Oft kifs, with lips devout, fome mould'ring ftone,
With ivy's venerable fhade o'ergrown;
Thofe hallow'd ruins better pleas'd to fee
Then all the pomp of modern luxury.

As late on Virgil's tomb fresh flow'rs I ftrow'd,
While with th' infpiring mufe my bofom glow'd,
Crown'd with eternal bays, my ravish'd eyes
Beheld the poet's awful form arise.
Stranger, he faid, whose pious hand has paid
Thefe grateful rites to my attentive fhade,
When thou shalt breathe thy happy native air,
To Pope this message from his master bear:

"Great Bard, whofe numbers I myself inspire,
To whom I give my own harmonious lyre,
If high exalted on the throne of Wit,
Near me and Homer, thou afpire to fit,
No more let meaner fatire dim thy rays,
That flow majestic from thy nobler bays;
In all the flow'ry paths of Pindus ftray,
But fhun that thorny, that unpleafing way;
Nor, when each foft engaging Mufe is thine,
Addrefs the leaft attractive of the Nine.

Of thee more worthy were the task to raise
A lafting column to thy country's praise;
To fing the land which yet alone can boast
That liberty corrupted Rome has left;
Where Science in the arms of Peace is laid,
And plants her palm beneath the olive's fhrade.
Such was the theme for which my lyre I ftrung,
Such was the people whofe exploits I fung;
Brave yet refin'd, for arms and arts renown'd,
With diff'rent bays by Mars and Phoebus crown'd,
Dauntless oppofers of tyrannic fway,
But pleas'd a mild Auguftus to obey.

If these commands fubmiffive thou receive,
Immortal and unblam'd thy name shall live;
Envy to black Cocytus fhall retire,

And howl with furies in tormenting fire ;
Approving Time shall confecrate thy lays,
And join the patriot's to the poet's praife."

VOL. I.

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George Lyttleton.

WITH A

DISCOURSE ON PASTORAL POETRY.* [WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1704.]

Rura mihi et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes,
Flumina amem, fylvafque, inglorius!

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 comprife, in this fhort paper, the fubftance of thofe numerous differtations the critics have made on the fubject, without omitting any of their rules in 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 aferibed to that age which fucceeded the creation of the world; and as the keeping of flocks feems to have been the firft employment of mankind, the most ancient fort of poetry was probably Paftoral. It is natural to imagine, that the leifure of those ancient shepherds admitting and inviting fome diverfion, none was fo 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 afterwards improved to a perfect image of that happy time; which, by giving us an efteem for the virtues of a former age, might recommend them to the prefent. And fince the life of fhepherds was attended with more tranquillity than any other rural employment, the poets chofe to introduce their perfons, from whom it received the name of Paftoral.

A Pastoral is an imitation of the action of a fhepperd, or one confidered under that character. The form of this imitation is dramatic, or narrative, or mixed of both; the fable is fimple, the manners not too polite nor too ruftic: the thoughts are plain, yet

*Written at fixteen years of age. P.

+ Fontenelle's Difcourfe on Pantorals. P.
Heinfius in Theocr. P.

:

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 table, manners, thoughts, and expreflions, are full of the greateft fimplicity in nature.

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

If we would copy Nature, it may be useful to take this idea along with us, that Paftoral is an image of what they call the Golden Age: fo that we are not to defcribe our fhepherds as fhepherds at this day really are, but as they may be conceived then to have been, when the beft of men followed the employment. To carry this refemblance yet further, it would not be amifs to give these shepherds some skill in astronomy, as far as it may be useful to that fort of life: and and an air of piety to the gods fhould fhine through the poem, which fo vifibly appears in all the works of antiquity; and it ought to preferve fome relifh of the old way of writing: the connection fhould be loofe, the narrations and defcriptions fhort ‡, and the periods concife. Yet it is not fufficient that the fentences only be brief; the whole eclogue should be fo too: for we cannot fuppofe poetry in those days to have been the bufinefs of men, but their recreation at vacant hours.

more

But, with a refpect to the prefent age, nothing m conduces to make thefe compofures natural, than when fome knowledge in rural affairs is difcovered §. This may be made to appear rather done by chance than on defign, and fometimes is beft fhewn by inference; left, by too much ftudy to feem natural, we destroy that ealy fimplicity from whence arifes the delight. For what is inviting in this fort of poetry proceeds not fo much from the idea of that bufinefs, as of the tranquillity of a country life.

We must therefore use some illufion to render a paftoral delightful; and this confifts in expofing the best

D 2

Rapin de Carm. Paft. p. 2. P.

Rapin, Reflex. fur l' Art Poet. d' Arift. p. 2. Ref. xxvii. P.
Pref. to Virg. Paft. in Dryd. Virg. P.

fide

fide only of a fhepherd's life, and in concealing its miferies. Nor is it enough to introduce fhepherds difcourfing together in a natural way; but a regard muft be had to the fubject; that it contain fome particular beauty in itself, and that it be different in every eclogue. Befides, in each of them a designed scene or prospect is to be prefented to our view, which fhould likewife have its variety. This variety is obtained, in a great degree, by frequent comparisons, drawn from the most agreeable objects of the country; by interrogations to things inanimate; by beautiful digreffions, but thofe fhort; fometimes by infifting a little on circumftances; and, lattly, by elegant turns on the words, which render the numbers extremely fweet and pleafing. As for the numbers themfelves, tho' they are properly of the heroic measure, they fhould be the fmootheft, the moft ealy and flowing imaginable.

It is by rules like thefe that we ought to judge of Paftoral: and fince the inftructions given for any art are to be delivered as that art is in perfection, they muft of neceffity be derived from thofe in whom it is acknowledged fo to be. It is therefore from the practice of Theocritus and Virgil (the only undisputed authors of Paftoral) that the critics have drawn the foregoing notions concerning it.

Theocritus excels all others in nature and fimplicity. The fubjects of his Idyllia are purely paftoral; but he is not fo exact in his perfons, having introduced reapers and fishermen as well as thepherds. He is apt to be too long in his defcriptions, of which that of the Cup, in the First Pastoral, is a remarkable inftance. In the manners he feems a little defective; for his fwains are fometimes abufive and immodeft, and perhaps too much inclining to rufticity: for inftance, in his Fourth and Fifth Idyllia. But it is enough that all others learned their excellencies from him, and that his dialect alone has a fecret charm in it, which no other could ever attain. Virgil,

*Fontenelle's Difc. of Pastorals. P.

See the forementioned Preface. P.

OEPIETAI, Idyl. x. and AAIEIE, Idyl. xxi. P.

Virgil, who copies Theocritus, refines upon his original; and, in all points where judgment is principally concerned, he is much fuperior to his master. Though fome of his fubjects are not paftoral in them. felves, but only feem to be fuch, they have a wonderful variety in them, which the Greek was a stranger tot. He exceeds him in regularity and brevity, and falls fhort of him in nothing but fimplicity and propriety of style; the firft of which, perhaps, was the fault of his age, and the laft of his language.

Among the moderns their fuccefs has been greateft. who have moft endeavoured to make these ancients their pattern. The most confiderable genius appears in the famous Taffo and our Spencer. Taffo, in his Aminta, has as far excelled all the pastoral writers, as, in his Gierufalemme, he has outdone the epic poets of his country. But as this piece feems to have been the original of a new fort of poem, the Paftoral Comedy, in Italy, it cannot fo well be confidered as a copy of the Ancients. Spencer's Calendar, in Mr. Dryden's opinion, is the most complete work of this kind which any nation has produced ever fince the time of Virgil‡. Not but that he may be thought imperfect in some few points. His eclogues are fomewhat too long, if we compare them with the Ancients: he is fometimes too allegorical, and treats of matters of religion in a paítoral style, as the Mantuan had done before him. He has employed the Lyric meafure, which is contrary to the practice of the old poets. His ftanza is not still the fame, nor always well chofen. This laft may be the reafon his expreffion is fometimes not concife enough; for the Tetraftic has obliged him to extend his fenfe to the length of four lines, which would have been more closely confined in the couplet.

In the manners, thoughts, and characters, he comes near to Theocritus himself; though, notwithstanding all the care he has taken, he is certainly inferior in his dialect; for the Doric had its beauty and propriety in

D 3

the

Rapin Ref. on Arift. part. ii. Refl. xxvii---Pref, to the Eci. in Dryden's
Dedication to Virg. Ecl. P.

Virg. P.