WILLIAM WALSH, Efq; 225 Fools, what would the reading Fools do for a Diverfion? So that upon the whole Matter, I think we had even as good leave the World as we find it. However, if he thinks there ought to be fomewhat done in this Matter, after having made fo much Noife about it; the about it moft general Folly in Men being that of halls Seve rity to other Peoples Faults, while they neglect thofe they commit themselves; He may order a folemn Proclamation to be made, That no Man fhall have the Privilege of cenfuring the Follies of other People, till he can bring a Certificate, under the Hands of three judicious Neighbours, that he has none at all of his own.

PREFACE to DRYDEN's Tranflation of VIRGIL'S Paftorals, with a fhort Defence of VIRGIL, against fome of the Reflections of Monfieur Fontanelle.

S the Writings of greatest Antiquity are in Verfe, fo

cient; being form'd upon the Model of the firft Innocence, and Simplicity, which the Moderns, better to dispense 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 most valuable Bleffings of Life; a vigorous Health of Body, with a conftant Serenity, and Freedom of Mind; whilft we, with all our fanciful Refinements, can fcarcely pafs an Autumn without fome Accefs 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 feveral, who faw, and practis'd the' World

K 5

for

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 ufeful Arts, Pafturage, Tillage, Geometry, Writing, Mufic, Aftronomy, &c. Whilft the Moderns, like extravagant Heirs, made rich by their Induftry, ingratefully deride the good old Gentlemen who left them the Estate. 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 Encis; fo delightful an Entertainment is the very Relation of public Mifchief and Slaughter now become to Mankind: And yet Virgil pafs'd a much different Judgment on his own Works: He valu'd moft this Part, and his Georgics, and depended upon them for his Reputation with Pofterity: But cenfures himself in one of his Letters to Auguftus for medling with Heroics, the Invention of a degenerating Age. This is the Reafon that the Rules of Paftoral are fo little known, or ftudied. Ariftotle, Horace, and the Essay of Poetry, take no Notice of it. And Mr. Boileau, one of the most accurate of the Mpderns, because he never lofes the Ancients out of his Sight, beftows fcarce half a Page on it.

It is the Defign therefore of the few following Pages, to clear this fort of Writing from vulgar Prejudices; to vindicate our Author from fome unjuft Imputations; to look into fome of the Rules of this fort of Poetry, and enquire what fort of Verfification is moft 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 confift in Imitation; Paftoral is the Imitation of a Shepherd confider'd under that Character: It is requifite therefore to be a little inform'd of the Condition and Qualification of thefe Shepherds.

One

One of the Ancients has obferv'd truly, but fatirically enough, that, Mankind is the Measure of every thing: And thus by a gradual Improvement of this Miftake,. we come to make our own Age and Country the Rule: and Standard of others, and ourfelves at laft the Measure: of them all. We figure the ancient Countrymen like our own, leading a painful Life in Poverty and Contempt,. without Wit, or Courage, or Education: But Men had quite different Notions of thefe things, for the firft four thousand Years of the World; Health and Strength were then in more esteem than the Refinements of Pleafure; and it was accounted a great deal more honourable to till the Ground, or keep till the Ground, or keep a Flock of Sheep, than to diffolve in Wantonnefs, and effeminating Sloth. 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 otherwife. Mr. Fleury has feverely remark'd, that this Extravagant Paffion for Hunting is a ftrong Proof of our Gothic Extraction, and fhews an Affinity of Humour with the Savage 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 themfeves 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 Subfiftence. The English gave this Ufage the facred Stamp of Fafhion, and from hence it is that moft of our Terms of Hunting are French. The Reader will I hope, give me his Pardon for my Freedom on this Subject, fince an ill Accident, occafion'd by Hunting, has. kept England in pain these feveral Months together, for one of the beft 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

But there are fome Prints ftill left of the ancient Efteem for Husbandry, and their plain Fashion of Life, in many of our Sir-names, and in the Efcutcheons of the moft 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 IVth, 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 less furpris'd to find that Charlemain, eight hundred Years ago, order'd his Children to be instructed in fome Profeffion. And eight hundred Years yet higher, that Auguftus wore no Clothes but fuch as were made by the Hands of the Empress 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, whose whole Estate was but of four Acres; too little a Spot now for the Orchard, or Kitchen-Garden of a private Gentleman. It is commonly known that the Founders of three the moft renown'd Monarchies in the World, were Shepherds: And the Subject of Husbandry has been adorn'd by the Writings and Labour of more than twenty Kings. It ought not therefore to be matter of Surprise to a modern Writer, that Kings, the Shepherds of the People in Homer, laid their firft Rudiments in tending their mute Subjects; nor that the Wealth of Ulyffes confisted in Flocks and Herds, the Intendants over which, were then in equal Efteem with Officers of State in latter times. And therefore Eumaus is call'd Aïos pogß✪ in Homer; not fo much becaufe Homer was a lover of a Country Life, to which he rather feems averfe, but by reafon of the Dignity and Greatnefs of his Truft, and because he was the Son of a King, ftofen away, and fold by the Phoenician Pirates, which the ingenious. Mr. Corley feems not to have taken notice of Nor will it feem ftrange, that the Mafter of the Horse to King Latinus, in the Ninth Eneid, was found in the homely

homely Employment of cleaving Blocks, when News of the first Skirmish betwixt the Trojans and Latins was brought to him.

Being therefore of fuch Quality, they cannot be fuppos'd fo very ignorant and unpolish'd; the Learning and Good-breeding of the World was then in the Hands of fuch People. He who was chofen by the Consent of all Parties to arbitrate fo delicate an Affair, as which was the fairest of the three celebrated Beauties of Heaven; he who had the Addrefs to debauch away Helen from her Husband, her native Country, and from a Crown, understood what the French call by the too foft Name of Galanterie; he had Accomplishments enough, how ill ufe foever he made of them. It feems therefore that

Mr. F. had not duly confider'd the matter when he reflected fo feverely upon Virgil, as if he had not observed the Laws of Decency in his Paftorals, in making Shepherds speak to things befide their Character, and above their Capacity. He ftands amaz'd that Shepherds should thunder out, as he expreffes himself, the Formation of the World, and that too according to the Syftem of Epicurus. In truth, fays he, Page 176, I cannot tell what to make of this whole Piece: (the Sixth Paft.) I can neither comprehend the Defign of the Author, nor the Connexion of the Parts; firft come the Ideas of Philofophy, and presently after thofe incoherent Fables, &c. To expofe him yet more, he fubjoins, It is Silenus himself who makes all this abfurd Difcourfe. Virgil fays indeed that he had drank too much the Day before; perhaps the Debauch hung in his Head when he compos'd this Poem, &c. Thus far Mr. F. who, to the Disgrace of Reason, as himself ingenuously owns, first built his House, and then studied Architecture; I mean, first compos'd his Eclogues, and then ftudied the Rules. In anfwer to this, we may obferve, first, that this very Paftoral which he fingles out to triumph over, was recited by a famous Player on the Roman Theatre, with marvellous Applaufe; infomuch that Cicero who had heard part of it only, order'd the

whole