the time of Theocritus; it was used in part of Greece, and frequent in the mouths of many of the greatest perfons: whereas the old English and country phrafes of Spencer were either entirely obfolete, or spoken only by people of the lowest condition. As there is a difference betwixt fimplicity and rufticity, fo the expreffion of fimple thoughts fhould be plain, but not clownifh. The addition he has made of a Calendar to his Eclogues is very beautiful; fince by this, befides the general moral of innocence and fimplicity, which is common to other authors of Pastoral, he has one peculiar to himself; he compares human life to the feveral feafons, and at once expofes to his readers a view of the great and little worlds, in their various changes and afpects. Yet the fcrupulous divifion of his Paftorals into months, has obliged him either to repeat the fame description in other words, for three months together; or, when it was exhaufted before, entirely to omit it: wence it comes to pass that fome of his Eclogues (as the Sixth, Eighth, and Tenth, for example) have nothing but their titles to diftinguish them. The reafon is evident, because the year has not that variety in it to furnish every month with a particular defcription, as it may every feafon.

Of the following Eclogues I fhall only say, that these four comprehend all the fubjects which the critics upon Theocritus and Virgil will allow to be fit for Paftoral; that they have as much variety of defcription, in refpect of the feveral feafons, as Spencer's: that, in order to add to this variety, the feveral times of the day are obferved, the rural employments in each feafon or time of day, and the rural scenes or places proper to fuch employments; not without fome regard to the several ages of man, and the different passions proper to each age.

But, after all, if they have any merit, it is to be attributed to fome good old authors, whose works, as I had leifure to ftudy, so, I hope, I have not wanted care to imitate.

SPRING.

PASTORAL I.

OR,

DAMON.

TO SIR WILLIAM TRUMBALL.

FIRST in these fields I try the fylvan ftrains,
Nor blush to sport on Windfor's blissful plains:
Fair Thames! flow gently from thy facred fpring,
While on thy banks Sicilian mufes fing;
Let vernal airs through trembling ofiers play,
And Albion's cliffs refound the rural lay.

You that, too wife for pride, too good for pow'r,
Enjoy the glory to be great no more,
And carrying with you all the world can boast,
To all the world illuftrioufly are loft!
O let my Muse her flender reed inspire,
Till in your native shades you tune the lyre:
So when the nightingale to reft removes,
The thrush may chant to the forfaken groves,
But charm'd to filence, liftens while fhe fings,
And all the aërial audience clap their wings.

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Soon as the flocks fhook off the nightly dews, Two fwains, whom love kept wakeful, and the mufe, Pour'd o'er the whitening vale their fleecy care, Fresh as the morn, and as the feafon fair: The dawn now blushing on the mountain's fide, Thus Daphnis fpoke, and Strephon thus reply'd. Daph. Hear how the birds on every bloomy spray With joyous mufic wake the dawning day! Why fit we mute, when early linnets fing,

When warbling philomel falutes the fpring?

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Why fit we fad, when Phofphor fhines fo clear,
And lavish Nature paints the purple year?
Streph. Sing then, and Damon fhall attend the ftrain,
While yon' flow oxen turn the furrowed plain.

Here

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Here the bright crocus and blue vi'let glow;
Here western winds on breathing rotes blow.
I'll take yon' lamb, that near the fountain plays,
And from the brink his dancing fhade furveys.
Daph. And I this bowl, where wanton ivy twines,
And fwelling clusters bend the curling vines:
Four figures rifing from the work appear,
The various feafons of the rolling year;
And what is that, which binds the radiant fky,
Where twelve fair figns in beauteous order ly!

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Dam. Then fing by turns, by turns the Mufes fing, Now hawthorns bloffom, now the daifies fpring; Now leaves the trees, and flow'rs adorn the ground; Begin, the vales fhall ev'ry note rebound.

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Streph. Inip re me, Phoebus! in my Delia's praise,
With Waller's trains, or Granville's moving lays: 46
A milk-white bull fhall at your altars ftand,
That threats a fight, and fpurns the rifing fand.
Daph. O Love! for Sylvia let me gain the prize,
And make my tongue victorious as her eyes:
No lambs or sheep for victims I'll impart;
Thy victim, Love, fhall be the fhepherd's heart.
Streph. Me gentle Delia beckons from the plain,
Then, hid in fhades, eludes her eager fwain;
But feigns a laugh, to fee me fearch around,
And by that laugh the willing fair is found.
Daph. The fprightly Sylvia trips along the green;
She runs, but hopes fhe does not run unseen;
While a kind glance at her purfuer flies,
How much at variance are her feet and eyes!

Streph. O'er golden fands let rich Pactolus flow,
And trees weep amber on the banks of Po;
Bleft Thames's fhores the brightest beauties yield:
Feed here my lambs, I'll feek no diftant field.

Daph. Celestial Venus haunts Idalia's groves;
Diana Cynthus, Ceres Hybla loves :

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If Windfor fhades delight the matchlefs maid, Cynthus and Hybla yield to Windfor fhade. [how'rs,

Streph. All nature mourns, the fkies relent in Hum'd are the birds, and clos'd the drooping flow'rs;

If

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If Delia smile the flow'rs begin to spring,
The skies to brighten, and the birds to fing.
Daph. All Nature laughs, the groves are fresh and
The fun's mild luftre warms the vital air;

[fair,

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If Sylvia fmiles, new glories gild the shore,
And vanquish'd Nature feems to charm no more.
Streph In fpring the fields, in autumn hills I love,
At morn the plains, at noon the fhady grove;
But Delia always; absent from her fight,
Nor plains at morn, nor groves at noon delight.
Daph. Sylvia's like autumn ripe, yet mild as May,
More bright than noon, yet fresh as early day:
Ev'n fpring difpleases, when the fhines not here;
But blefs'd with her, 'tis fpring throughout the year.
Streph. Say, Daphnis, fay, in what glad foil appears,
A wond'rous tree, that facred Monarchs bears?
Tell me but this, and I'll disclaim the prize,
And give the conqueft to thy Sylvia's eyes.

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Daph. Nay, tell me first, in what more happy fields The thiftle fprings, to which the lily yields; And then a nobler prize I will refign; For Sylvia, charming Sylvia, fhall be thine.

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Dam. Ceafe to contend; for, Daphnis, I decree The bowl to Strephon, and the lamb to thee. Bleft fwains, whofe nymphs in ev'ry grace excel; Bleft nymphs, whofe fwains thofe graces fing fo well! Now rife, and hafte to yonder woodbine bow'rs, A foft retreat from fudden vernal show'rs; The turf with rural dainties fhall be crown'd, While op'ning blooms diffuse their sweets round. For fee! the gath'ring flocks to shelter tend, And from the Pleïads fruitful fhow'rs defcend.

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PASTORAL II.

OR,

ALEXIS.

TO DR. GARTH.

SHEPHERD's boy (he feeks no better name)
Led forth his flocks along the filver Thame,
Where dancing fun-beams on the waters play'd,
And verdant alders form'd a quiv'ring fhade.
Soft as he mourn'd, the ftreams forgot to flow,
The flocks around a dumb compaffion fhow,
The Naïads wept in ev'ry war'ry bow'r,
And Jove confented in a filent fhow'r.

Accept, O Garth, the Mufe's early lays,
That adds this wreath of ivy to thy bays;
Hear what from love unpractis'd hearts endure,
From love, the fole difeafe thou canst not cure.

Ye fhady Beeches, and ye cooling Streams,
Defence from Phoebus', not from Cupid's beams,
To you I mourn; nor to the deaf I fing,
The woods fhall anfwer, and their echo ring.
The hills and rocks attend my doleful lay;
Why art thou prouder and more hard than they?
The bleating fheep with my complaints agree,
They parchid with heat, and I inflam'd by thee.
The fultry Sirius burns the thirfty plains,
While in thy heart eternal Winter reigns.

Where ftray ye, Mules! in what lawn or grove,
While your Alexis pines in hopeless love?
In thofe fair fields where facred Ifis glides,
Or else where Cam his winding vales divides?
As in the cryftal fpring I view my face,
Fresh rifing blushes paint the wat❜ry glass;
But fince thofe graces pleafe thy eyes no more,
I fhun the fountains which I fought before.

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