fed ab aliis, Gellius memorat N. A. XI, 14. cf. eundem II, 3, XIII, 19. I, 21. Magnam copiam verfuum et lufuum in Virgilium eiusque carmina cum bona tum mala, vetuftiorum et feriorum poetarum, v. poft Pithoeum et Iof. Scaligerum in Catalectis ap. Burmann. V. Cl. in Antholog. Lat. lib. II. ep. 173 fqq. A DISSERTATION UPON PASTORAL POETRY. MAN is not fo depraved, but that representations of innocence and tranquillity, are still delightful and pleafing to the mind. The first employment of our forefathers was undoubtedly the tending of cattle: an employment which princes and patriarchs did not disdain to undertake, however oppofite it may appear to the refinements of modern life. This plainnefs and fimplicity of manners is highly amusing and captivating to perfons uncorrupted, and, as Shakespear says, unhackney'd in the ways of men; who love to be carried back into that age of quiet, of innocence and virtue, What time Dan Abraham left the Chaldee land, And o'er vaft plains their herds and flocks to feed; The love of the country is fo ftrong a paffion, that it 9 can can hardly be ever obliterated or overcome: tho' buft nefs or amusements, or criminal pursuits, or conveniences, or courts, carry men into cities, yet they ftill continue fond of fields and forefts, of meadows and rivulets. A very accomplish'd courtier affures us, that the ftateliest edifices, and the finest pieces of architecture would lofe their beauty, if rural objects were not interspersed among them. Nempe inter varias nutritur fylva columnas, HOR. This is owing to the fuperior power which the works of nature hold above thofe of art, to affect and entertain the imagination. For altho' the latter may fometimes appear very beautiful, or even wonderful, yet they can have nothing in them of that vaftness and immenfity, which afford fo great an entertainment to the mind of the beholder. The one may be as polite and delicate as the other; but can never appear so august and magnificent in the defign. There is fomething more bold and mafterly, in the rough carelefs ftrokes of nature, than in the niceft touches and embellishments of art. For this reason is Paftoral Poetry fo amufing to the mind: In her fairy region are found, Et fecura quies, & nefcia fallere vita, A true Paftoral, fays Mr. Pope, is an imitation of the action of a fhepherd; 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, but admit a little quickness and paffion, yet that short and flowing. The expreffion humble, yet as pure as the language will allow; neat, but not florid; eafy, and yet lively. In short, the 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 laft delightful. Many laboured and tedious treatises both of French and Italian critics, have been written on the nature of this kind of poetry; but I have not been able to find any thing on the subject so rational, fo judicious, and yet fo new, as a little piece very lately published, by an excellent writer of our own country, in a paper called the RAMBLER, which is therefore inserted in this place. *IN writing or judging of Paftoral Poetry, neither the authors or critics of later times feem to have paid fufficient regard to the originals left us by antiquity; but have entangled themselves with unneceffary difficulties, and advanced principles, which, having no foundation in the nature of things, are wholly to be rejected from a species of compofition in which, above all others, mere nature is to be regarded. It is, therefore, neceffary, to enquire after fome more diftinct and exact idea of this kind of writing. This may, I think, be easily found in the Paftorals of Virgil; from whofe opinion it will not appear very fafe to depart, if we confider that every advantage of nature, and of fortune, concurred to complete his productions: that he was born with great accuracy, and severity of judgment, enriched with all the learning of one of the brighteft ages, and embellished with the elegance of the Roman court; that he employed his powers rather in improving, than inventing; that, taking Theocritus for his origi The RAMBLER. N° 37. nal, nal, he found Paftoral much advanced towards perfec tion, if not already perfect; and that having therefore fo great a rival, he must have proceeded with uncommon caution. If we search the writings of Virgil, for the true definition of a Paftoral, it will be found a Poem in which any action or paffion is reprefented by its effects upon a country life. Whatsoever, therefore, may, according to the common courfe of things, happen in the country, may afford a fubject for a Paftoral Poet. In this definition, it will immediately occur, to those who are verfed in the writings of the modern critics, that there is no mention of the golden age. I cannot indeed easily discover why it is thought necessary to refer defcriptions of a rural state to remote times, nor can I perceive that any writer has confiftently preferved the Arcadian manners and fentiments. The only reafon that I have read, on which this rule has been founded, is, that according to the customs of modern life, it is improbable that shepherds should be capable of harmonious numbers, or delicate fentiments; and therefore the reader muft exalt his ideas of the Paftoral character, by carrying his thoughts back to the age in which the care of herds and flocks was the employment of the wifeft and greatest men. These reasoners feem to have been led into their hypothefis, by confidering Pastoral, not in general, as a reprefentation of rural nature, and confequently as exhibiting the ideas and fentiments of thofe, whoever they are, to whom the country affords pleasure or employment; but fimply as a dialogue, or narrative of men actually tending fheep, and bufied in the lowest and most laborious offices: from whence they very readily concluded, fince characters must neceffarily be preserved, that either the fentiments muft fink to the level of the fpeakers, |