as the keeping of flocks feems to have been the first employment of mankind, the most ancient fort of poetry was probably paftoral. 'Tis natural to imagine, that the leifure of those ancient shepherds requiring fome diversion, none was so proper to that folitary life as finging; and that in their fongs they took occafion to celebrate their own felicity. From hence a Poem was invented, and afterwards improv'd 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 shepherds was attended with more tranquillity than any other rural employment, the Poets chofe to introduce their Perfons, from whom it receiv'd the name of Paftoral.

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A Paftoral is an imitation of the action of a shepherd; the form of this imitation is dramatic, or narrative, or mix'd of both; the fable simple, the manners not too polite nor too ruftic : The thoughts are plain, yet admit a little quickness and paffion, but that short and flowing: The expreffion humble, yet as pure as the language will afford; neat, but not florid; eafy, and yet lively. In short, the fable, manners, thoughts, and expreffions, are full of the greatest fimplicity in nature. -The complete character of this poem confifts in fimplicity, brevity, and delicacy; the two first of which render an eclogue natural, and the last delightful.

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If

If we would copy Nature, it may be useful to take this confideration along with us, that pastoral is an image of what they call the Golden age. So that we are not to defcribe our shepherds as shepherds at this day really are, but as they may be conceiv'd then to have been; when a notion of quality was annex'd to that name, and the beft of men follow'd the employment. To carry this refemblance yet farther, that Air of piety to the Gods should shine thro' the Poem, which fo visibly appears in all the works of antiquity: And it ought to preserve some relish of the old way of writing; the connections should be loofe, the narrations and descriptions short, and the periods concife. Yet it is not sufficient that the fentences only be brief, the whole Eclogue should be fo too. For we cannot fuppose Poetry to have been the business of the ancient shepherds, but their recreation at vacant hours.

But with a respect to the present age, nothing more conduces to make these compofures natural, than when some Knowledge in rural affairs is discover'd. This may be made to appear rather done by chance than on design, and sometimes is best shewn by inference; left by too much study to seem natural, we destroy the delight. For what is inviting in this fort of poetry (as Fontenelle obferves) proceeds not fo much from the Idea of a country life itself, as from that of its Tranquillity. We must therefore use some illufion to render a Paftoral delightful; and this confifts

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sists in expofing the best side only of a fhepherd's life, and in concealing its miferies. Nor is it enough to introduce shepherds difcoursing together, but a regard must be had to the subject; that it contain fome particular beauty in itself, and that it be different in every Eclogue. Befides, in each of them a design'd scene or profpect is to be presented to our view, which should likewife have its variety. This Variety is obtain'd in a great degree by frequent comparifons, drawn from the most agreeable objects of the country; by interrogations to things inanimate; by beautiful digreffions, but those short; fometimes by infifting a little on circumstances; and lastly by elegant turns on the words, which render the numbers extremely sweet and pleasing. As for the numbers themselves, tho' they are properly of the heroic measure, they should be the smootheft, the most easy and flowing imaginable.

It is by rules like these that we ought to judge of Pastoral. And fince the instructions given for any art are to be deliver'd as that art is in perfeCtion, they must of neceffity be deriv'd from those in whom it is acknowledg'd fo to be. 'Tis therefore from the practice of Theocritus and Virgil, (the only undisputed authors of Paftoral) that the Criticks have drawn the foregoing notions concerning it.

Theocritus excells all others in nature and fimplicity. The subjects of his Idyllia are purely paftoral, but he is not so exact in his perfons,

having introduced Reapers and fishermen as well as shepherds. He is apt to be long in his defcriptions, of which that of the Cup in the first pastoral is a remarkable instance. In the manners he seems 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 'tis enough that all others learn'd their excellencies 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 has the principal part, is much fuperior to his master. Tho' 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 fuccess has been greatest who have most endeavour'd to make these ancients their pattern. The most confiderable Genius appears in the famous Taffo, and our Spenser. Taffo in his Aminta has as far excell'd all the Paftoral writers, as in his Gierufalemme he has outdone the Epic Poets of his country. But as this piece feems to have been the original of a new fort of poem, the Pastoral Comedy, in Italy,

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Italy, it cannot so well be confider'd as a copy of the ancients. Spenser's Calender, in Mr. Dryden's opinion, is the most complete work of this kind which any Nation has produc'd ever since the time of Virgil. Not but he may be thought imperfect in fome few points. His Eclogues are fomewhat too long, if we compare them with the ancients. He is fometimes too allegorical, and treats of matters of religion in a paftoral style as Mantuan had done before him. He has employ'd the Lyric measure, which is contrary to the practice of the old Poets. His Stanza is not still the fame, nor always well chosen. This last may be the reason his expreffion is fometimes not concise enough for the Tetrastic has oblig'd him to extend his sense to the length of four lines, which would have been more closely confin'd in the Couplet.

In the manners, thoughts, and characters, he comes near Theocritus himself; tho' notwithstanding all the care he has taken, he is certainly inferior in his Dialect: For the Doric had its beauty and propriety in the time of Theocritus ; it was used in part of Greece, and frequent in the mouths of many of the greatest persons; whereas the old English and country phrafes of Spenser were either entirely obsolete, or spoken only by people of the basest condition. As there is a difference betwixt simplicity and rufticity, so the expression of simple thoughts should be plain, but not clownish. The addition he has made of a Calendar