle; the first of which perhaps was the fault of his age, and the laft of his language.

Among the moderns, their success has been greateft who have moft endeavoured to make these ancients their pattern. The most confiderable Genius appears in the famous Taffo, and our Spenfer. Taffo in his Aminta has as far excelled all the Paftoral writers, as in his Gierufalemme he has outdone the Epic poets of his country. But as this piece feems to have been the original of a new fort of poem, the Paftoral Comedy, in Italy, it cannot fo well be confidered as a copy of the ancients. Spenfer's Calendar, in Mr. Dryden's opinion, is the most complete work of this kind which any nation has produced ever fince the time of Virgil", Not but that he may be thought imperfect in fome few points. His Eclogues are fomewhat too long, if we compare them with the ancients. He is fometimes too allegorical, and treats of matters of religion in a paftoral style, as Mantuan had done

Rapin Refl. on Arift. part. ii, refl. xxvii.-Pref. to the Ecl. in Dryden's Virg.

♫ Dedication to Virg. Ecl.

before him. He has employed the Lyric measure, which is contrary to the practice of the old l'oets. His Stanza is not fill the fame, nor always well chofen. This laft may be the reafon his expreffion is fometimes not concife enough: for the Tetrastic has obliged him to extend his sense to the length of four lines, which would have been more closely confined in the Couplet.

In the manners, thoughts, and characters, he comes near to Theocritus himself; tho', notwithstanding all the care he has taken, he is certainly inferior in his Dialect: For the Doric had its beauty and propriety in the time of Theocritus; it was ufed in part of Greece, and frequent in the mouths of many of the greatest perfons: whereas the old English and country phrafes of Spenfer were either entirely obfolete, or spoken only by people of the loweft condition. As there is a difference betwixt fimplicity and rufticity, fo the expreffion of fimple thoughts fhould be plain, but not clownish. The addition he has made of a Calendar to his Eclogues, is very beautiful; fince by this, befides the general moral of innocence and fimplicity, which is common to other authors of Pastoral, he has one peculiar to himself; he compares human Life to the feveral Seasons, and at once exposes to his readers a view of the great and little worlds, in their various changes and aspects. Yet the scrupulous divifion of his Paftorals into

Months, has

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