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AUTUMN:

THE THIRD PASTORAL,"

OR

HYLAS and EGON.

TO MR. WYCHERLEY.†

BENEATH the fhade a spreading Beech displays,
Hylas and Ægon fung their rural lays;

This mourn'd a faithless, that an absent Love,
And Delia's name and Doris' fill'd the Grove.

Ye Mantuan nymphs, your facred fuccour bring; 5
Hylas and Ægon's rural lays I fing.

REMARK S.

Thou,

a This Pastoral consists of two parts, like the viiith of Virgil : The Scene, a Hill; the Time at Sun-set.

POPE.

+ His intrigues with the Dutchess of Cleveland, his marriage with the Countess of Drogheda, Charles the Second's displeasure on this marriage, his debts and distresses, and other particulars of his life, are well related by Dennis in a Letter to Major Pack, 1720. In Dennis's collection of Letters, published in two volumes, 1721, to which Mr. Pope fubfcribed, Lord Lanfdown has drawn his character, as a Writer, in an elegant manner; chiefly with a view of fhewing the impropriety of an epithet given to him by Lord Rochester, who called him Slow Wycherley; for that, notwithstanding his pointed wit, and forcible expreffion, he compofed with facility and haste. WARTON.

Thou, whom the Nine, with Plautus' wit inspire, The art of Terence, and Menander's fire;

Whose sense instructs us, and whofe humour charms, Whofe judgment fways us, and whose spirit warms! Oh, skill'd in Nature! fee the hearts of Swains, Their artless paffions, and their tender pains.

REMARKS.

II

Now

VER. 7. Thou, whom the Nine,] 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, fatire, and wit. The only objection made to him was, that he had too much. However, he was followed in the fame way by Mr. Congreve, tho' with a little more correctness.

Surely with much more correctnefs, tafte, and judgment.

POPE.

WARTON.

VER. 8. The art of Terence, and Menander's fire ;] This line alludes to that famous character given of Terence, by Cæfar: "Tu quoque, tu in fummis, ô dimidiate Menander, Poneris, et merito, puri fermonis amator:

Lenibus atque utinam fcriptis adjuncta foret vis
Comica."

So that the judicious critic fees he fhould have faid-with Menander's fire. For what the Poet meant, was, that his friend had joined to Terence's art, what Cæfar thought wanting in Terence, namely, the vis comica of Menander. Befides,-and Menander's fire, is making that the Characteristic of Menander which was not. He was distinguished for having art and comic Spirit in conjunction, and Terence having only the first part, is called the half of Menander. WARBURTON.

VER. 9. Whofe fenfe inftruds us,] He was always very careful in his encomiums not to fall into ridicule, the deserved fate of weak and prostitute flatterers, and which they rarely escape. For fenfe, he would willingly have faid moral; propriety required it. But this dramatic Poet's moral was remarkably faulty. His plays are all fhamefully profligate both in the Dialogue and WARBURTON.

Action.

VER. 11. Oh, skill'd] Few writers have lefs nature in them than Wycherley. WARTON.

Now fetting Phoebus fhone ferenely bright,

And fleecy clouds were streak'd with purple light;
When tuneful Hylas with melodious moan,

15

Taught rocks to weep, and made the mountains groan.
Go, gentle gales, and bear my fighs away!
To Delia's ear the tender notes convey.

As fome fad turtle his loft love deplores,

And with deep murmurs fills the founding fhores;
Thus, far from Delia, to the winds I mourn,
Alike unheard, unpity'd, and forlorn.

Go, gentle gales, and bear my fighs along!
For her, the feather'd quires neglect their fong:
For her, the limes their pleasing fhades deny;
For her, the lilies hang their heads, and die.
Ye flow'rs that droop, forfaken by the fpring,
Ye birds that, left by fummer, cease to fing,
Ye trees that fade when autumn-heats remove,
Say, is not absence death to those who love?
Go, gentle gales, and bear my fighs away!
Curs'd be the fields that cause my Delia's ftay;
Fade ev'ry bloffom, wither ev'ry tree,

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25

30

Die ev'ry flow'r, and perifh all, but fhe.

What have I faid? where'er my Delia flies,

35

Let fpring attend, and fudden flow'rs arise;

Let

REMARKS.

V.R. 25.] This rich affemblage of very pleafing paftorak images, is yet excelled by Shenfton's beautiful Paftoral Ballad in

four parts

WARTON.

Line 17, to 30. Go, gentle gales, &c.] Thefe lines are very beautiful, tender, and melodious.

Let op'ning roses knotted oaks adorn,
And liquid amber drop from ev'ry thorn.

Go, gentle gales, and bear my fighs along!
The birds fhall ceafe to tune their ev'ning fong,
The winds to breathe, the waving woods to move,
And streams to murmur, ere I cease to love.
Not bubbling fountains to the thirsty swain,
Not balmy sleep to lab'rers faint with pain,

REMARKS.

40

Not

VER. 43. Not bubbling] The turn of thefe four lines is evidently borrowed from Drummond of Hawthornden, a charming but neglected Poet. He was born 1585, and died 1649. His verfes are as smooth as Waller's, whom he preceded many years, having written a poem to King James, 1617; whereas Waller's first compofition was to Charles I, 1625. His Sonnets are exquifitely beautiful and correct. He was one of our first, and best imitators of the Italian Poets, and Milton had certainly read and admired him, as appears by many paffages that might be quoted for that purpose. The four lines mentioned above follow:

To virgins flow'rs, to fun-burnt earth the rain,

To mariners fair winds amid the main,

Cool fhades to pilgrims, whom hot glances burn,
Are not so pleasing as thy bleft return.

And afterwards again our author borrows in Abelard ;

The grief was common, common were the cries.

I will just add, that Drayton's Paftorals, and his Nymphidia, do not feem to be attended to fo much as they deferve. WARTON,

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Quale fopor feffis in gramine, quale per æftum

Dulcis aquæ faliente fitim reftinguere rivo." Ecl. v. P.

Not show'rs to larks, nor fun-fhine to the bee,
Are half so charming as thy fight to me.

Go, gentle gales, and bear my fighs away!
Come, Delia, come; ah, why this long delay?
Thro' rocks and caves the name of Delia founds,
Delia, each cave and echoing rock rebounds.

45

50

Ye pow'rs, what pleasing phrenzy fooths my mind!
Do lovers dream, or is my Delia kind?
She comes, my Delia comes!-Now cease my lay,
And ceafe, ye gales, to bear my fighs away!

admir'd;

Next Ægon fung, while Windfor groves
Rehearse, ye Mufes, what yourselves infpir'd.
Refound, ye hills, refound my mournful strain !
Of perjur❜d Doris, dying I complain:

Here, where the mountains, less'ning as they rise,
Lose the low vales, and steal into the skies:

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60

VARIATIONS.

VER. 48. Originally thus in the MS.

With him through Lybia's burning plains I'll go,
On Alpine mountains tread th' eternal snow :
Yet feel no heat but what our loves impart,
And dread no coldness but in Thyrfis' heart.

IMITATIONS.

While

WARBURTON.

VER. 52.

"An qui amant, ipfi fibi fomnia fingunt ?"
Id. viii. P.

VER. 59 to 64. Here, where the mountains, &c.] The "lab'"in his loofe traces," is from Milton's Comus.

ring" ox,

What time the labor'd ox

In his loose traces from the furrow came.

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