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DISCOURSE

ON

PASTORAL POETRY."

THERE are not, I believe, a greater number of any

fort of verfes than of thofe which are called Paftorals; nor a fmaller than of those which are truly fo. It therefore feems neceffary to give fome account of this kind of Poem, and it is my defign to comprize in this fhort paper the fubftance of those numerous differtations that Critics have made on the fubject, without omitting any of their rules in

a Written at fixteen years of age.

my

POPE.

This fenfible and judicious Difcourfe, written at fo early an age, is a more extraordinary production, than the Paftorals that follow it in which, I hope, it will not be deemed an injurious criticifm to say, there is scarcely a fingle rural image to be found that is new. The ideas of Theocritus, Virgil, and Spenser, are indeed here exhibited in language equally mellifluous and pure; but the defcriptions and fentiments are trite and common. To this affertion, formerly made, Dr. Johnson anfwered; "That no invention was intended:" he therefore allows the fact, and the charge. Our author has chiefly drawn his obfervations from Rapin, Fontenelle, and the preface to Dryden's Virgil. A tranflation of Rapin's Difcourfe had been fome years before prefixed to Creech's Tranflation of Theocritus, and is no extraordinary piece of criticifm. And though Hume highly praises the Difcourfe of Fontenelle, yet Dr. Hurd thinks it only rather more tolerable than

my own favour. You will alfo find fome points reconciled, about which they feem to differ, and a few remarks, which, I think, have efcaped their obfervation.

The original of Poetry is afcribed to that Age which fucceeded the creation of the world: and as the keeping of flocks feems to have been the first employment of mankind, the most ancient fort of poetry was probably paftoral. It is natural to imagine, that the leifure of those ancient fhepherds admitting and inviting fome diverfion, none was fo

his Paftorals I much wonder our Author did not allude to the elegant lines on Paftoral Poetry at the beginning of the fecond canto of Boileau's Art of Poetry. The best differtations on this fubject, feem to be thofe in the IId and Vth volumes of the Memoirs of the French Academy, that which is prefixed to Heyne's excellent edition of Virgil's Eclogues, and that which is prefixed to the * Oxford edition of Theocritus, in two volumes 4to, 1776; in which the reader will find a particular account of the three diftinct characters and perfonages introduced by Theocritus, pamely, the Keepers of Oxen, the Keepers of Sheep, and of Goats; to which distinction even Virgil did not attend: and in which he alfo will find fuch reafons for preferring the pastorals of Theocritus to thofe of Virgil, as will ferve for a complete confutation of Dr. Johnfon's opinion on this fubject.

The truly learned Heyne goes fo far as to fay, that if Virgil had written only his Bucolics, vix eum in cenfum principum poetarum venturum fuiffe arbitror. So competent and able a judge as the fweet and pathetic Racine, affured M. de Longepierre, that he thought the fecond Idyllium of Theocritus was one of the most exquifite pieces that antiquity had left us, and that it contained the moft ftriking and forcible defcriptions of the paffion of love he had ever seen.

WARTON.

Fontenelle's Difc. on Paftorals.

Edition of Theocritus by Th. Warton

POPE.

proper

proper to that folitary and fedentary life as finging; and that in their fongs they took occafion to celebrate their own felicity. From hence a Poem was invented, and fterwards improved to a perfect image of that happy time; which, by giving us an esteem for the virties of a former age, might recommend them to the pfent. And fince the life of fhepherds was attend more tranquillity than any other rural employ. , the Poets chofe to introduce their Perfons, from whom it received the name of Paftoral.

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A Paftoral is an imitation of the action of a fhepherd, or one confidered under that Character. The form of this imitation is dramatic, or narrative, or mixed of both; the fable fimple, the manners not too polite nor too ruftic: the thoughts are plain, yet admit a little quickness and paffion, but that short and flowing: the expreffion humble, yet as pure as the language will afford; neat, but not florid; eafy, and yet lively. In short, the fable, manners, thoughts, and expreffions are full of the greatest fimplicity in nature.

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

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