A DISCOURSE Ο Ν PASTORAL POETRY*. T HERE are not, I believe, a greater number of any fort of verses than of those which are called Paftorals; nor a fmaller, than thofe which are truly fo. It therefore feems neceffary to give some account of this kind of Poem; and it is my defign to comprize in this short paper the substance of those numerous differtations the Critics have made on the fubject, without omitting any of their rules in my own favour. You will alfo find some points reconciled, about which they seem to differ; and a few remarks, which, I think, have escaped their obfervation. The original of Poetry is afcribed 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 Paftoralt. It is natural to imagine, that the leisure of those ancient fhepherds admitting and invi, ting fome diverfion, none was so proper to that folitary * Written at fixteen years of age. and and fedantary 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 esteem for the virtues of a former age, might recommend them to the present. 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 fhepherd, or one confidered under that character. The form of this imitation is dramatic, or narrative, or mixed of both;* the fable fimple, the manners not too polite nor too ruftic: the thoughts are plain, yet admit a little quicknefs and paffion, but that fhort and flowing the expreffion humble, yet as pure as the language will afford; neat, but not florid; easy, and yet lively. In fhort, the fable, manners, thoughts, and expreffions, are full of the greateft fimplicity in nature. : The complete character of this Poem confifts in fimplicity+, brevity, and delicacy; the two firft of which render an Eclogue natural, and the last delightful. If we could 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. So that we are not to describe our fhepherds as fhepherds at this day really are, but as they *Heinfius in Theocr. Rapin, de Carm. Paft. p. 2. may may be conceived then to have been, when the best of men followed the employment. To carry this refemblance yet further, it would not be amifs to give these fhepherds fome skill in aftronomy, as far as it may be useful to that fort of life. And an air of piety to the Gods should shine through the Poem, which fo visibly appears in all the works of antiquity; and it ought to preferve fome relifh of the old way of writing: the connection fhould be loose, the narrations and defcriptions fhort,* and the periods concife: yet it is not sufficient, that the fentences only be brief; the whole Eclogue fhould be fo too; for we cannot fuppofe Poetry in those days to have been the bufinefs of men, but their recreation at vacant hours. But with respect to the prefent age, nothing more conduces to make these compofures natural, than when fome Knowledge in rural affairs is discoveredt. This may be made to appear rather done by chance than on defign, and sometimes is beft fhown by inference; left by too much study to feem natural, we destroy that easy fimplicity from whence arifes the delight: for what is inviting in this fort of poetry proceeds not fo much from the idea of that business, as the tranquillity of a country life. We must therefore use fome illufion to render a Paftoral delightful; and this confifts in expofing the beft fide only of a fhepherd's life, and in concealing its miferies. I * Rapin, Reflex. fur l'Art Poet. d'Arift. p. 2. Reflex. xxvii. Pref. to Virg. Paft. in Dryd. Virg. Fontenelle's Difc. of Paftorals. 3 Nor * Nor is it enough to introduce fhepherds difcourfing together in a natural way; but a regard must be had to the fubject, that it contain some particular beauty in itself, and that it be different in every Eclogue. Befides, in each of them a defigned scene or profpect 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, laftly, by elegant turns on the words, which render the numbers extremely sweet and pleafing. As for the numbers themselves, though they are properly of the heroic measure, they should be the fmootheft, the most easy and flowing imaginable. It is by rules like these 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 those 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 excells 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 fhepherds. He is apt *See the forementioned Preface. † ΘΕΡΙΣΤΑΙ, Idyl. x. and ΑΛΙΕΙΣ, Idyl. xxi. to 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 abusive and immodeft, and perhaps too much inclining to rufticity; for instance, in his fourth and fifth Idyllia. But it is enough that all others learned their excellence from him, and that his Dialect alone has a fecret charm in it, which no other could ever attain. Virgil, who copies Theocritus, refines upon his original: and in all points, where judgment is principally concerned, he is much fuperior to his mafter. Though fome of his fubjects are not paftoral in themselves, but only feem to be fuch; they have a wonderful variety in them, which the Greek was a stranger to.* He exceeds him in regularity and brevity, and falls short of him in nothing but fimplicity and propriety of style; the first of which perhaps was the fault of his age, and the last of his language. Among the moderns, their fuccefs has been greatest who have most endeavoured to make these ancients their pattern. The most confiderable Genius appears in the famous Taffo, and our Spenfer. Taffo in his Aminta has as far excelled all the Paftoral writers, as in his Gierufalemme he has outdone the Epic poets of his country. But as his 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 Rapin, Ref. on Arift. part ii. Ref. xxvii.Ecl. in Dryden's Virg. -Pref. to the ancients. |