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eity was cultivated and revered. Though we are sometimes struck with the rays of his genius breaking out into more exalted descriptions, paftoral appears to be his favourite province *.

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Confidering him as a writer who drew his fen- Our author was too great to rife by imitation. timents from the principles of nature, we may ra- Though he had both Theocritus and Virgil for ther admire that his Idylliums are fo engaging, his models, his Shepherd's Calendar is altogether than cavil at his blemishes; we may reflect upon original. The dialect of his times is as happily Theocritus as the hive whence the most establish-adapted to ruftic life, as the Doric of the former,

ed writers of Eclogues have derived their sweets, or as a diamond, whofe intrinfic worth has received a luftre from the refinement of fucceeding times.

There is a very confiderable gap in the history of paftoral, between the age of Theocritus and Virgil, who was referved for the noon of its perfection. It would scarcely at first fight appear, that the period when civil war defolated the provinces, and fpread all its horrors over the neighbourhood of Rome, should tend to the improvement of the paftoral muse, whose spirit it was likely to have totally destroyed. Yet to this feemingly unfavourable fituation, we owe the most pleafing and interefting bucolis of Virgil, who has made the history of his country subservient to the efforts of his genius t.

In those feveral pieces to which the diftreffes of his times, or other political confiderations gave rife, he seems more elaborately to have exercised the faculty of invention. But where genuine nature was to be represented, he borrowed largely from Theocritus; many of his fimiles, fentiments, and descriptions, being literal translations from his Grecian master.

Even in this lefs original task, the merits of the Roman are confpicuous; he has feparated the ore from the drofs, and tranfplanted thofe flowers alone which could add a fragrance to his work.

On the whole, the paftorals of Virgil are moft agreeably conducted; they are not fet forth in jewels, or arrayed in filks, nor fordidly dreffed in rags. In the paula majora" of his mule, the poet rarely lofes fight of the fhepherd; and we may ftyle him the refined Theocritus of an Augustan age.

From this elegant era, when the language of the country and court was purity itfelf, let us pafs over to the days of our excellent Spenfer, when the converfation of the latter had just emerged from rufticity.

The genius of Spenfer was formed for poetry. The rich luxuriance of fancy which fhines through the Faery Queen, furpaffes the fublime of antiquity. Such bold conceptions little fpeak a writer qualified for paftoral. The fire of imagination,

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and the eafy flow of his defcriptions, with the natural variety of his landscapes, rivals the poetic excellence of the latter.

Proverbial fayings, not too closely crowded, add to the fimplicity of paftoral; Spenfer is fortunate in fuch applications; but I own myself most peculiarly attracted with his short leffons of morality: they add a pleafing innocence to the character of the shepherd, and reflect a luftre on the poet.

Yet amidst this fuperior merit, it must be observed, that a masterly writer of our own days has cenfured the dialogue of Spenfer as affectedly barbarous, and the reflections of his peasants as to● exalted.

It is necessary, however, to premise, that the criticifin of this author is confined to the September of the Shepherd's Calendar; an eclogue which is indeed conveyed in a dialect fingularly rustic; and the subject being the depravity of ecclefiaftical manners in popish countries, the fordid language, under which the fatire is couched, gives the greater offence to the critic; who concludes with this exclamation: "Surely at the fame time that a fhepherd learns theology, he may gain fome acquaintance with his native language !"

The more ancient dialect feems here to have been felected, as a difguife to the real purport or characters of the piece. The reign of Mary, when England was under the bondage of an arbitrary religion, and oppreffed by foreign counfels, may be efteemed the period of the Paftoral. The violence, which had been fo barbarously exerted throughout the country at that baleful season, was too recent to have been forgotten; and the Shepherd is very naturally defcribed as having filed from a perfecution, the cenfure of which was a compliment to the principles of Elizabeth.

A rural metaphor is manifeftly sustained through the performance, as if to obviate the inconfistency, which is alleged. So far from difcuffing knotty points of theological learning, the province of the peafant is clofely preferved; unless it should be infifted, that nothing relative to religion ought to concern a fhepherd.

To defcend from the writings of Spenfer to the fucceeding age, would be to point out the decline of the pastoral mufe. Indeed, she has scarcely existed, but in the productions of † Philips and of

The late Romish brutality was at that time fo interefliny a topic, and fo flattering to the crown, that Spenfer bas employed three eclogues on the subječt.

+ The palorals of Gay feem to bave been defigned, as burlefque re, refentations of scenes altogether ruftic, and particularly as a ridicule of preceding authers,

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Pope has been fo affiduous to refine his periods, that his fpirit is greatly evaporated; and his paftorals, excepting the Meffiah, only merit our attention as the marks of early genius. Sweetness of verfification, and purity of expreffion, may conffitute the character of a poet; but courtliness is not the whole that is expected in a writer of eclogues.

That love of the country, which is inherent in the bofom of reflection, has occafionally produced many later attempts on paftoral, but the most fuccefsful ones are fainter traces of rural life; the mufe has at laft varied her form, and united the charms of elegance and nature in the Ballads of Shenstone.

F

THEOCRITUS'S IDYLLIUMS,

IDYLLIUM I.

THYRSIS, OR THE HIMERÆN ODE.

THE ARGUMENT.

Tais Idyllium contains a dialogue between the fhepherd Thyrfis and a goatherd. Thyrfis, at the requeft of his friend, fings the fate of Daphnis, who died for love; for which he is rewarded with a milch goat, and a noble paftoral cup of moft excellent fculpture. This piece is with great propriety confidered as the pattern and standard of the old bucolic poems. The fcene changes from a rifing ground to a lower fituation near a fountain, where there is a fhepherd's bower facing the statues of Priapus and the Nymphs, and not far diftant a grove of oaks.

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cline;

Sweet is thy warbled reed's melodious lay;
Thou, next to Pan, fhalt bear the prize away:
If to the god a horn'd he-goat belong,
The gentler female fhall reward thy fong;
If he the female claim, a kid's thy share,
And, till you milk them, kid's are dainty fare.
Goatherd.

Sweeter thy fong, O fhepherd, than the rill
That rolls its mufic down the rocky hill;
If one white ewe content the tuneful nine,
A ftall-fed lamb, meet recompence, is thine;
And if the mufes claim the lamb their due,
My gentle Thyrfis fhall obtain the ewe.
Thyrfis.

Wilt thou on this declivity repose,
Where the rough tamarisk luxuriant grows,
And gratify the nymphs with fprightly ftrain?
I'll feed thy goats, and tend the browsing train.

Goatherd.

ΙΟ

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You the great mafter of the rural muse;
Let us beneath yon fhady elm retreat,
Where nature forms a lovely pastoral seat,
Where fculptur'd Naiads and Priapus ftand,
And groves of oak extending o'er the land;
There if you fing as fweetly as of yore,
When you the prize from Lybian Chromis bore,
This goat with twins I'll give that never fails 31
Two kids to fuckle, and to fill two pails:
To thefe I'll add, with fcented wax o'erlaid,
Of curious workmanship, and newly made,
A deep two-handled cup, whofe brim is crown'd
With ivy, join'd with belichryfe around;,

Small tendrils with clofe-clafping arms uphold
The fruit rich fpeckled with the feeds of gold.
Within, a woman's well-wrought image fhines,
A veft her limbs, her locks a caul confines; 40
And near, two neat-curl'd youths in amorous
ftrains

With fruitiefs ftrife communicate their pains:
Smiling, by turns, the views the rival pair;
Grief fwells their eyes, their heavy hearts despair.
Hard by, a fisherman, advanc'd in years,
On the rough margin of a rock appears;
Intent he ftands t' enclose the fish below,
Lifts a large net, and labours at the throw:
Such ftrong expreffion rifes on the fight,
You'd fwear the man exerted all his might; 50
For his round neck with turgid veins appears--
In years he seems, yet not impair'd by years.'
A vineyard next, with interfected lines,
And red ripe cluftres load the bending vines:
To guard the fruit a boy fits idly by,
In ambush near, two fkulking foxes lie;
This plots the branches of ripe grapes to strip,
But that, more daring, meditates the fcrip;
Refolv'd ere long to feize the favoury prey,
And fend the youngfter dinnerlefs away:
Meanwhile on ruthes all his art he plies,
In framing traps for grafhoppers and flies;
And earnest only on his own defigns,
Forgets his fatchel, and neglects his vines :
All round the foft acanthus fpreads its train-
This cup, admir'd by each Æolian fwain,
From far a Caledonian failor brought,
For a fhe-goat and new-made cheese I bought;
No lip has touch'd it, ftill unus'd it flood;
To you I give this masterpiece of wood,
If you thofe Himeræan ftrains rehearse
Of Daphnis' woes-I envy not your verse-
Dread fate, alas! may foon demand your breath,
And close your music in oblivious death.
Thyrfis.
Begin, ye nine, that fweetly wont to play,
Begin, ye mufes, the bucolic lay.

60

70

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And why this grief, he faid, ah! Daphnis, why?' Meanwhile the nymph difconfolately roves, With naked feet through fountains, woods, and groves,

And thus of faithlefs Daphnis fhe complains; (Begin, ye mufes, fweet bucolic strains) Ah youth! defective both in head and heart, A cowherd flyl'd, a goatherd fure thou art, Who when afkance with leering eye he notes The amorous gambols of his frifking goats, 110 *He longs to emulate their wanton play :'

Begin, ye nine, the sweet bucolic lay. *So when you see the virgin train advance With nimble feet, light bounding in the dance; 'Or when they foftly fpeak, or fweetly fimile, You pine with grief, and envy all the while.' Unmov'd he fat, and no reply return'd, But ftill with unavailing paffion burn'd; To death he nourish'd love's confuming painBegin, ye nine, the sweet bucolic ftrain. Venus infulting came, the youth address'd, Fore'd a faint fmile, with torture at her breast; Daphnis, you boafted you could love fubdue, "But tell me has not love defeated you? "Alas! you fink beneath his mighty fway." Begin, ye nine, the fweet bucolic lay.

120

130

# Ah, cruel Venus! Daphnis thus began,
Abhorr'd and curs'd by all the race of man,
* My day's decline, my fetting fun I know,
I pass a victim to the fhades below,
Where riots love with infolent disdain'-
Begin, ye nine, the fweet bucolic ftrain.
To Ida, Venus, fly, expofe your charms,
Ruth to Anchifes', your old cowherd's arms;

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Your cooling waves flow-winding o'er the 'plains.'

Begin, ye mufes, fweet bucolic ftrains. 'I Daphnis here my lowing oxen fed, And here my heifers to their watering led, With bulls and fteers no longer now I ftray,' Begin, ye nine, the fweet bucolic lay. Pan, whether now on Mænaius you rove, Or loiter carelefs in Lycæus' grove, Leave yon aëreal promontory's height Of Helicé projecting to the fight, Where fam'd Lycaon's ftately tomb is rear'd, 'Loft in the fkies, and by the gods rever'd; 'Hafte and revifit fair Sicilia's plains.'

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160

Ceafe, mufes, cease the fweet bucolic ftrains. Pan, take this pipe, to me for ever mute, 'Sweet ton'd, and bent your rofy lip to fuit, Compacted clofe with wax, and join'd with 'art,

For love, alas! commands me to depart; 170 Dread love and death have fummon'd me a

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Ceafe, mufes, cease the sweet bucolic lay. 'Let violets deck the bramble-bush and thorn, And fair Narciffus junipers adorn.

Let all things nature's contradi&ion wear, And lofty pines produce the luscious pear; Since Daphnis dies, let all things change around, 'Let timorous deer purfue the flying hound; Let fcreech-owls foft as nightingales complain'Ceafe, ceafe, ye nine, the sweet bucolic train. He died-and Venus ftrove to raise his head, 181 But fate had cut the laft remaining threadThe lake he paft, the whelming wave he prov'd, Friend to the mufes, by the nymphs belov'd. Ceafe, facred nine, that fweetly wont to play, Ceafe, ceafe, ye mufes, the bucolic lay. Now, friend, the cup and goat are fairly mine, Her milk's a fweet libation to the nine: Ye mufes, hail! all praife to you belongs, And future days fhall furnish better fongs. Goatherd

O, be thy mouth with figs Egilean fill'd, And drops of honey on thy lips diftill'd!

190

Thine is the cup (for fweeter far thy voice Than when in fpring the grafhoppers rejoice) Sweet is the fmell, and fcented as the bowers Wash'd by the fountains of the blissful hours.

Come, Cifs! let Thyrfis milk thee-kids, forbear

Your gambols, lo! the wanton goat is near.

NOTES ON IDYLLIUM I.

Ver. 1. POETS frequently speak of the whispering or murmuring of trees: the word ugiau, which Theocritus ufes, is very expreffive of the thing he defcribes, and properly fignifies to whifper foftly in the ear. Thus our author fays the two lovers, Idyl. 27. «äänλos ilugior, and Idyl. 2. ver. 141. Lilugiodoμes adu. Virgil has "argutum Sæpe nemus, pinofque loquentes," Ecl. 8. 22. and " levi fomnum fuadebit inire fufurro," Ecl 1. 56. Mr. Pope feems to have had this paffage in view, and even improved it, in his Eloifa to Abelard: The darkfome pines that o'er yon rocks reclin'd Wave high, and murmur to the hollow wind.

He has alfo finely imitated this paffage, and the beginning of the goatherd's fpeech, "Sweeter thy fong," &c.

Thyrfis, the music of that murmuring spring
Is not fo mournful as the ftrains you fing:
Nor rivers winding through the vales below,
So fweetly warble, or so smoothly flow. Paft. 4.

Ver. 4. Virgil comparing a shepherd with Pan, fays,

Tu nunc eris alter ab illo.

Fiel. 5. 49

Ver. 9. The Greek is to narzxes Την από τας πετρας καταλείβεται υψόθεν ύδωρ.

Thefe ten words flow with moft melodious fweetnefs: every one of them contributes to heighten the image they are to reprefent.

Homer has the fame image in nearly the fame words,

Κατα δε ψυχρον σειν ύδως

Tfolev ex mirens, &c.

Ver. 18.

Pafcentes fervabit Tityrus hædos Ecl. 5. 12.

Ver. 20. Goats and their keepers were under the protection of Pan; it is with good reafon, therefore, that the goatherd is afraid of offending that deity.

Horace, defcribing the middle of a hot day, fays, "caretque Ripa vagis taciturna ventis." Ode 29. B. 3. On which Dacier obferves, the ancients believed that at mid-day every thing was calm and ferene, because at that feafon the Sylvan deities repofed themselves,' and quotes this passage of Theocritus in confirmation of it.

Ver. 22. Horace defcribes Faunus as a very choleric god, Ode 18. B. 3. and begs he would pass through his grounds in good temper. The Greek is remarkable, Και οι αει δριμεία χολα ποτε ειναι κα

Ta-" And bitter choler always remains on his noftrils." Cafaubon obferves, that all violent paffions caufe a fenfation in the noftrils, arising from the ebullition of the fpirits, which mount towards the brain, and endeavouring to free themfelves from restraint, find a vent by the noftril, and crowding through it, dilate it in their paffage. This is evident from animals, and the nobler kinds of them, as the bull, the horse, the lion, whose noftrils always diate when moved to anger. Homer has a fimilar expression in his Odyssey, Β. 24 ανα ρινας δε οι ηδη Δρίμυ μένος προτυψε fharp fenfation ftruck his noftrils :" though this is to exprefs another paflion, viz. that of forrow arifing from filial tenderness; and is a defcription of Ulyffes and his interview with Laertes. Perfius in the fame manner fays

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Where, from the rock, with liquid lapse diftills

A limpid fount, &c.

Virgil has imitated this paffage,

Tale tuum carmen nobis, divine poeta,
Quale fopor felli in gramine, quale per æftum
Dulcis aquæ faliente fitim reftinguere rivo.

And again,

Aut Alconis habes laudes, aut jurgia Codri.

Ecl. S. 10.

Ver. 24.

Montibus in noftris folus tibi certet Amyntas.

Ecl. 5. 8.

Ecl. 5. 45.

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Nam neque me tantùm venientis fibilus auftri, Nec percuffa juvant fluctu tam litora, nec quæ Saxofas inter decurrunt flumina valles. Ecl. 5. 82.

Ver. 15. The Greek is, s ro XATANTES TUTO The fame verfe occurs, γεωλόγον, ατι μυρίκαι. Idyl. 5. ver. 101, in the Greek; in the translation

110.

Bis venit ad mulctram, binos alit ubere fœtus.

Ecl. 3. 30.

Ver. 33. Heinfius obferves, that we have here a defcription of that art which the ancients called Kngoygapia, or in laying with wax, which in the days of Theocritus was very much praised by

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