*Beware of Counterfeits, for fuch are abroad.

"N. B. I teach the Arcana of my Art at reasonable "rates to Gentlemen of the Universities, who defire "to be qualified for writing Dedications; and to young "Lovers and Fortune-hunters, to be paid at the day "of Marriage. I inftruct perfons of bright Capaci"ties to flatter others, and thofe of the meanest to "flatter themselves.

"I was the first Inventor of Pocket Looking "Glaffes."

N° 40.

MONDAY, April 27, 1713.

Being a Continuation of fome former Papers on the Subject of PASTORAL S.

I.

Compulerantque greges Corydon at Thyrfis in unum:
Ex illo Corydon, Corydon eft tempore nobis.

Defigned to have troubled the reader with no further difcourfes of Paftoral; but being informed that I am taxed of partiality in not mentioning an Author whofe Eclogues are published in the fame volume, with Mr. Philips's, I fhall employ this paper in Obfervations upon him, written in the free Spirit of Criticifm, and without any apprehenfion of offending that Gentleman, whofe character it is, that he takes the greatest care of his works before they are published, and has the leaft concern for them afterwards.

2. I have laid it down as the firft rule of Paftoral, that its idea fhould be taken from the manners of the Golden Age, and the Moral formed upon the Repre

5.

fentation of Innocence; it is therefore plain that any deviations from that defign degrade a Poem from being truly paftoral. In this view it will appear, that Virgil can only have two of his Eclogues allowed to be fuch: his first and ninth must be rejected, because they describe the ravages of armies, and oppreffions of the innocent: Corydon's criminal paffion for Alexis throws out the fecond; the calumny and railing in the third are not proper to that state of concord; the eighth représents unlawful ways of procuring love by enchantments, and introduces a thepherd whom an inviting precipice tempts to felf-murder: As to the fourth, fixth, and tenth, they are given up by * Heinfius, Salmafius, Rapin, and the Criticks in general. They likewife observe that but eleven of all the Idyllia of Theocritus are to be admitted as pastorals: and even out of that number the greater part will be excluded for one or other of the reasons above mentioned. So that when I remarked in a former paper, that Virgil's eclogues, taken all together, are rather select Poems than Pastorals; I might have faid the fame thing with no less truth of Theocritus. The reafon of this I take to be yet unobferved by the Criticks, viz. They never meant them all for paftorals.

Now it is plain Philips hath done this, and in that particular excelled both Theocritus and Virgil.

3. As fimplicity is the diftinguishing characteristick of Paftoral, Virgil hath been thought guilty of too courtly a ftyle; his language is perfectly pure, and he often forgets he is among peasants. I have frequently wondered, that fince he was fo converfant in the writings of Ennius, he had not imitated the rufticity of the Doric as well by the help of the old obfolete Roman language, as Philips hath by the antiquated English: For

* See Rapin de Carm. Par. iii.

example, might he not have faid quoi inftead of cui; quoijam for cujam; volt for vult, etc. as well as our modern hath welladay for alas, whileome for of old, make mock for deride, and witless younglings for fimple lambs, etc. by which means he had attained as much of the air of Theocritus as Philips hath of Spenfer?

4. Mr. Pope hath fallen into the fame error with Virgil. His clowns do not converfe in all the fimplicity proper to the country: His names are borrowed from Theocritus and Virgil, which are improper to the scene of his pastorals. He introduces Daphnis, Alexis, and Thyrfis on British plains, as Virgil had done before him on the Mantuan: Whereas Philips, who hath the strictest regard to propriety, makes choice of names peculiar to the country, and more agreeable to a reader of delicacy; fuch as Hobbinol, Lobbin, Cuddy, and Colin Clout.

5. So eafy as paftoral writing may feem (in the fimplicity we have described it), yet it requires great reading both of the ancients and moderns, to be a master of it. Philips hath given us manifeft proofs of his knowledge of books. It must be confeffed his competitor hath imitated fome fingle thoughts of the ancients, well enough (if we confider he had not the happiness of an University education), but he hath dispersed them here and there, without that order and method which Mr. Philips obferves, whose whole third paftoral is an instance how well he hath ftudied the fifth of Virgil, and how judiciously reduced Virgil's thoughts to the ftandard of Paftoral; as his contention of Colin Clout and the Nightingale fhows with what exactness he hath imitated every line in Strada.

6. When I remarked it as a principal fault, to introduce fruits and flowers of a foreign growth, in defcriptions where the scene lies in our own country, I VOL. IV.

M

did not defign that obfervation should extend also to animals, or the fenfitive life; for Mr. Philips hath with great judgment defcribed Wolves in England in his first paftoral. Nor would I have a poet flavishly confine himself (as Mr. Pope hath done) to one particular Seafon of the year, one certain Time of the day, and one unbroken Scene in each Eclogue. 'Tis plain Spenfer neglected this pedantry, who in his paftoral of November mentions the mournful Song of the Nightingale,

Sad Philomel her fong in tears doth freep.

And Mr. Philips, by a poetical creation, hath raised up finer beds of flowers than the most industrious gardener; his roses, endives, lilies, king-cups, and daffodils, blow all in the fame feason.

7. But the better to discover the merits of our two contemporary Paftoral writers, I fhall endeavour to draw a parallel of them, by fetting feveral of their particular thoughts in the fame light, whereby it will be obvious how much Philips hath the advantage.

With what fimplicity he introduces two fhepherds finging alternately?

Hobb. Come, Rofalind, O come, for without thee
What pleasure can the country have for me?
Come, Rofalind, O come; my brinded kine,
My Snowy fheep, my farm and all, is thine.
Lanq. Come, Rofalind, O come; here fhady bowers,
Here are cool fountains, and here fpringing flowers,
Come, Rofalind; here ever let us ftay;

And fweetly wafte our live-long time away.

Our other pastoral writer, in expreffing the fame thought, deviates into downright Poetry :

Streph. In Spring the fields, in Autumn hills I love,

At morn the plains, at noon the shady grove,

But Delia always; forc'd from Delia's 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 Spring difpleafes, when she fhines not here,
But bleft with her, 'tis Spring throughout the year.
In the first of these authors, two shepherds thus in-
nocently describe the behaviour of their mistresses :

Hobb. As Marian bath'd, by chance I paffed by,
She blush'd, and at me caft a fide-long eye:
Then fwift beneath the crystal wave she try'd
Her beauteous form, but all in vain, to hide.

Lanq. As I to cool me bath'd one fultry day,
Fond Lydia lurking in the fedges lay:

The wanton laugh'd, and feem'd in hafte to fly;
Yet often stopp'd, and often turn'd her eye.

The other modern (who it must be confeffed hath a knack of verfifying) hath it as follows:

Streph. Me gentle Delia beckons from the plain,

Then, hid in fhades, eludes her eager fwain; But feigns a laugh, to fee me search around, And by that laugh the willing Fair is found. Daph. The Sprightly Sylvia trips along the green, She runs, but hopes she does not run unseen ; While a kind glance at her purfuer flies,

How much at variance are her feet and eyes!

There is nothing the writers of this kind of Poetry are fonder of than defcriptions of paftoral Prefents. Philips fays thus of a Sheep-hook,

Of feafon'd elm; where ftuds of brass appear,
To speak the giver's name, the month and year ;