Archbishop K-n fhall from Longleat be drawn, While firm nonjurers from behind ftand crowding for the lawn, And thou, great W-th, to reward thy charge, See by base rebels Ja-es the juft betray'd, O would kind heaven fo long my life maintain, Nay fhould Tram in St. Maws compare his fongs to Tr Should rival Neptune, who with envious mind Short DEFENCE of VIRGIL, Against fome of the Reflections of Monfieur Fontanelle. A S the writings of greatest antiquity are in verfe, fo of all forts of poetry, paftorals feem the moft ancient; being form'd upon the model of the first innocence, and fimplicity, which the moderns, better to difpenfe themselves from imitating, have wifely thought fit to treat as fabulous and impracticable; and yet they, by obeying the unfophifticated dictates of nature, enjoy'd the moft valuable bleffings of life; a vigorous health of body, with a constant serenity, and freedom of mind; whilft we, with all our fanciful refinements, can scarcely pass an autumn without fome access of a fever, or a whole day, not ruffled by fome unquiet paffion. He was not then look'd upon as a very old man, who reach'd to a greater number of years, than in these times an ancient family can reasonably pretend to; and we know the names of several, who faw, and practis'd the world for a longer space of time, than we can read the account of in any one entire body of hiftory. In fhort, they invented the moft useful arts, pafturage, tillage, geometry, writing, mufick, aftronomy, &c. whilft the moderns, like extravaK 2 gant gant heirs, made rich by their industry, ingratefully deride the good old gentlemen, who left them the eftate. It is not therefore to be wonder'd at, that paftorals are fallen into difefteem, together with that fashion of life, upon which they were grounded. And, methinks, I fee the reader already uneafy at this part of Virgil, counting the pages, and posting to the Æneis; fo delightful an entertainment is the very relation of publick mifchief and flaughter now become to mankind: And yet Virgil pafs'd a much different judgment on his own works: he valu'd most this part, and his Georgics, and depended upon them for his reputation with pote rity; but cenfures himself in one of his letters to Auguftus, for medling with Heroics, the invention of a degenerate age. This is the reason that the rules of paftoral are fo little known, or studied. Ariftotle, Ho race, and the Effay of poetry, take no notice ofsit.s And Mr. Boileau, one of the most accurate of the moderns, because he never lofes the ancients out of his fight, beftows fcarce half a page on it. It is the defign therefore of the few following pa ges, to clear this fort of writing from vulgar prejudices to vindicate our author from fome unjust imputations; to look into fome of the rules of this fort of poetry, and enquire what fort of verfification is most proper for it, in which point we are fo much inferior to the ancients, that this confideration alone were enough" to make fome writers think as they ought, that is meanly, of their own performances. As all forts of poetry confist-in imitation; paftoral is the imitation of a fhepherd confider'd under that cha rafter it is requifite therefore to be a little inform'd› of the condition and qualification of these fhepherds. One of the ancients has obferv'd truly, but fatyrically enough, that, mankind is the measure of every thing: and thus by a gradual improvement of this mistake, we come 400 come to make our own age and country the rule and ftandard of others, and our felves at laft the measure of them all. We figure the ancient country-men like our own, leading a painful life in poverty and contempt, without wit, or courage, or education: but men had quite different notions of these things, for the first four thousand years of the world; health and strength were then in more efteem than the refinements of pleasure ; and it was accounted a great deal more honourable to till the ground, or keep a flock of sheep, than to diffolve in wantonnefs, and effeminating floth. Hunting has now an idea of quality join'd to it, and is become the most important bufinefs in the life of a gentleman; anciently it was quite otherways. Mr. Fleury has feverely remark'd, that this extravagant paffion for hunting is a strong proof of our Gothic extraction, and fhews an affinity of humour with the favage Americans. The barbarous Franks and other Germans, having neither corn, nor wine of their own growth, when they pafs'd the Rhine, and poffefs'd themselves of countries better cultivated, left the tillage of the land to the old Proprietors; and afterwards continued to hazard their lives as freely for their diverfion, as they had done before for their neceffary fubfiftance. The English gave this ufage the facred stamp of fashion, and from hence it is that most of our terms of hunting are French. The reader will, I hope, give me his pardon for my freedom on this fubject, fince an ill accident, occafion'd by hunting, has kept England in pain, these feveral months together, for one of the best, and greatest peers which she has bred for fome ages; no lefs illuftrious for civil virtues, and learning, than his ancestors were for all their victories in France. * The duke of Shrewsbury. But K 3 But there are fome prints ftill left of the ancient efteem for hufbandry, and their plain fafhion of life, in many of our fir-names, and in the efcutcheons of the most ancient families, even thofe of the greatest kings, the rofes, the lilies, the thiftle, &c. It is generally known, that one of the principal caufes of depofing of Mahomet the 4th, was, that he would not allot part of the day to fome manual labour, according to the law of Mahomet, and ancient practice of his predeceffors. He that reflects on this, will be the lefs furpriz'd to find that Charlemaign, eight hundred years ago, order'd his children to be instructed in fome profeffion, and eight hundred years yet higher, that Auguftus wore no cloaths but fuch as were made by the hands of the emprefs and her daughters; and Olympias did the fame for Alexander the great. Nor will he wonder that the Romans in great exigency, fent for their dictator from the plough, whofe whole eftate was but of four acres; too little a fpot now for the orchard, or kitchen-garden of a private gentleman. It is commonly known, that the founders of three the most renown'd monarchies in the world, were fhepherds: and the fubject of hufbandry has been adorn'd by the writings and labour of more than twenty kings. It ought not therefore to be matter of furprize to a modern writer, that kings, the fhepherds of the people in Homer, laid their firft rudiments, in tending their mute fubjects; nor that the wealth of Ulyffes confifted in flocks and herds, the intendants over which, were then in equal efteem with officers of state in latter times. And therefore Eumæus is call'd 4 poplo in Homer; not fo much because Homer was a lover of a country life, to which he rather feems averfe, but by reafon of the dignity and greatness of his truft, and because he was the fon of a king, ftolen away, and fold by the Phoenician pirates, which the ingenious Mr. Cowley feems not to have taken notice of. Nor will Y 4 |