this Poet foar'd fo high in his Paftorals, that he has afpired to rob the Canticles: Breath foft, ye Winds; ye Waters gently flow; í. In the Song of Solomon, from which he has tranflated it, our Verfion has it, Chap. ii. Verfe 5, "I "charge you, Oye Daughters of Jerufalem! by the "Roes and by the Hinds of the Field, that you not fir "not up nor awake my Love, 'till he pleafes." We would by no means be understood to blame this Liberty, more especially in this Place, the Song of Solomon being most beautifully Pastoral; we rather take an Opportunity to encourage Poets, to adorn their Verses with Flowers from that Eastern Garden, and make no Scruple, thinking it is thereby profaned, for it is indeed thereby the more honour'd.. And certain it is, the aforementioned Song of Solomon is fitlier imitated by Paftoral Writers, than many Poets pretending to have touch'd on the Strains of Shepherds. Lefs pleaseth me Mr. Philips, (notwithftanding much Sound be in the Verfe) where he laments the Death of Stella: Such courtly Lines are : meet for Perfonages, more than ruftick Swains and Youths, who have fpent great Travail in Education, might wail in fuch Guife: Unhappy Colinet! What boots thee now My My Pipe, whose foothing Sound could Paffion move, Let us fee how these three Writers of Paftoral Dialogue have described their favourite Shepherdeffes, or Miftreffes. We fhall, in Order as they were wrote, begin with Mr. Philips. Mild as a Lamb, and harmless as a Dove, True as the Turtle, is the Maid I love. How we in fecret love, I fhall not fay ; Divine her Name, and I give up the Day. Here is enough Simplicity, and rather too much; for the Shepherd is very thoughtless to rifque his Prize that he contends for, on Hobbinol's gueffing his Miftrefs's Name, and then after saying, that she is as harmless as a Dove, it is too much Sameness to say in the very next Line, that he is as true as a Turtle, that might have been well express'd in one Line; As true and harmless as the Turtle Dove. And to speak the Truth, the Turtle Dove had been pretty well flown by most Paftoral Writers. And herein lies one of the greatest Difficulties in these Sort of Compofitions, to avoid common-place Epithets, or elfe to introduce them in a Manner which may feem new. Upon this Head we cannot overpraife Mr. Pope, who fpeaketh himself in his own fine Phrafe, instead of the Shepherd's : Strephon Strephon. All Nature mourns, the Skies relent in Showers; Hufh'd are the Birds, and clos'd the drooping Flowers: If Delia fmile, the Flowers begin to fpring, The Skies to brighten, and the Birds to fing. Daphnis. All Nature laughs, the Groves are fresh and fair, The Sun's mild Luftre warms the vital Air; If Sylvia fmiles new Glories gild the Shore, And vanquish'd Nature feems to charm no more. This laft Line has fo very remote Senfe, and is of fuch difficult Reading, that it is more like a ftrain'd Line in Heroick, than what it ought here to be, the Praise of a young Shepherdefs by a Swain. Think not, benign Reader, that we venture to find any Fault with these fine Verses, all we intend, or would be thought to mean is, that they are mifplac'd: In what Manner has Mr. Gay exprefs'd himself, who left the Arcadian Plains, and draws his Scene of Action at home. Lobbin Glout. My Blauzelinda is the blitheft Lafs, Cuddy. Cuddy. My brown Buxoma is the feateft Maid, Lobbin Clout, Sweet is my Toil when Blouzelind is near, Here is nothing but plain and fimple Nature: The Flowers, the Beafts, the Seafons, nothing out of their Sight, or Reach, nothing affected, but all in Character, and all beautifully fo. Now coming to fpeak of the Dramatick Paftoral Writers, and first of Taffo, we cannot help thinking, that his artful Manner of praifing the Beauty of Sylvia, by another Woman, as quoted in the 20th Page of the foregoing Volume, has fomething in it very mafterly, to which we refer, and proceed to Guarini, the other great Italian dramatick paftoral Poet, who makes his Faithful Shepherd speak of his Mistress's Beauty thus: CRUDA CR RUDA Amarilli, che col nome ancora E più forda, più fera, e più fugace : I'mi morrò tacendo: Mà grideran per me le piagge, e i monti, Si fpeffo il tuo bel nome Which I have tranflated thus: Ah Amarillis! far more beautiful, And much more fair than are the whiteft Lillies; But than deaf Adders far more deaf and cruel: Since I offend thee when I fpeak my Love, My Tongue fhall never dare; but yet for me Shall fpeak the Fields, the Mountains, and the By me fo often taught to found thy Name: [Woods, For me fhall Fountains weep, and murmuring Winds Whisper out my Complaints; in my fad Face Grief and Diftrefs fhall fpeak, and if at last All other Things are mute, even then my Death Shall fpeak, and tell thee, that Love's Martyr dies. |