7

entertain each other with a rural fong; we may foften a little the feverity of our Critical temper, and allow even this to be called a Paftoral. The eleventh, which defcribes the paffion of Polyphemus for Galatea, is, I think, allowed to be a Paftoral: but thofe which follow, are commonly rejected; though fometimes perhaps with little reafon. Thus I know not why the twelfth may not be admitted, of which the fubject is Love, and wherein the fimilitudes are taken from fruits, fheep, heifers, and finging birds. Are not the following verfes of that Idyllium truly Paftoral?

Ηλυθες, ὦ φίλε κοῦρε, τρίτῃ σὺν νυκτὶ καὶ ἠρῖ,

εν

Ηλυθες Οι δὲ ποθεῦντες, ἐν ἡματι γεράσκουσιν » Οσσον ἔαρ χειμῶνος, ὅσον μῆλον βραβύλοιο "Holov, &c.

"You come, dear youth, now three long days are

«gone,

"You come: but Lovers do grow old in one. "As much as fpring excels the froft and fnow, "As much as plumbs are fweeter than a floe, As much as ewes are thicker fleec'd than lambs, As much as maids excel thrice marry'd dames, "As much as colts are nimbler than a fteer,

As much as thrushes please the lift'ning ear, "More than the meaner fongfters of the air; So much thy prefence cheers."

CREECH.

}

The

3

The thirteenth indeed, which is a relation of the lofs of Hylas, the friend of Hercules, has nothing paftoral in it but as the actions of gods and he roes used to be fung by the ancient Herdmen, we may venture to affirm, that the Author intended this alfo for a Paftoral. In the fourteenth, Aefchines is a herdman, who being in love with Cynisca, and being defpised by her, is determined to turn foldier. His friend Thyonichus- advises him to enter into the fervice of Ptolemy, on whom he beflows great praises. There is nothing inconsistent with the character of a Herdman, to suppose him croffed in love, and in despair to go for a foldier. This is fo adapted even to the manners of a modern ruftick; that our Criticks may venture to let this pass without cenfure. Nor does there feem any good reafon to reject the fifteenth; tho' there is not a word in it about cattle; and though the scene is not laid in the paftures of Sicily; but in the great city of Alexandria. The perfons of this Idyllium are not Herdmen; but their wives. Thefe Goffips of Syracufe are got to Alexandria, to fee the pomp of the feaft of Adonis: where they are pufhed about in the crowd, and prattle just as fome of our good country dames would at a Lord Mayor's fhow. This therefore may be allowed to be a Paftoral; unless we are to be fo ftrict;

that

that none but men are to be introduced, and even
thofe men must never ftir from their fields, but
be perpetually piping to their flocks and herds.
The fixteenth is a complaint of the ingratitude of
Princes to Poets, who alone can render their great
actions immortal. He obferves, that not only the
Lycian and Trojan heroes, but even Ulyffes him-
felf, would have been buried in oblivion, if their
fame had not been celebrated by Homer. But
amidst these great Heroes, Theocritus does not
forget his paftoral capacity, or omit to mention the
fwine-herd Eumaeus, and the neatherd Philoetius;
· Ἐσιγάθη δ' ἂν ὑφορβός

Εύμαιος, καὶ βουσὶ Φιλοίτιος ἀμφ' αγελαίαις
Ἔργον ἔχων, αὐτός τε περίσπλαγχνος Λαέρτας,
Εἰ μὴ σφᾶς ὤνασαν Ιάονος ἀνδρὸς αὐιδαί.

Theocritus feems indeed to rife above his paftoral ftile, in the feventeenth Idyllium, wherein he celebrates the praises of Ptolemy Philadelphus. But may not a country poet be allowed to fwell a little, when his heart is inlarged, by contemplating the virtues of a great Prince, under whofe protection he lives? a Prince fo powerful, that no hoftile fleet or army dares invade his country, difturb the farmer, or injure the cattle;

Λαοὶ

Λαοὶ δ ̓ ἔργα περιστέλλουσιν ἕκηλοι.
Οὐ γάρ τις δηΐων πολυκήτεα Νεῖλον ἐπεμβὰς

Πεζὸς ἐν αλλοτρίαισι βοὼν ἐστάσατο κώμαις.

"The farmer fearless plows his native foil; "No hoftile navies prefs the quiet Nile:

None leaps alhore, and frights the lab'ring fwains; "None robs us of our flocks, and spoils the plains."

CREE CH.

The Epithalamium on the marriage of Helen, fung by the Spartan virgins, in the eighteenth, does not lofe fight of the country: and the inscription on the bark of the plane-tree is expressly faid to be in the Doric, or ruftic dialect ;

Αμμες δ ̓ ἐς δρόμον ἦρι καὶ ἐς λειμώνια φύλλα
Ερψοῦμες, στεφάνως δρεψεύμεναι ἡδὺ πνέοντας,
Πολλὰ τεῦ, ὦ Ἑλένα, μεμναμέναι ὡς γαλαθηναί
*Αρνες γειναμένας ἔιος μαστὸν ποθέοισαι.
Πρᾶται τον στέφανον λωτῶ χαμαὶ αὐξομένοιο
Πλέξασαι, σκιεραν καταθήσομεν ἐς πλατάνιστον.
Πρῶται δ' αργυρέας ἐξ ἔλπιδος ύγρον άλειφαρ
Λασδόμεναι, σταξεῦμες ὑπὸ σκιερὰν πλατανιστον
Γράμματα δ ̓ ἐν φλοιῷ γεγράψεται, ὡς παριώντις
Ανγνοίη, Δοριστί, Σέβευ με Ελένας φυτὸν εἰμὶ.

"But we will run thro' yonder spacious mead,
"And crop fresh flow'ry crowns to grace thy head.
"Mindful of Helen ftill, as tender lambs,

« Not wean'd as yet, when hungry mind their dams,

«We'll

"We'll first low lotus pluck, and crowns compofe, "And to thy honour grace the fhady boughs: "From filver boxes fweeteft oils fhall flow, "And prefs the flowers that rife as sweet below; "And then inscribe this line, that all may fee, "Pay due obedience, I am Helen's tree.

CREECH.

The eighteenth is a fhort copy of verfes on Cupid's being ftung by a bee; which is far from being out of the reach of a country poet. The nineteenth is bucolical enough. A rough neatherd complains of the pride and infolence of a city girl, who refufed to let him kifs her, and treated him in a moft contemptuous manner. He appeals to the neighbouring fhepherds, and afks them, if they are not fenfible of his beauty: his beard is thick about his chin, like ivy round a tree; his hair spreads like smallage about his temples; his white forehead fhines above his black eye-brows; his eyes are more blue than those of Minerva; his mouth is sweeter than cream; his voice is fweeter than a honey-comb; his fong is fweet; he plays on all forts of rural pipes; and all the women on the mountains admire and love him, though this proud minx has de fpifed him. He gives her to understand, that Bacchus fed a heifer in the

valleys;