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diff --git a/14495-0.txt b/14495-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef63be9 --- /dev/null +++ b/14495-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2068 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14495 *** + + Series Two: + _Essays on Poetry_ + + No. 3 + + + Rapin's _De Carmine Pastorali_, +prefixed to Thomas Creech's translation +of the _Idylliums_ of Theocritus (1684) + + + + + With an Introduction by + J.E. Congleton + and + a Bibliographical Note + + + + +The Augustan Reprint Society +July, 1947 +Price: 75c + + * * * * * + + +GENERAL EDITORS + +RICHARD C. BOYS, University of Michigan +EDWARD NILES HOOKER, University of California, Los Angeles +H.T. SWEDENBERG, JR., University of California, Los Angeles + + +ADVISORY EDITORS + +EMMETT L. AVERY, State College of Washington +LOUIS I. BREDVOLD, University of Michigan +BENJAMIN BOYCE, University of Nebraska +CLEANTH BROOKS, Louisiana State University +JAMES L. CLIFFORD, Columbia University +ARTHUR FRIEDMAN, University of Chicago +SAMUEL H. MONK, University of Minnesota +JAMES SUTHERLAND, Queen Mary College, London + + + + +Lithoprinted from copy supplied by author + by + Edwards Brothers, Inc. + Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. + 1947 + + + * * * * * + + +INTRODUCTION + +Recent students of criticism have usually placed Rapin in the School +of Sense. In fact Rapin clearly denominates himself a member of that +school. In the introduction to his major critical work, _Reflexions +sur la Poetique d'Aristote_ (1674), he states that his essay "is +nothing else, but Nature put in Method, and good _Sense_ reduced to +Principles" (_Reflections on Aristotle's Treatise of Poesie_, London, +1731, II, 131). And in a few passages as early as "A Treatise de +Carmine Pastorali" (1659), he seems to imply that he is being guided +in part at least by the criterion of "good _Sense_." For example, +after citing several writers to prove that "brevity" is one of the +"graces" of pastoral poetry, he concludes, "I could heap up a great +many more things to this purpose, but I see no need of such a +trouble, since no man can rationally doubt of the goodness of my +Observation" (p.41). + +The basic criterion, nevertheless, which Rapin uses in the "Treatise" +is the authority of the Ancients--the poems of Theocritus and Virgil +and the criticism of Aristotle and Horace. Because of his constant +references to the Ancients, one is likely to conclude that he (like +Boileau and Pope) must have thought they and Nature (good sense) were +the same. In a number of passages, however, Rapin depends solely on +the Ancients. Two examples will suffice to illustrate his absolutism. +At the beginning of "_The Second_ Part," when he is inquiring "into +the nature of _Pastoral,_" he admits: + And this must needs be a hard Task, since I have no guide, + neither _Aristotle_ nor _Horace_ to direct me.... And I am of + opinion that none can treat well and clearly of any kind of + _Poetry_ if he hath no helps from these two (p. 16). + +In "_The Third_ Part," when he begins to "lay down" his _Rules for +writing_ Pastorals," he declares: + Yet in this difficulty I will follow _Aristotle's_ Example, who + being to lay down Rules concerning _Epicks_, propos'd _Homer_ + as a Pattern, from whom he deduc'd the whole Art; So I will + gather from _Theocritus_ and _Virgil_, those Fathers of + _Pastoral_, what I shall deliver on this account (p. 52). + +These passages represent the apogee of the neoclassical criticism of +pastoral poetry. No other critic who wrote on the pastoral depends so +completely on the authority of the classical critics and poets. As a +matter of fact, Rapin himself is not so absolute later. In the +section of the _Réflexions_ on the pastoral, he merely states that +the best models are Theocritus and Virgil. In short, one may say +that in the "Treatise" the influence of the Ancients is dominant; in +the _Réflexions_, "good _Sense_." + +Reduced to its simplest terms, Rapin's theory is Virgilian. When +deducing his theory from the works of Theocritus and Virgil, his +preference is almost without exception for Virgil. Finding Virgil's +eclogues refined and elegant, Rapin, with a suggestion from Donatus +(p. 10 and p. 14), concludes that the pastoral "belongs properly to +the _Golden Age_" (p. 37)--"that blessed time, when Sincerity and +Innocence, Peace, Ease, and Plenty inhabited the Plains" (p. 5). +Here, then, is the immediate source of the Golden Age eclogue, which, +being transferred to England and popularised by Pope, flourished +until the time of Dr. Johnson and Joseph Warton. + +In France the most prominent opponent to the theory formulated by +Rapin is Fontenelle. In his "Discours sur la Nature de l'Eglogue" +(1688) Fontenelle, with studied and impertinent disregard for the +Ancients and for "ceux qui professent cette espèce de religion que +l'on s'est faite d'adorer l'antiquité," expressly states that the +basic criterion by which he worked was "les lumières naturelles de +la raison" (_OEuvres_, Paris, 1790, V, 36). It is careless and +incorrect to imply that Rapin's and Fontenelle's theories of +pastoral poetry are similar, as Pope, Joseph Warton, and many other +critics and scholars have done. Judged by basic critical principles, +method, or content there is a distinct difference between Rapin and +Fontenelle. Rapin is primarily a neoclassicist in his "Treatise"; +Fontenelle, a rationalist in his "Discours." It is this opposition, +then, of neoclassicism and rationalism, that constitutes the basic +issue of pastoral criticism in England during the Restoration and the +early part of the eighteenth century. + +When Fontenelle's "Discours" was translated in 1695, the first phrase +of it quoted above was translated as "those Pedants who profess a +kind of Religion which consists of worshipping the Ancients" (p.294). +Fontenelle's phrase more nearly than that of the English translator +describes Rapin. Though Rapin's erudition was great, he escaped the +quagmire of pedantry. He refers most frequently to the scholiasts and +editors in "_The First Part_" (which is so trivial that one wonders +why he ever troubled to accumulate so much insignificant material), +but after quoting them he does not hesitate to call their ideas +"pedantial" (p. 24) and to refer to their statements as grammarian's +"prattle" (p. 11). And, though at times it seems that his curiosity +and industry impaired his judgment, Rapin does draw significant ideas +from such scholars and critics as Quintilian, Vives, Scaliger, +Donatus, Vossius, Servius, Minturno, Heinsius, and Salmasius. + +Rapin's most prominent disciple in England is Pope. Actually, Pope +presents no significant idea on this subject that is foreign to +Rapin, and much of the language--terminology and set phrases--of +Pope's "Discourse" comes directly from Rapin's "Treatise" and from +the section on the pastoral in the _Reflections_. Contrary to his own +statement that he "reconciled" some points on which the critics +disagree and in spite of the fact that he quotes Fontenelle, Pope in +his "Discourse" is a neoclassicist almost as thoroughgoing as Rapin. +The ideas which he says he took from Fontenelle are either +unimportant or may be found in Rapin. Pope ends his "Discourse" by +drawing a general conclusion concerning his _Pastorals_: "But after +all, if they have any merit, it is to be attributed to some good old +authors, whose works as I had leisure to study, so I have not wanted +care to imitate." This statement is diametrically opposed to the +basic ideas and methods of Fontenelle, but in full accord with and no +doubt directly indebted to those of Rapin. + +The same year, 1717, that Pope 'imitated' Rapin's "Treatise," Thomas +Purney made a direct attack on Rapin's neoclassic procedure. In the +"Preface" to his own _Pastorals_ he expresses his disapproval of +Rapin's method, evidently with the second passage from Rapin quoted +above in mind: + _Rapine's_ Discourse is counted the best on this Poem, for 'tis + the longest. You will easily excuse my not mentioning all his + Defects and Errors in this Preface. I shall only say then, that + instead of looking into the true Nature of the Pastoral Poem, + and then judging whether _Theocritus_ or any of his Followers + have brought it to it's utmost Perfection or not. _Rapine_ + takes it for granted that _Theocritus_ and _Virgil_ are + infallible; and aim's at nothing beyond showing the Rules which + he thinks they observ'd. Facetious Head! (_Works_, Oxford, + 1933, pp. 51-52. The Peroy Reprints, No. XII) + +The influence of Rapin on the development of the pastoral, +nevertheless, was salutary. Finding the genre vitiated with wit, +extravagance, and artificiality, he attempted to strip it of these +Renaissance excrescencies and restore it to its pristine purity by +direct reference to the Ancients--Virgil, in particular. Though Rapin +does not have the psychological insight into the esthetic principles +of the genre equal to that recently exhibited by William Empson or +even to that expressed by Fontenelle, he does understand the +intrinsic appeal of the pastoral which has enabled it to survive, and +often to flourish, through the centuries in painting, music, and +poetry. Perhaps his most explicit expression of this appreciation is +made while he is discussing Horace's statement that the muses love +the country: + And to speak from the very bottome of my heart... methinks he + is much more happy in a Wood, that at ease contemplates this + universe, as his own, and in it, the Sun and Stars, the + pleasing Meadows, shady Groves, green Banks, stately Trees, + flowing Springs, and the wanton windings of a River, fit + objects for quiet innocence, than he that with Fire and Sword + disturbs the World, and measures his possessions by the wast + that lys about him (p. 4). + +René Rapin (1621-1687), in spite of his duties as a Jesuit priest and +disputes with the Jansenists, became one of the most widely read men +of his time and carried on the celebrated discussions about the +Ancients with Maimbourg and Vavasseur. His _chef-d'oeuvre_ without +contradiction is _Hortorum libri IV_. Like Virgil, Spenser, Pope, and +many aspiring lesser poets, he began his literary career by writing +pastorals, _Eclogae Sacrae_ (1659), to which is prefixed in Latin the +original of "A Treatise de Carmine Pastorali." + + J.E. Congleton + University of Florida + +Reprinted here from the copy owned by the Boston Athenaeum by +permission. + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + + + + A + + TREATISE + + + de CARMINE PASTORALI + + Written by RAPIN. + + + + +_The First Part_. + +To be as short as possible in my discourse upon the present Subject, +I shall not touch upon the Excellency of _Poetry_ in general; nor +repeat those high _Encomiums_, (as that tis the most divine of all +human Arts, and the like) which _Plato_ in his _Jone_, _Aristotele_ in +his _Poetica_, and other Learned men have copiously insisted on: And +this I do that I might more closely and briefly pursue my present +design, which, no doubt will not please every man; for since I treat +of that part of _Poetry_, which (to use _Quintilian's_ words,) by +reason of its Clownishness, is affraid of the Court and City; some may +imagine that I follow _Nichocaris_ his humor, who would paint only the +most ugly and deform'd, and those too in the meanest and most +frightful dress, that real, or fancy'd Poverty could put them in. + +{2} For some think that to be a Sheapard is in it self mean, base, and +sordid; And this I think is the first thing that the graver and +soberer sort will be ready to object. + +But if we consider how honorable that employment is, our Objectors +from that Topick will be easily answer'd, for as _Heroick_ Poems owe +their dignity to the Quality of _Heroes_, so _Pastorals_ to that of +_Sheapards_. + +Now to manifest this, I shall not rely on the authority of the +_Fabulous_, and _Heroick_ Ages, tho, in the former, a God fed Sheep in +_Thessaly_, and in the latter, _Hercules_ the Prince of _Heroes_, (as +_Paterculus_ stiles him) graz'd on mount _Aventine_: These Examples, +tis true, are not convinceing, yet they sufficiently shew that the +employment of a Sheapard was sometime look'd upon to be such, as in +those Fabulous times was not alltogether unbecomeing the _Dignity_ of +a _Heroe_, or the _Divinity_ of a _God_: which consideration if it +cannot be of force enough to procure excellence, yet certainly it may +secure it from the imputation of baseness, since it was sometime lookt +upon as fit for the greatest in Earth or Heaven. + +But not to insist on the authority of _Poets_, _Sacred Writt_ tells +us that _Jacob_ and _Esau_, two great men, were Sheapards; And _Amos_, +one of the Royal Family, asserts the same of himself, for _He was_ +among _the Sheapards of Tecua_, following that employment: The like by +Gods own appointment {3} prepared _Moses_ for a Scepter, as _Philo_ +intimates in his life, when He tells us, _that a Sheapards Art is a +suitable preparation to a Kingdome_; the same He mentions in the Life +of _Joseph_, affirming that the care a Sheapard hath over his Cattle, +very much resembles that which a King hath over his Subjects: The same +_Basil_ in his Homily de _S. Mamm. Martyre_ hath concerning _David_, +who was taken from following the Ews great with young ones to feed +_Israel_, for He says that the Art of feeding and governing are very +near akin, and even Sisters: And upon this account I suppose twas, +that Kings amongst the _Greeks_ reckoned the name of Sheapard one of +their greatest titles, for, if we believe _Varro_, amongst the +Antients, the best and bravest was still a Sheapard: Every body knows +that the _Romans_ the worthiest and greatest Nation in the World +sprang from _Sheapards_: The Augury of the Twelve Vulturs plac't a +Scepter in _Romulus's_ hand which held a Crook before; and at that +time, as _Ovid_ says, + + His own small Flock each Senator did keep. + +_Lucretius_ mentions an extraordinary happiness, and as it were +Divinity in a _Sheaperd's_ life, + + Thro Sheapards ease, and their Divine retreats. + +And this is the reason, I suppose, why the solitude of the Country, +the shady Groves, and security of that happy Quiet was so grateful to +the Muses, for thus _Horace_ represents them, + + {4} The Muses that the Country Love. + +Which Observation was first made by _Mnasalce_ the _Sicyonian_ in his +Epigram upon _Venus_ + + The Rural Muse upon the Mountains feeds. + +For sometimes the Country is so raveshing and delightful, that twill +raise Wit and Spirit even in the dullest Clod, And in truth, amongst +so many heats of Lust and Ambition which usually fire our Citys, I +cannot see what retreat, what comfort is left for a chast and sober +Muse. + +And to speak from the very bottome of my heart, (not to mention the +integrity and innocence of Sheapards upon which so many have +insisted, and so copiously declaimed) methinks he is much more happy +in a Wood, that at ease contemplates this universe, as his own, and +in it, the Sun and Stars, the pleasing Meadows, shady Groves, green +Banks, stately Trees, flowing Springs, and the wanton windings of a +River, fit objects for quiet innocence, than he that with Fire and +Sword disturbs the World, and measures his possessions by the wast +that lys about him: _Augustus_ in the remotest East fights for peace, +but how tedious were his Voyages? how troublesome his Marches? how +great his disquiets? what fears and hopes distracted his designs? +whilst _Tityrus_ contented with a little, happy in the enjoyment of +his Love, and at ease under his spreading Beech. + + Taught Trees to sound his _Amaryllis_ name. + +{5} On the one side _Meliboeus_ is forc't to leave his Country, and +_Antony_ on the other; the one a Sheapard, the other a great man, in +the Common-Wealth; how disagreeable was the Event? the Sheapard could +endure himself; and sit down contentedly under his misfortunes, whilst +lost _Antony_, unable to hold out, and quitting all hopes both for +himself and his Queen, became his own barbarous Executioner: Than +which sad and deplorable fall I cannot imagine what could be worse, +for certainly nothing is so miserable as a Wretch made so from a +flowrishing & happy man; by which tis evident how much we ought to +prefer before the gaity of a great and shining State, that Idol of the +Crowd, the lowly simplicity of a Sheapards Life: for what is that but +a perfect image of the state of Innocence, of that golden Age, that +blessed time, when Sincerity and Innocence, Peace, Ease, and Plenty +inhabited the Plains? + +Take the Poets description + + Here Lowly Innocence makes a sure retreat, + A harmless Life, and ignorant of deceit, + and free from fears with various sweet's encrease, + And all's or'e spread with the soft wings of Peace: + Here Oxen low, here Grots, and purling Streams, + And Spreading shades invite to easy dreams. + +And thus Horace, + + Happy the man beyond pretence + Such was the state of Innocence, &c. + +{6} And from this head I think the dignity of _Bucolicks_ is +sufficiently cleared, for as much as the Golden Age is to be preferred +before the _Heroick_, so much _Pastorals_ must excell _Heroick_ Poems: +yet this is so to be understood, that if we look upon the majesty and +loftiness of _Heroick_ Poems, it must be confest that they justly +claim the preheminence; but if the unaffected neatness, elegant, +graceful smartness of the expression, or the polite dress of a Poem be +considered, then they fall short of _Pastorals_: for this sort flows +with Sweet, Elegant, neat and pleasing fancies; as is too evident to +every one that hath tasted the sweeter muses, to need a farther +explication: for tis not probable that _Asinius Pollio_, _Cinna_, +_Varius_, _Cornelius Gallus_, men of the neatest Wit, and that lived +in the most polite Age, or that _Augustus Cæsar_ the Prince of the +_Roman_ elegance, as well as of the common Wealth, should be so +extreamly taken with _Virgils Bucolicks_, or that _Virgil_ himself a +man of such singular prudence, and so correct a judgment, should +dedicate his Eclogues to those great Persons; unless he had known that +there is somewhat more then ordinary Elegance in those sort of +Composures, which the wise perceive, tho far above the understanding +of the Crowd: nay if _Ludovicus Vives_, a very learned man, and +admired for politer studies may be believed, there is somewhat more +sublime and excellent in those _Pastorals_, than the Common {7} sort +of Grammarians imagine: This I shall discourse of in an other place, +and now inquire into the Antiquity of Pastorals. + +Since _Linus_, _Orpheus_, and _Eumolpus_ were famous for their Poems, +before the _Trojan_ wars; those are certainly mistaken, who date +Poetry from that time; I rather incline to their opinion who make it +as old as the World it self; which Assertion as it ought to be +understood of Poetry in general, so especially of _Pastoral_, which, +as _Scaliger_ delivers, was the most antient kind of Poetry, and +resulting from the most _antient_ way of Liveing: _Singing first began +amongst Sheapards as they fed their Flocks, either by the impulse of +nature, or in imitation of the notes of Birds, or the whispering of +Trees._ + +For since the first men were either _Sheapards_ or _Ploughmen_, and +_Sheapards_, as may be gathered out of _Thucydides_ and _Varro_, were +before the others, they were the first that either invited by their +leisure, or (which _Lucretius_ thinks more probable) in imitation of +Birds, began a tune. + + Thro all the Woods they heard the pleasing noise + Of chirping Birds, and try'd to frame their voice, + And Imitate, thus Birds instructed man, + And taught them Songs before their Art began. + +In short, tis so certain that Verses first began in the Country that +the thing is in it self evident, and this _Tibullus_ very plainly +signifies, + + {8} First weary at his Plough the labouring Hind + In certain feet his rustick words did bind: + His dry reed first he tun'd at sacred feasts + To thanks the bounteous Gods, and cheer his Guests. + +_In certain feet_ according to _Bern Cylenius_ of _Verona_ his +interpretation _in set measures_: for _Censorinus_ tells us, that the +antient Songs were loose and not ty'd up to any strict numbers, and +afterwards by certain laws and acknowledged rules were confin'd to +such and such measures: for this is the method of Nature in all her +works, from imperfect and rude beginnings things take their first +rise, and afterwards by fit and apposite additions are polish't, and +brought to perfection: such were the Verses which heretofore the +_Italian_ Sheapards and Plough-men, as _Virgil_ says, sported amongst +themselves. + + Italian Plough-men sprung from antient _Troy_ + Did sport unpolish't Rhymes-- + +_Lucretius_ in his Fifth Book _de Natura Rerum_, says, that Sheapards +were first taught by the rushing of soft Breezes amongst the Canes to +blow their Reeds, and so by degrees to put their Songs in tune. + + For Whilst soft Evening Gales blew or'e the Plains + And shook the sounding Reeds, they taught the Swains, + And thus the Pipe was fram'd, and tuneful Reed, + And whilst the Flocks did then securely feed, + The harmless Sheapards tun'd their Pipes to Love, + {9} And Amaryllis name fill'd every Grove. + +From all which tis very plain that _Poetry_ began in those days, when +Sheapards took up their employment: to this agrees _Donatus_ in his +Life of _Virgil_, and _Pontanus_ in his Fifth Book of Stars, as +appears by these Verses. + + Here underneath a shade by purling Springs + The Sheapards Dance, whilst sweet _Amyntas_ sings; + Thus first the new found Pipe was tun'd to Love, + And Plough-men taught their Sweet hearts to the Grove, + +Thus the _Fescennine_ jests when they sang harvest-home, and then too +the Grape gatherers and Reapers Songs began, an elegant example of +which we have in the Tenth _Idyllium_ of _Theocritus_. + +From this birth, as it were, of _Poetry_, Verse began to grow up to +greater matters; For from the common discourse of _Plough-men_ and +_Sheapards_, first _Comedy_, that Mistress of a private Life, next +_Tragedy_, and then _Epick Poetry_ which is lofty and _Heroical_ +arrose, This _Maximus Tyrius_ confirms in his Twenty first +dissetation, where he tells us that Plough-men just comeing from their +work, and scarce cleansed from the filth of their employment, did use +to flurt out some sudden and _extempore_ Catches; and from this +beginning Plays were produc'd and the Stage erected: Thus {10} much +concerning the _Antiquity_, next of the _Original_ of this sort. + +About this Learned men cannot agree, for who was the first Author, is +not sufficiently understood; _Donatus_, tis true, tells us tis proper +to the Golden Age, and therefore must needs be the product of that +happy time: but who was the Author, where, what time it was first +invented hath been a great Controversy, and not yet sufficiently +determined: _Epicharmus_ one of _Pythagoras_ his School, in his +*alkyoni* mentions one _Diomus_ a _Sicilian_, who, if we believe +_Athænæus_ was the first that wrote _Pastorals: those that fed Cattle +had a peculiar kind of Poetry, call'd Bucolicks, of which Dotimus a +Sicilian was inventer:_ + +_Diodorus Siculus_ *en tois mythologoumenois*, seems to make +_Daphnis_ the son of _Mercury_ and a certain _Nymph_, to be the +Author; and agreeable to this, _Theon_ an old _scholiast_ on +_Theocritus_, in his notes upon the first _Idyllium_ mentioning +_Daphnis_, adds, _he was the author of Bucolicks_, and _Theocritus +himself_ calls him _the Muses Darling_: and to this Opinion of +_Diodorus Siculus Polydore Virgil_ readily assents. + +But _Mnaseas_ of _Patara_ in a discourse of his concerning _Europa_, +speaks thus of a Son of _Pan_ the God of Sheapards: _Panis Filium +Bubulcum à quo & Bucolice canere:_ Now Whether _Mnaseas_ by that +_Bubulcum_, means only a _Herds-man_, or one skilled in _Bucolicks_, +is uncertain; but if _Valla's_ {11} judgment be good, tis to be taken +of the latter: yet _Ælian_ was of another mind, for he boldly affirms +that _Stesichorus_ called _Himeræus_ was the first, and in the same +place adds, that _Daphnis_ the Son of _Mercury_ was the first Subject +of _Bucolicks_. + +Some ascribe the Honor to _Bacchus_ the President of the _Nymphs, +Satyrs_, and the other Country Gods, perhaps because he delighted in +the Country; and others attribute it to _Apollo_ called _Nomius_ the +God of Sheapards, and that he invented it then when he served +_Admetus_ in _Thessaly_, and fed his Herds: For, tis likely, he to +recreate himself, and pass away his time, applied his mind to such +Songs as were best suitable to his present condition: Many think we +owe it to _Pan_ the God of Sheapards, not a few to _Diana_ that +extreamly delighted in solitude and Woods; and some say _Mercury_ +himself: of all which whilst _Grammarians_ prattle, according to their +usual custome they egregiously trifle; they suffer themselves to be +put upon by Fables, and resign their judgment up to foolish +pretentions, but things and solid truth is that we seek after. + +As about the Author, so concerning the place of its Birth there is a +great dispute, some say _Sparta_, others _Peloponesus_, but most are +for _Sicily_. + +_Valla the Placentine_, a curious searcher into Antiquity, thinks +this sort of Poetry first appear'd amongst the _Lacedemonians_, for +when the _Persians_ had wasted allmost all _Greece_, the _Spartans_ +say {12} that they for fear of the _Barbarians_ fled into Caves and +lurking holes; and that the Country Youth then began to apply +themselves in Songs to _Diana Caryatis_, together with the Maids, who +midst their Songs offerd Flowers to the Goddess: which custome +containing somewhat of Religion was in those places a long time very +scrupulously observed. + +_Diomedes_ the Grammarian, in his treatise of _Measures_, declares +_Sicily_ to be the Place: for thus he says, the _Sicilian_ Sheapards +in time of a great _Pestilence_, began to invent new Ceremonies to +appease incensed _Diana_, whom afterward, for affording her help, and +stopping the Plague they called *Lyên*: _i.e._ the _Freer_ from their +Miserys. This grew into custom, and the Sheapards used to meet in +Companies, to sing their deliverer _Diana's_ praise, and these +afterwards passing into _Italy_ were there named _Bucoliastæ_. + +_Pomponius Sabinus_ tells the story thus: When the Hymns the Virgins +us'd to sing in the Country to _Diana_ were left off, because, by +reason of the present Wars, the Maidens were forc't to keep close +within the Towns; the Shepherds met, and sang these kind of Songs, +which are now call'd _Bucolicks_, to _Diana_; to whom they could not +give the usual worship by reason of the Wars: But _Donatus_ says, that +this kind of Verses was first sung to _Diana_ by _Orestes_, when he +wandred about _Italy_; after he fled from _Scythia Taurica_, and had +{13} taken away the Image of the Goddess and hid it in a bundle of +sticks, whence she receiv'd the name of _Fascelina_, or _Phacelide_ +*apo tou phakelou* At whose Altar, the very same _Orestes_ was +afterward expiated by his Sister _Iphigenia_: But how can any one +rely on such Fables, when the inconsiderable Authors that propose them +disagree so much amongst themselves? + +Some are of Opinion that the Shepherds, were wont in solem and set +Songs about the Fields and Towns to celebrate the Goddess _Pales_; and +beg her to bless their flocks and fields with a plenteous encrease and +that from hence the name, and composure of _Bucolicks_ continued. + +Other prying ingenious Men make other conjectures, as to this mazing +Controversy thus _Vossius_ delivers himself; _The Antients cannot be +reconcil'd, but I rather incline to their opinion who think_ Bucolicks +_were invented either by the_ Sicilians _or_ Peloponesians, _for both +those use the_ Dorick _dialect, and all the_ Greek Bucolicks _are writ +in that_: As for my self I think, that what _Horace_ says of _Elegies_ +may be apply'd to the present Subject. + + But who soft Elegies was the first that wrote + Grammarians doubt, and cannot end the doubt: + +For I find nothing certain about this matter, since neither _Valla_ a +diligent inquirer after, and a good judge in such things, nor any of +the late writers produce any thing upon which I can safely rely; yet +what beginning this kind of Poetry {14} had, I think I can pretty well +conjecture: for tis likely that first Shepherds us'd Songs to recreate +themselves in their leisure hours whilst they fed their Sheep; and +that each man, as his wit served, accommodated his Songs to his +present Circumstances: to this Solitude invited, and the extream +leisure that attends that employment absolutely requir'd it: For as +their retirement gave them leisure, and Solitude a fit place for +Meditation, Meditation and Invention produc'd a Verse; which is +nothing else but a Speech fit to be sung, and so Songs began: Thus +_Hesiod_ was made a Poet, for he acknowledges himself that he receiv'd +his inspiration; + + Whilst under _Helicon_ he fed his Lambs. + +for either the leisure or fancy of Shepherds seems to have a natural +aptitude to Verse. + +And indeed I cannot but agree with _Lucretius_ that accurate Searcher +into Nature, who delivers that from that state of Innocence the Golden +Age, Pastorals continued down to his time, for after he had in his +fifth book describ'd that most happy age, he adds, + + For then the Rural Muses reign'd. + +From whence 'tis very plain, that as _Donatus_ himself observ'd, +Pastorals were the invention of the simplicity and innocence of that +Golden age, if there was ever any such, or certainly of that time +which succeeded the beginning of the World: For tho the Golden Age +must be acknowledged {15} to be only in the fabulous times, yet 'tis +certain that the Manners of the first Men were so plain and simple, +that we may easily derive both the innocent imployment of Shepherds, +and Pastorals from them. + + +{16} _The Second_ PART. + +Now let us inquire into the nature of _Pastoral_, in what its +excellencies consist, and how it must be made to be exact: And this +must needs be a hard Task, since I have no guide, neither _Aristotle_ +nor _Horace_ to direct me; for both they, whatever was the matter, +speak not one word of this sort of Verse. And I am of opinion that +none can treat well and clearly of any kind of _Poetry_ if he hath no +helps from these two: But since they lay down some general Notions of +_Poetry_ which may be useful in the present case, I shall follow their +steps as close as possible I can. + +Not only _Aristotle_ but _Horace_ too hath defin'd that _Poetry_ in +general is Imitation; I mention only these two, for tho _Plato_ in his +Second Book _de Rep._ and in his _Timæus_ delivers the same thing, I +shall not make use of his Authority at all: Now as _Comedy_ according +to _Aristotle_ is the _Image and Representation of a gentiel and City +Life_, so is _Pastoral Poetry_ of a County and _Sheapards_ Life; for +since _Poetry_ in general is Imitation; its several _Species_ must +likewise Imitate, take _Aristotles_ own words _Cap._ 1. *pasai +tynchanousin ousa mimêseis*; And these _Species_ are {17} differenc't +either by the subject matter, when the things to be imitated are quite +different, or when the manner in which you imitate, or the mode of +imitation is so: *en trisi dê tautais diaphorais hê mimêsis estin, en +hois kai ha, kai hôs*: Thus tho of _Epick_ Poetry and _Tragedy_ the +Subject is the same, and some great illustrious Action is to be +_imitated_ by both, yet since one by representation, and the other by +plain narration imitates, each makes a different _Species_ of +imitation. And _Comedy_ and _Tragedy_, tho they agree in this, that +both represent, yet because the Matter is different, and _Tragedy_ +must represent some brave action, and _Comedy_ a humor; these Two +sorts of imitation are _Specifically different_. And upon the same +account, since _Pastoral_ chooses the mannes of Sheapards for its +imitation, it takes from its matter a peculiar difference, by which it +is distinguish'd frõ all others. + +But here _Benius_ in his comments upon _Aristotle_ hath started a +considerable query: which is this; Whether _Aristotle_, when he +reckons up the different _Species_ of Poetry _Cap_ 1. doth include +_Pastoral,_ or no? And about this I find learn'd men cannot at all +agree: which certainly _Benius_ should have determin'd, or not rais'd: +some refer it to that sort which _was sung to Pipes_, for that +_Pastorals_ were so _Apuleius_ intimates, when at the marriage Feast +of _Phyche_ He brings in _Paniscus_ singing _Bucolicks_ to his Pipe; +But since they did not seriously enough consider, what _Aristotle_ +{18} meant by that which he calls *aulêtikên* they trifle, talk idly, +and are not to be heeded in this matter; For suppose some _Musitian_ +should sing _Virgils Ænæis_ to the Harp, (and _Ant. Lullus_ says it +hath been done,) should we therefore reckon that divine and +incomparable Master of _Heroick_ Poetry amongst the _Lyricks_? + +Others with _Cæsius Bassus_ and _Isacius Tzetzes_ hold that that +distribution of _Poetry_, which _Aristotle_ and _Tully_ hath left us, +is deficient and imperfect; and that only the chief Species are +reckoned, but the more inconsiderable not mention'd: I shall not here +interest my self in that quarrel of the _Criticks_, whether we have +all _Aristotles_ books of Poetry or no; this is a considerable +difficulty I confess, for _Laertius_ who accurately weighs this +matter, says that he wrote two books of _Poetry_, the one lost, and +the other we have, tho _Mutinensis_ is of an other mind: but to end +this dispute, I must agree with _Vossius_, who says the Philosopher +comprehended these Species not expressly mentioned, under a higher and +more noble head: and that therefore _Pastoral_ was contain'd in +_Epick_. for these are his own words, _besides there are Epicks of an +inferior rank, such as the Writers of Bucolicks_. _Sincerus_, as +_Minturnus_ quotes him, is of the same mind, for thus he delivers his +opinion concerning _Epick Verse_: _The matters about which these +numbers may be employed is various; either mean and low, as in +Pastorals, great and lofty, as when {19} the Subject is Divine Things, +or Heroick Actions, or of a middle rank, as when we use them to +deliver precepts in:_ And this likewise he signifys before, where he +sets down three sorts of _Epicks_: _one of which, says he, is divine, +and the most excellent by much in all Poetry_; the _other the lowest +but most pure, in which Theocritus excelled, which indeed shews +nothing of Poetry beside the bare numbers_: These points being thus +settled, the remaining difficultys will be more easily dispatched. + +For as in _Dramatick_ Poetry the Dignity and meanness of the +_Persons_ represented make two different _Species of imitation_ the +one _Tragick_, which agrees to none but great and Illustrious persons, +the other _Comick_, which suits with common and gentile humors: so in +_Epick_ too, there may be reckoned two sorts of _Imitation_, one of +which belongs to _Heroes_, and that makes the _Heroick_; the other to +_Rusticks_ and _Sheapards_ and that constitutes the _Pastoral_, now as +a _Picture_ imitates the Features of the face, so _Poetry_ doth +action, and tis not a representation of the Person but the Action. + +From all which we may gather this definition of Pastoral: _It is the +imitation of the Action of a Sheapard, or of one taken under that +Character_: Thus _Virgil's Gallus_, tho not really a _Sheapard_, for +he was a man of great quality in _Rome_, yet belongs to _Pastoral_, +because he is represented like a Sheapard: hence the Poet: + + {20} The Goatherd and the heavy Heardsmen came, + And ask't what rais'd the deadly Flame. + +The _Scene_ lys amongst Sheapards, the _Swains_ are brought in, the +_Herdsmen_ come to see his misery, and the fiction is suited to the +real condition of a _Sheapard_; the same is to be said for his +_Silenus_, who tho he seems lofty, and to sound to loud for an oaten +reed, yet since what he sings he sings to _Sheapards_, and suits his +Subject to their apprehensions, his is to be acknowledged _Pastoral_. +This rule we must stick to, that we might infallibly discern what is +stricktly _Pastoral_ in _Virgil_ and _Theocritus_, and what not: for +in _Theocritus_ there are some more lofty thoughts which not having +any thing belonging to Sheapards for their Subject, must by no means +be accounted _Pastoral_, But of this more in its proper place. + +My present inquiry must be what is the _Subject Matter_ of a +_Pastoral_, about which it is not easy to resolve; since neither from +_Aristotle_, nor any of the _Greeks_ who have written _Pastorals_, we +can receive certain direction. For sometimes they treat of high and +sublime things, like _Epick Poets_; what can be loftier than the whole +_Seaventh Idyllium of Bias_ in which _Myrsan_ urges _Lycidas_ the +Sheapard to sing the Loves of _Deidamia_ and _Achilles_. For he +begins from _Helen's_ rape, and goes on to the revengful fury of the +_Atrides_, and shuts up in one _Pastoral_, all that is great and +sounding in _Homers Iliad_. + + {21} Sparta was fir'd with Rage + And gather'd Greece to prosecute Revenge. + +And _Theocritus_ his verses are sometimes as sounding and his +thoughts as high: for upon serious consideration I cannot mind what +part of all the _Heroicks_ is so strong and sounding as that +_Idyllium_ on _Hercules_ *leontophonô* in which _Hercules_ himself +tells _Phyleus_ how he kill'd the Lyon whose Skin he wore: for, not to +mention many, what can be greater than this expression. + + And gaping Hell received his mighty Soul: + +Why should I instance in the *dioskouroi*, which hath not one line +below Heroick; the greatness of this is almost inexpressible. + + *anêr hyperoplos enêmeros, endiaaske + deinos idein* + +And some other pieces are as strong as these, such is the _Panegyrick +on Ptolemy_, _Helen's Epithalamium_, and the Fight of young _Hercules_ +and the Snakes: now how is it likely that such Subjects should be fit +for _Pastorals_, of which in my opinion, the same may be said which +_Ovid_ doth of his _Cydippe_. + + Cydippe, Homer, doth not fit thy Muse. + +For certainly _Pastorals_ ought not to rise to the Majesty of +_Heroicks_: but who on the other side {22} dares reprehend such great +and judicious Authors, whose very doing it is Authority enough? What +shall I say of _Virgil_? who in his Sixth _Eclogue_ hath put together +allmost all the particulars of the fabulous Age; what is so high to +which _Silenus_ that Master of Mysterys doth not soar? + + For lo! he sung the Worlds stupendious birth, + How scatter'd seeds of sea, of Air, and Earth, + And purer Fire thro universal night + And empty space did fruitfully unite: + From whence th' innumerable race of things + By circular successive order springs: + +And afterward + + How Pyrra's Stony race rose from the ground, + And Saturn reign'd with Golden plenty crown'd, + How bold _Prometheus_ (whose untam'd desire, + Rival'd the Sun with his own Heavenly Fire) + Now doom'd the _Scythian_ Vulturs endless prey + Severely pays for Animating Clay: + +So true, so certain 'tis, that nothing is so high and lofty to which +_Bucolicks_ may not successfully aspire. But if this be so, what will +become of _Macrobius, Georgius Valla, Julius Scaliger, Vossius,_ and +the whole company of Grammarians? who all affirm that simplicity and +meanness is so essential to _Pastorals_, that it ought to be confin'd +to the State, Manners, Apprehension and even common phrases of +Sheapards: for nothing can {23} be said to be _Pastoral_, which is not +accommodated to their condition; and for this Reason _Nannius +Alcmaritanus_ in my opinion is a trifler, who, in his comments on +_Virgils Eclogues_, thinks that those sorts of Composures may now and +then be lofty, and treat of great subjects: where he likewise divides +the matter of _Bucolicks_, into _Low_, _Middle_, and _High_: and makes +_Virgil_ the Author of this Division, who in his Fourth _Eclogue_, (as +he imagines) divides the matter of _Bucolicks_ into Three sorts, and +intimates this division by these three words: _Bushes_, _Shrubs_ and +_Woods_. + + Sicilian Muse begin a loftier strain, + The Bushes and the Shrubs that shade the Plain + Delight not all; if I to Woods repair + My Song shall make them worth a Consuls Care. + +By Woods, as he fancys, as _Virgil_ means high and stately Trees, so +He would have a great and lofty Subject to to be implyed, such as he +designed for the _Consul_: by Bushes, which are almost even with the +ground, the meanest and lowest argument; and by Shrubs a Subject not +so high as the one, nor so low as the other, as the thing it-self is, +And therefore these lines + + If I to Woods repair + My Song shall make them worth a _Consuls_ care. + +{24} are thus to be understood, That if we choose high and sublime +arguments, our work will be fit for the Patronage of a _Consul_, This +is _Nanniu's_ interpretation of that place; too pedantial and subtle +I'me affraid, for tis not credible that ever _Virgil_ thought of +reckoning great and lofty things amongst the Subjects of _Bucolicks_ +especially since + + When his _Thalia_ rais'd her bolder voice + And Kings and Battles were her lofty choice, + _Phoebus_ did twitch his Ear, mean thoughts infuse, + And with this whisper check't th' inspiring Muse. + A Sheapard, Tityrus, his Sheep should feed, + And choose a subject suited to his reed, + +This certainly was a serious admonition, implyed by the twitching of +his Ear, and I believe if he had continued in this former humor and +not obey'd the smarting admonition. He had still felt it: so far was +he from thinking Kings and Battels fit Themes for a _Sheapards_ song: +and this evidently shows that in _Virgils_ opinion, contrary to +_Nanniu's_ fancy, great things cannot in the least be comprehended +within the subject matter of _Pastorals;_ no, it must be low and +humble, which _Theocritus_ very happily expresseth by this word +*Boukoliasdên* _i.e._ as the interpreters explain it, sing humble +Strains. + +Theefore let _Pastoral_ never venture upon a {25} lofty subject, let +it not recede one jot from its proper matter, but be employ'd about +Rustick affairs: such as are mean and humble in themselves; and such +are the affairs of Shepherds, especially their Loves, but those must +be pure and innocent; not disturb'd by vain suspitious jealousy, nor +polluted by Rapes; The Rivals must not fight, and their emulations +must be without quarrellings: such as _Vida_ meant. + + Whilst on his Reed he Shepherd's stifes conveys, + And soft complaints in smooth Sicilian lays. + +To these may be added _sports_, _Jests_, _Gifts_, and _Presents_; but +not _costly_, such are yellow Apples, young stock-Doves, Milk, +Flowers, and the like; all things must appear delightful and easy, +nothing vitious and rough: A perfidious Pimp, a designing Jilt, a +gripeing Usurer, a crafty factious Servant must have no room there, +but every part must be full of the simplicity of the _Golden-Age_, and +of that Candor which was then eminent: for as _Juvenal affirms_ + + Baseness was a great wonder in that Age; + +Sometimes _Funeral-Rites_ are the subject of an _Eclogue_, where the +Shepherds scatter flowers on the Tomb, and sing Rustick Songs in honor +of the Dead: Examples of this kind are left us by _Virgil_ in his +_Daphnis_, and _Bion_ in his _Adonis_, and this hath nothing +disagreeable to a Shepherd: In {26} short whatever, the decorum being +still preserv'd, can be done by a _Sheapard_, may be the Subject of a +_Pastoral_. + +Now there may be more kinds of Subjects than _Servius_ or _Donatus_ +allow, for they confine us to that Number which _Virgil_ hath made use +of, tho _Minturnus_ in his second Book _de Poetâ_ declares against +this opinion: But as a glorious _Heroick_ action must be the Subject +of an _Heroick_ Poem, so a _Pastoral_ action of a _Pastoral_; at least +it must be so turn'd and wrought, that it might appear to be the +action of a _Shepherd_; which caution is very necessary to be +observ'd, to clear a great many difficulties in this matter: for tho +as the Interpreters assure us; most of _Virgils_ Eclogues are about +the Civil war, planting Colonys, the murder of the Emperor, and the +like, which in themselves are too great and too lofty for humble +_Pastoral_ to reach, yet because they are accomodated to the Genius of +Shepherds, may be the Subject of an _Eclogue_, for that sometimes will +admit of Gods and Heroes so they appear like, and are shrouded under +the Persons of Shepherds: But as for these matters which neither +really are, nor are so wrought as to seem the actions of Shepherds, +such are in _Moschus's_ _Europa_, _Theocritus's_ _Epithalamium of +Helen_, and _Virgil's_ _Pollio_, to declare my opinion freely, I +cannot think them to be fit Subjects for _Bucolicks_: And upon this +account I suppose 'tis that _Servius_ in his {27} Comments on +_Virgil's_ _Bucoliks_ reckons only seven of _Virgil's_ ten Eclogues, +and onely ten of _Theocritus's_ thirty, to be pure Pastorals, and +_Salmasius_ upon _Solinus_ says, that _amongst Theocritus's_ _Poems +there are some which you may call what you please Beside Pastorals_: +and _Heinsius_ in his _Scholia_ upon _Theocritus_ will allow but Ten +of his _Idylliums_ to be _Bucoliks_, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 11. +for all the rest are deficient either in matter or form, and from this +number of pure pastoral _Idylliums_ I am apt to think, that +_Theocritus_ seems to have made that Pipe, on which he tun'd his +_Pastorals_ and which he consecrated to _Pan_ of ten Reeds, as +_Salmasius_ in his notes on _Theocritus's_ Pipe hath learnedly +observed: _in which two Verses always make one Reed of the Pipe, +therefore all are so unequal, like the unequal Reeds of a Pipe, that +if you put two equals together which make one Reed, the whole +inequality consists in ten pairs_; when in the common Pipes there were +usually no more then seven Reeds, and this the less curious observers +have heedlessly past by. + +Some are of opinion that whatever is done in the Country, and in one +word, every thing that hath nought of the City in it may be treated of +in _Pastorals_; and that the discourse of Fishers, Plow-men, Reapers, +Hunters, and the like, belong to this kind of Poetry: which according +to the Rule that I have laid down cannot be true for, as I before +hinted nothing but the action of a {28} Shepherd can be the Subject of +a Pastoral. + +I shall not here enquire, tho it may seem proper, whether we can +decently bring into an Eclogue Reapers, Vine-dressers, Gardners, +Fowlers, Hunters, Fishers, or the like, whose lives for the most part +are taken up with too much business and employment to have any vacant +time for Songs, and idle Chat, which are more agreeable to the leisure +of a Sheapards Life: for in a great many Rustick affairs, either the +hardship and painful Labor will not admit a song, as in Plowing, or +the solitude as in hunting, Fishing, Fowling, and the like; but of +this I shall discourse more largely in another place. + +Now 'tis not sufficient to make a Poem a true _Pastoral_, that the +Subject of it is the action of a Shepherd, for in _Hesiods_ *erga* and +_Virqils Georgicks_ there are a great many things that belong to the +employment of a Shepherd, yet none fancy they are Pastorals; from +whence 'tis evident, that beside the _matter_, which we have defin'd +to be the action of a Sheapard, there is a peculiar _Form_ proper to +this kind of _Poetry_ by which 'tis distinguish'd from all others. + +Of Poetry in General _Socrates_, as _Plato_ tells us, would have +_Fable_ to be the _Form_: _Aristotle_ Imitation: I shall not dispute +what difference there is between these two, but only inquire whether +Imitation be the _Form_ of _Pastoral_: 'Tis certain that _Epick_ +Poetry is differenc't from _Tragick_ only by {29} the manner of +imitation, for the latter imitates by _action_, and the former by bare +_narration_: But _Pastoral_ is the imitation of a _Pastoral_ action +either by bare narration, as in _Virgil's_ _Alexis_, and +_Theocritus's_ 7th _Idyllium_, in which the Poet speaks all along in +his own Person: or by action as in _Virgil's_ _Tityrus_, and the first +of _Theocritus_, or by both mixt, as in the Second and Eleventh +_Idylliums_, in which the Poet partly speaks in his own Person, and +partly makes others speak, and I think the old _Scholiast_ on +_Theocritus_ took an hint from these when he says, that Pastoral is a +mixture made up of all sorts, for 'tis Narrative, Dramatick, and mixt, +and _Aristotle_, tho obscurely, seems to hint in those words, _In +every one of the mentioned Arts there is Imitation, in some simple, in +some mixt_; now this latter being peculiar to _Bucolicks_ makes its +very form and Essence: and therefore _Scaliger_, in the 4th Chapter of +his first Book of Poetry, reckons up three Species of _Pastorals_, the +first hath but one Person, the second several, which sing alternately; +the third is mixt of both the other: And the same observation is made +by _Heinsius_ in his Notes on _Theocritus_, for thus he very plainly +to our purpose, _the Character of_ Bucolicks _is a mixture of all +sorts of Characters, Dramatick, Narrative, or mixt_: from all which +'tis very manifest that the manner of _Imitation_ which is proper to +_Pastorals_ is the mixt: for in other kinds of Poetry 'tis one and +simple, at least {30} not so manifold; as in _Tragedy Action_: in +_Epick_ Poetry _Narration_. + +Now I shall explain what sort of _Fable_; _Manners_, _Thought_, +_Expression_, which four are necessary to constitute every kind of +Poetry, are proper to this sort. + + +Concerning the Fable which _Aristotle_ calls, *synthesin tôn +pragmatôn*, I have but one thing to say: this, as the Philosopher +hints, as of all other sorts of Poetry, so of Pastoral is the very +Soul. and therfore _Socrates_ in _Plato_ says, that in those Verses +which he had made there was nothing wanting but the _Fable_: therefore +Pastorals as other kinds of Poetry must have their Fable, if they will +be Poetry: Thus in _Virgil's_ _Silenus_ which contains the Stories of +allmost the whole Fabulous Age, two Shepherds whom _Silenus_ had often +promis'd a Song, and as often deceived, seize upon him being drunk and +asleep, and bind him with wreath'd Flowers; _Ægle_ comes in and +incourages the timorous youths, and stains his jolly red Face with +Blackberries, _Silenus_ laughs at their innocent contrivance, and +desires to be unbound, and then with a premeditated Song satisfies the +Nymph's and Boys Curiosity; The incomparable Poet sings wonders, the +Rocks rejoyce, the Vales eccho, and happy _Eurotas_ as if _Phoebus_ +himself sang, hears all, and bids the Laurels that grow upon his Banks +listen to, and learn the Song. + + {31} Happy _Eurotas_ as he flow'd along + Heard all, and bad the Laurels learn the Song. + +Thus every Eclogue or Idyllium must have its Fable, which must be the +groundwork of the whole design, but it must not be perplext with +sudden and unlookt for changes, as in _Marinus's_ _Adonis_: for that, +tho the _Fable_ be of a Shepherd, yet by reason of the strange Bombast +under Plots, and wonderful occurences, cannot be accounted _Pastoral_; +for that it might be agreeable to the Person it treats of, it must be +plain and simple, such as _Sophocles's_ _Ajax_, in which there is not +so much as one change of Fortune. As for the Manners, let that +precept, which _Horace_ lays down in his Epistle to the _Pisones_, be +principally observed. + + Let each be grac't with that which suits him best. + +For this, as 'tis a rule relateing to _Poetry_ in general, so it +respects this kind also of which we are treating; and against this +_Tasso_ in his _Amyntas_, _Bonarellus_ in his _Phyllis_, _Guarinus_ in +his _Pastor Fido_, _Marinus_ in his _Idylliums_, and most of the +_Italians_ grievously offend, for they make their _Shepherds_ too +polite, and elegant, and cloth them with all the neatness of the Town, +and Complement of the Court, which tho it may seem very pretty, yet +amongst good _Critics_, let _Veratus_ {32} say what he will in their +excuse, it cannot be allowed: For 'tis against _Minturnus's_ Opinion, +who in his second Book _de Poetâ_ says thus: _Mean Persons are brought +in, those in Comedy indeed more polite, those in Pastorals more +unelegant, as suppos'd to lead a rude life in Solitude_; and _Jason +Denor_ a Doctor of _Padua_ takes notice of the same as a very absurd +Error: _Aristotle_ heretofore for a like fault reprehended the +_Megarensians_, who observ'd no _Decorum_ in their _Theater_, but +brought in mean persons with a Train fit for a _King_ and cloath'd a +Cobler or Tinker in a Purple Robe: In vain doth _Veratus_ in his +Dispute against _Jason Denor_, to defend those elaborately exquisite +discourses, and notable sublime sentences of his _Pastor Fido_, bring +some lofty _Idylliums_ of _Theocritus_, for those are not acknowledged +to be Pastoral; _Theocritus_ and _Virgil_ must be consulted in this +matter, the former designdly makes his Shepherds discourse in the +_Dorick_ i. e. the Rustick Dialect, sometimes scarce true Grammar; & +the other studiously affects ignorance in the persons of his +Shepherds, as _Servius_ hath observ'd, and is evident in _Melibæus_, +who makes _Oaxes_ to be a River in _Crete_ when 'tis in +_Mesopotamia_: and both of them take this way that the Manners may +the more exactly suit with the Persons they represent, who of +themselves are rude and unpolisht: And this proves that they +scandalously err, who make their Shepherds appear polite and elegant; +nor can I imagine what _Veratus_ {33} who makes so much ado about the +polite manners of the _Arcadian_ Shepherds, would say to _Polybius_ +who tells us that _Arcadians_ by reason of the Mountainousness of the +Country and hardness of the weather, are very unsociable and austere. + +Now as too much neatness in _Pastoral_ is not to be allow'd, so +rusticity (I do not mean that which _Plato_, in his Third Book of a +Commonwealth, mentions which is but a part of a down right honesty) +but Clownish stupidity, such as _Theophrastus_, in his Character of a +_Rustick_, describes; or that disagreeable unfashionable roughness +which _Horace_ mentions in his Epistle to _Lollius_, must not in my +opinion be endur'd: On this side _Mantuan_ errs extreamly, and is +intolerably absur'd, who makes Shepherds blockishly sottish, and +insufferably rude: And a certain Interpreter blames _Theocritus_ for +the same thing, who in some mens opinion sometimes keeps too close to +the _Clown_, and is rustick and uncouth; But this may be very well +excus'd because the Age in which he sang was not as polite as now. + +But that every Part may be suitable to a Shepherd, we must consult +unstain'd, uncorrupted Nature; so that the manners might not be too +Clownish nor too Caurtly: And this mean may be easily observed if the +manners of our Shepherds be represented according to the _Genius_ of +the _golden Age_, in which, if _Guarinus_ may be believ'd {34}, every +man follow'd that employment: And _Nannius_ in the Preface to his +Comments on _Virgil's_ _Bucolicks_ is of the same opinion, for he +requires that the manners might represent the Golden Age: and this was +the reason that _Virgil_ himself in his _Pollio_ describes that Age, +which he knew very well was proper to _Bucolicks_: For in the whole +course of a Shepherds life there can be no form more excellent than +that which was the practise of the Golden Age; And this may serve to +moderate and temper the affections that must be exprest in this sort +of Poetry, and sufficiently declare the whole Essence of it, which in +short must be taken from the nature of a Shepherds life to which a +Courtly dress is not agreeable. + +That the Thought may be commendable, it must be suitable to the +_manners_; as those must be plain and pure that must be so too: nor +must contain any, deep, exquisite, or elaborate fancies: And against +this the _Italians_ offend, who continually hunt after smart witty +sayings, very foolishly in my opinion; for in the Country, where all +things should be full of plainess and simplicity who would paint or +endeavor to be gawdy when such appearances would be very disagreeable +and offend? _Pontanus_ in this matter hath said very well, _The +Thought must not be to exquisite and witty, the Comparisons obvious +and common, such as the State of Persons and Things require_: Yet tho +too scrupulous a Curiosity in Ornament ought to be rejected, {35} yet +lest the Thought be cold and flat, it must have some quickness of +Passion, as in these. + + Cruel _Alexis_ can't my Verses move? + Hast thou no Pitty? I must dye for Love_. + +And again, + + He neither Gods, nor yet my Verse regards. + +The Sense must not be long, copious, and continued, For _Pastoral_ is +weak, and not able to hold out; but of this more when I come to lay +down rules for its Composure: But tho it ought to imitate _Comedy_ in +its common way of discourse, yet it must not chose _old Comedy_ for +its pattern, for that is too impudent, and licentiously abusive: Let +it be free and modest, honest and ingenuous, and that will make it +agreeable to the Golden Age. + +Let the Expression be plain and easy, but elegant and neat, and the +purest which the language will afford; _Pontanus_ upon _Virgils_ +Bucolicks gives the very same rule, _In Bucolicks the Expression must +be humble, nearer common discourse than otherwise, not very Spirituous +and vivid, yet such as shows life and strength_: Tis certain that +_Virgil_ in his _Bucolicks_ useth the same words which _Tully_ did in +the _Forum_ or the _Senate_; and _Tityrus_ beneath his shady Beech +speaks as pure and good _Latin_ as _Augustus_ in his Palace, as +_Modicius_ in his _Apology_ for _Virgil_ hath excellently observ'd: +{36} This rule, 'tis true; _Theocritus_ hath not so strictly follow'd, +whose Rustick and Pastoral Muse, as _Quintilian_ phraseth it, _not +only is affraid to appear in the_ Forum, _but the City_, and for the +very same thing an _Alexandrian_ flouts the _Syracucusian Weomen_ in +the Fifteenth _Idyllium_ of _Theocritus_, for when they, being then in +the City, spoke the _Dorick_ Dialect, the delicate Citizen could not +endure it, and found fault with their distastful, as he thought, +pronunciation: and his reflection was very smart. + + Like Pidgeons you have mouths from Ear to Ear. + +So intolerable did that broad way of pronunciation, tho exactly fit +for a Clowns discourse, seem to a Citizen: and hence _Probus_ observes +that 'twas much harder for the _Latines_ to write _Pastorals_ than for +the _Greeks_; because the _Latines_ had not some _Dialects_ peculiar +to the Country, and others to the City, as the _Greeks_ had; Besides +the _Latine_ Language, as _Quintilian_ hath observ'd, is not capable +of the neatness which is necessary to Bucolicks, no, that is the +peculiar priviledge of the _Greeks_: _We cannot_, says he, _be so low, +they exceed us in subtlety, and in propriety they are at more +certainty than We_: and again, _in pat and close Expressions we cannot +reach the Greeks_: And, if we believe _Tully_, _Greek is much more fit +for Ornament than Latin_ for it hath much more of that neatness, {37} +and ravishing delightfulness, which _Bucolicks_ necessarily require. + +Yet of Pastoral, with whose Nature we are not very well acquainted, +what that _Form_ is which the _Greeks_ call the _Character_, is not +very easy to determine; yet that we may come to some certainty, we +must stick to our former observation, _viz._ that _Pastoral_ belongs +properly to the _Golden Age_: For as _Tully_ in his Treatise _de +Oratore_ says, _in all our disputes the Subject is to be measur'd by +the most perfect of that kind_, and _Synesius_ in his _Encomium_ on +_Baldness_ hints the very same, when he tells us that Poetry fashions +its subject as Men imagine it should be, and not as really it is: +*pros doxan, ou pros alêtheian*: Now the Life of a Shepherd, that it +might be rais'd to the highest perfection, is to be referr'd to the +manners and age of the world whilst yet innocent, and such as the +Fables have describ'd it: And as Simplicity was the principal vertue +of that Age, so it ought to be the peculiar Grace, and as it were +_Character_ of _Bucolicks_: in which the Fable, Manners, Thought, and +Expression ought to be full of the most innocent simplicity +imaginable: for as Innocence in Life, so purity and simplicity in +discourse was the Glory of that Age: So as gravity to _Epicks_, +Sweetness to _Lyricks_, Humor to _Comedy_, softness to _Elegies_ and +smartness to _Epigrams_, so simplicity to _Pastorals_ is proper; and +one upon _Theocritus_ says, _that the Idea of his Bucolicks is in +every part pure, and in all {38} that belongs to simplicity very +happy_: Such is this of _Virgil_, unwholsome to us Singers is the +shade + + Of Juniper, 'tis an unwholsome shade: + +Than which in my opinion nothing can be more simply; nothing more +rustically said; and this is the reason I suppose why _Macrobius_ says +that this kind of Poetry is creeping and upon mean subjects; and why +too _Virgils Tityrus_ lying under his shady Beech displeaseth some; +Excellent Criticks indeed, whom I wish a little more sense, that they +might not really be, what they would not seem to be, _Ridiculous_: +_Theocritus_ excells _Virgil_ in this, of whom _Modicius_ says, +_Theocritus deserves the greatest commendation for his happy +imitation of the simplicity of his Shepherds_, Virgil _hath mixt +Allegories, and some other things which contain too much learning, and +deepness of Thought for Persons of so mean a Quality_: Yet here I must +obviate their mistake who fancy that this sort of _Poetry_, because in +it self low and simple, is the proper work of _mean_ Wits, and not the +most _sublime_ and _excellent_ perfections: For as I think there be +can nothing more elegant than easy naked simplicity, so likewise +nothing can require more strength of Wit, and greater pains; and he +must be of a great and clear judgment, who attempts _Pastoral_, and +comes of with Honor. For there is no part of _Poetry_ that requires +more spirit, for if any part is not close and well compacted the whole +Fabrick will be ruin'd, and the {39} matter, in it self humble, must +creep; unless it is held up by the strength and vigor of the +_Expression_. + +Another qualification and excellence of _Pastoral_ is to imitate +_Timanthes's_ Art, of whom _Pliny_ writes thus; _Timanthes was very +Ingenious, in all his peices more was to be understood than the +Colours express'd, and tho his Art was very extraordinary yet his +Fancy exceeded it_: In this _Virgil_ is peculiarly happy, but others, +especially raw unexperienced Writers, if they are to describe a +Rainbow, or a River, pour out their whole stock, and are unable to +contain: Now 'tis properly requisite to a Pastoral that there should +be a great deal coucht in a few words, and every thing it says should +be so short, and so close, as if its chiefest excellence was to be +spareing in Expression: such is that of _Virgil_; + + These Fields and Corn shall a Barbarian share? + See the Effects of all our Civil War. + +How short is that? how concise? and yet how full of sense in the same +_Eclogue_. + + I wonder'd why all thy complaints were made, + Absent was _Tityrus_: + +And the like you may every where meet with, as + + _Mopsus_ weds _Nisa_, what may'nt Lovers hope? + +and in the second _Eclogue_, + + {40} Whom dost thou fly ah frantick! oft the Woods + Hold Gods, and _Paris_ equal to the Gods. + +This Grace _Virgil_ learn'd from _Theocritus_, allmost most all whose +Periods; especially in the third _Idyllium_, have no conjunction to +connect them, that the sense might be more close, and the Affection +vehement and strong: as in this + + Let all things change, let Pears the Firs adorn + Now _Daphnis_ dyes. + +And in the third _Eclogue_. + + But when she saw, how great was the surprize! &c. + +And any one may find a great many of the like in _Theocritus_ and +_Virgil_, if with a leisurely delight he nicely examines their +delicate Composures: And this I account the greatest grace in +_Pastorals_, which in my opinion those that write _Pastorals_ do not +sufficiently observe: 'Tis true Ours (the _French_) and the _Italian_ +language is to babling to endure it; This is the Rock on which those +that write _Pastorals_ in their _Mother_ tongue are usually split, But +the _Italians_ are inevitably lost; who having store of _Wit_, a very +subtle invention and flowing fancy, cannot contain; everything that +comes into their mind must be poured out, nor are they able to endure +the least restraint: as is evident from _Marinus's_ _Idylliums_, and a +great many of that nation who have ventur'd on such composures; For +unless there are many {41} stops and breakings off in the series of a +_Pastoral_, it can neither be pleasing nor artificial: And in my +Opinion _Virgil_ excells _Theocritus_ in this, for _Virgil_ is +neither so continued, nor so long as _Theocritus_; who indulges too +much the garrulity of his _Greek_; nay even in those things which he +expresseth he is more close, and more cautiously conceals that part +which ought to be dissembled: And this I am sure is a most admirable +part of Eloquence; as _Tully_ in his Epistle to _Atticus_ says, _'Tis +rare to speak Eloquently, but more rare to be eloquently silent_: And +this unskillful _Criticks_ are not acquainted with, and therefore are +wont oftner to find fault with that which is not fitly exprest, than +commend that which is prudently conceal'd: I could heap up a great +many more things to this purpose, but I see no need of such a trouble, +since no man can rationally doubt of the goodness of my Observation. +Therefore, in short, let him that writes Pastorals think brevity, if +it doth not obscure his sense, to be the greatest grace which he can +attain. + +Now why _Bucolicks_ should require such Brevity, and be so +essentially sparing in _Expression_, I see no other reason but this: +It loves _Simplicity_ so much that it must be averse to that Pomp and +Ostentation which _Epick_ Poetry must show, for that must be copious +and flowing, in every part smooth, and equal to it self: But +_Pastoral_ must dissemble, and hide even that which it would {42} +show, like _Damon's_ _Galatea_, who flies then when she most desires +to be discovered. + + And to the Bushes flys, yet would be seen. + +And this doth not proceed from any malitious ill-natur'd Coyness, as +some imagine, but from an ingenuous modesty and bashfulness, which +usually accompanies, and is a proof of _Simplicity: Tis very rare_, +says Pliny, _to find a man so exquisitely skillful, as to be able to +show those Features in a Picture which he hides_, and I think it to be +so difficult a task, that none but the most excellent Wits can attempt +it with success: For small Wits usually abound with a multitude of +words. + +The third Grace of _Bucolicks_ is _Neatness_, which contains all the +taking prettiness and sweetness of Expression, and whatsoever is +call'd the Delicacies of the more delightful and pleasing _Muses_: +This the Rural _Muses_ bestow'd on _Virgil_, as _Horace_ in the tenth +_Satyr_ of his first Book says, + + And _Virgils_ happy Muse in Eclogues plays, + soft and facetious; + +Which _Fabius_ takes to signify the most taking neatness and most +exquisite Elegance imaginable: For thus he explains this place, in +which he agrees with _Tully_, who in his _Third Book de Oratore_, +says, the _Atticks_ are Facetious _i.e._ elegant: Tho the common +Interpreters of these words are not of the same mind: But if by +_Facetious Horace_ had meant _jesting_, and such as is design'd to +make men laugh, and apply'd that to _Virgil_, nothing {43} could have +been more ridiculous; 'tis the design of _Comedy_ to raise laughter, +but _Eclogue_ should only delight, and charm by its takeing +_prettiness_: All ravishing _Delicacies_ of Thought, all sweetness of +Expression, all that Salt from which _Venus_, as the Poets Fable, +rose; are so essential to this kind of _Poetry_, that it cannot endure +any thing that is scurillous, malitiously biteing, or ridiculous: +There must be nothing in it but _Hony, Milk, Roses, Violets_, and the +like sweetness, so that when you read you might think that you are in +_Adonis's_ Gardens, as the _Greeks_ speak, _i.e._ in the most pleasant +place imaginable: For since the subject of _Eclogue_ must be mean and +unsurprizing, unless it maintains purity and neatness of Expression, +it cannot please. + +Therefore it must do as _Tully_ says his friend _Atticus_ did, who +entertaining his acquaintance with Leeks and Onions, pleas'd them all +very well, because he had them serv'd up in wicker Chargers, and clean +Baskets; So let an _Eclogue_ serve up its fruits and flowers with +some, tho no costly imbellishment, such as may answer to the wicker +Chargers, and Baskets; which may be provided at a cheap rate, and are +agreeable to the Country: yet, (and this rule if you aim at exact +simplicity, can never be too nicely observ'd,) you must most carefully +avoid all paint and gawdiness of Expression, and, (which of all sorts +of Elegancies is the most difficult to be avoided) {44} you must take +the greatest care that no scrupulous trimness, or artificial finessess +appear: For, as _Quintilian_ teaches, _in some cases diligence and +care most most troublesomly perverse_; and when things are most sweet +they are next to loathsome and many times degenerate: Therefore as in +Weomen a careless dress becomes some extreamly. Thus _Pastoral_, that +it might not be uncomely, ought sometimes to be negligent, or the +finess of its ornaments ought not to appear and lye open to every +bodies view: so that it ought to affect a studied carelessness, and +design'd negligence: And that this may be, all gawdiness of Dress, +such as Paint and Curls, all artificial shining is to be despis'd, but +in the mean time care must be taken that the Expression be bright and +simply clean, not filthy and disgustful, but such as is varnisht with +Wit and Fancy: Now to perfect this, _Nature_ is chiefly to be lookt +upon, (for nothing that is disagreeable to Nature can please) yet that +will hardly prevail naked, by it self, and without the polishing of +Art. + +Then there are three things in which, as in its parts, the whole +_Character_ of a _Pastoral_ is contain'd: _Simplicity_ of Thought and +expression: _Shortness_ of Periods full of sense and spirit: and the +_Delicacy_ of a most elegant ravishing unaffected neatness. + +Next I will enquire in to the _Efficient_, and then into the _Final_ +Cause of _Pastorals_. + +{45} _Aristotle_ assigns two efficient Causes of _Poetry_, The +natural desire of Imitation in Man whom he calls the most imitative +Creature; and Pleasure consequent to that Imitation: Which indeed are +the _Remote_ Causes, but the _Immediate_ are _Art_ and _Nature_; Now +according to the differences of _Genius's_ several _Species_ of +Poetry have been introduced. For as the _Philosopher_ hath observ'd, +*diespathê kata ta oikeia êthê hê poiêsis* Thus those that were lofty +imitated great and Illustrious; those that were low spirited and +groveling mean Actions: And every one, according to the various +inclination of his _Nature_, follow'd this or that sort of _Poetry_: +This the _Philosopher_ expresly affirms, And _Dio Chrysostomus_ says +of _Homer_ that he received from the Gods a Nature fit for all sorts +of Verse: but this is an happiness which none partake but, as he in +the same place intimates, Godlike minds. + +Not to mention other kinds of _Poetry_, what particular Genius is +requir'd to _Pastoral_ I think, is evident from the foregoing +Discourse, for as every part of it ought to be full of simple and +inartificial neatness, so it requires a Wit naturally neat and +pleasant, born to delight and ravish, which are the qualifications +certainly of a great and most excellent Nature: For whatsoever in any +kind is delicate and elegant, that is usually most excellent: And such +a _Genius_ that hath a sprightfulness of Nature, and is well +instructed {46} by the rules of Art, is fit to attempt _Pastorals_. + +Of the end of Pastorals tis not so easy to give an account: For as to +the end of Poetry in General: The Enemies of Poets run out into a +large common place, and loudly tell us that Poetry is frivolous and +unprofitable. Excellent men! that love _profit_ perchance, but have no +regard for _Honesty_ and _Goodness_; who do not know that all +excellent _Arts_ sprang from _Poetry_ at first. + + Which what is honest, base, or just, or good, + Better than _Crantor_, or _Chrysippus_ show'd. + +For tis _Poetry_ that like a chast unspotted Virgin, shews men the +way, and the means to live happily, who afterward are deprav'd by the +immodest precepts of vitiated and impudent _Philosophy_. For every +body knows, that the _Epick_ sets before us the highest example of the +Bravest man; the _Tragedian_ regulates the Affections of the Mind; the +_Lyrick_ reforms Manners, or sings the Praises of Gods, and Heroes; so +that there's no part of _Poetry_ but hath it's proper end, and +profits. + +But grant all this true, _Pastoral_ can make no such pretence: if you +sing a _Hero_, you excite mens minds to imitate his Actions, and +notable Exploits; but how can _Bucolicks_ apply these or the like +advantages to its self? _He that reads {47} Heroick Poems, learns what +is the vertue of a Hero, and wishes to be like him; but he that reads +Pastorals, neither learns how to feed sheep, nor wishes himself a +shepherd:_ And a great deal more to this purpose you may see in +_Modicius_, as _Pontanus_ cites him in his Notes on _Virgil's_ +_Eclogues_. + +But when tis the end of _Comedy_, as _Jerom_ in his Epistle to +_Furia_ says, to know the Humors of Men, and to describe them; and +_Demea_ in _Terence_ intimates the same thing, + + To look on all mens lives as in a Glass, + And take from those Examples for our Own, + +so that our Humors and Conversations may be better'd, and improv'd; +why may not _Pastoral_ be allow'd the same Priviledge, and be admitted +to regulate and improve a _Shepherd's_ life by its _Bucolicks_? For +since tis a product of the Golden Age, it will shew the most innocent +manners of the most ancient Simplicity, how plain and honest, and how +free from all varnish, and deceit, to more degenerate, and worse +times: And certainly for this tis commendable in its kind, since its +design in drawing the image of a Country and Shepherd's life, is to +teach Honesty, Candor, and Simplicity, which are the vertues of +_private_ men; as _Epicks_ teach the highest Fortitude, and Prudence, +and Conduct, which are the vertues of _Generals_, and _Kings_. And tis +necessary {48} to Government, that as there is one kind of _Poetry_ to +instruct the _Citizens_, there should be another to fashion the +manners of the _Rusticks_: which if _Pastoral_, as it does, did not +do, yet would it not be altogether frivolous, and idle, since by its +taking prettinesses it can delight, and please. It can scarce be +imagin'd, how much the most flourishing times of the _Roman_ Common- +wealth, in which _Virgil_ wrote, grew better and brisker by the use of +_Pastoral_: with it were _Augustus_, _Mecænas_, _Asinius Pollio_, +_Alphenus Varus_, _Cornelius Gallus_, the most admired Wits of that +happy Age, wonderfully pleas'd; for whatever is sweet, and ravishing, +is contain'd in this sweetest kind of Poetry. But if we must slight +every thing, from which no _profit_ is to be hop'd, all pleasures of +the Eye and Ear are presently to be laid aside; and those excellent +Arts, _Musick_, and _Painting_, with which the best men use to be +delighted, are presently to be left off. Nor is it indeed credible, +that so many excellent Wits, as have devoted themselves to Poetry, +would ever have medled with it, if it had been so empty, idle, and +frivolous, as some ridiculously morose imagine; who forsooth are +better pleas'd with the severity of _Philosophy_, and her harsh, +deform'd impropriety of Expressions. But the judgments of such men are +the most contemptible in the world; for when by _Poetry_ mens minds +are fashioned to generous {49} Humors, Kindness, and the like: those +must needs be strangers to all those good qualites, who hate, or +proclaim _Poetry_ to be frivolous, and useless. + + +{50} _The Third_ PART + +_Rules for writing_ Pastorals. + +In delivering Rules for writing _Pastorals_, I shall not point to the +_streams_, which to look after argues a small creeping _Genius_, but +lead you to the _fountains_. But first I must tell you, how difficult +it is to write _Pastorals_, which many seem not sufficiently to +understand: For since its matter is low, and humble, it seems to have +nothing that is troublesome, and difficult. But this is a great +mistake, for, as _Horace_ says of _Comedy_, "It is by so much the more +difficult, by how much the less pardonable are the mistakes committed +in its composure": and the same is to be thought of every thing, whose +end is to please, and delight. For whatsoever is contriv'd for +pleasure, and not necessarily requir'd, unless it be exquisite, must +be nauseous, and distastful; as at a Supper, scraping Musick, thick +Oyntment, or the like, because the Entertainment might have been +without all these; For the sweetest things, and most delicious, are +most apt to satiate; for tho the sense may sometimes be pleas'd, yet +it presently disgusts that which is {51} luscious, and, as _Lucretius_ +phraseth it, + + E'en in the midst and fury of the Joys, + Some thing that's better riseth, and destroys. + +Beside, since _Pastoral_ is of that nature, that it cannot endure too +much negligence, nor too scrupulous diligence, it must be very +difficult to be compos'd, especially since the expression must be +neat, but not too exquisite, and fine: It must have a simple native +beauty, but not too mean; it must have all sorts of delicacies, and +surprizing fancies, yet not be flowing, and luxuriant. And certainly, +to hit all these excellencies is difficult enough, since Wit, whose +nature it is to pour it self forth, must rather be restrain'd than +indulg'd; and that force of the Mind, which of it self is so ready to +run on, must be checkt, and bridled: Which cannot be easily perform'd +by any, but those who have a very good Judgment, and practically +skill'd in Arts, and Sciences: And lastly, a neat, and as it were a +happy Wit; not that curious sort, I mean, which _Petronius_ allows +_Horace_, lest too much _Art_ should take off the Beauty of the +_Simplicity_. And therefore I would not have any one undertake this +task, that is not very polite by _Nature_, and very much at leisure. +For what is more hard than to be always in the _Country_, and yet +never to be _Clownish_? to sing of _mean_, and _trivial_ matters, {52} +yet not _trivially_, and _meanly_? to pipe on a _slender_ Reed, and +yet keep the sound from being _harsh_, and _squeaking_? to make every +thing _sweet_, yet never _satiate_? And this I thought necessary to +premise, in order to the better laying down of such Rules as I design. +For the naked _simplicity_ both of the Matter and Expression of a +_Pastoral_, upon bare Contemplation, might seem easily to be hit, but +upon trial 'twill be found a very hard task: Nor was the difficulty to +be dissembled, lest _Ignorance_ should betray some into a rash +attempt. Now I must come to the very Rules; for as nothing excellent +can be brought to perfection without _Nature_, (for Art unassisted by +that, is vain, and ineffectual,) so there is no _Nature_ so excellent, +and happy, which by its own strength, and without _Art_ and _Use_ can +make any thing excellent, and great. + +But tis hard to give _Rules_ for that, for which there have been none +already given; for where there are no footsteps nor path to direct, I +cannot tell how any one can be certain of his way. Yet in this +difficulty I will follow _Aristotle's_ Example, who being to lay down +Rules concerning _Epicks_, propos'd _Homer_ as a Pattern, from whom he +deduc'd the whole Art: So I will gather from _Theocritus_ and +_Virgil_, those Fathers of _Pastoral_, what I shall deliver on this +account. For all the Rules that are to be given of any Art, are to be +given of it as excellent, and perfect, and {53} therefore ought to be +taken from them in whom it is so. + +The first Rule shall be about the _Matter_, which is either the +_Action_ of a _Shepherd_, or contriv'd and fitted to the _Genius_ of a +Shepherd; for tho _Pastoral_ is simple, and bashful, yet it will +entertain lofty subjects, if it can be permitted to turn and fashion +them to its own proper Circumstances, and Humor: which tho +_Theocritus_ hath never done, but kept close to _pastoral_ simplicity, +yet _Virgil_ hath happily attempted; of whom almost the same +_Character_ might be given, which _Quintilian_ bestow'd on +_Stesichorus_, who _with his Harp bore up the most weighty subjects +of_ Epick _Poetry_; for _Virgil_ sang great and lofty things to his +Oaten Reed, but yet suited to the Humor of a Shepherd, for every thing +that is not agreeable to that, cannot belong to _Pastoral_: of its own +nature it cannot treat of lofty and great matters. + +Therefore let _Pastoral_ be smooth and soft, not noisy and bombast; +lest whilst it raiseth its voice, and opens its mouth, it meet with +the same fate that, they say, an _Italian_ Shepherd did, who having a +very large mouth, and a very strong breath, brake his Pipe as often as +he blow'd it. This is a great fault in one that writes _Pastorals_: +for if his words are too sounding, or his sense too strong, he must be +absurd, because indecently loud. And this is not the rule of an +unskilful {54} impertinent Adviser, but rather of a very excellent +Master in this _Art_; for _Phoebus_ twitcht _Virgil_ by the Ear, and +warn'd him to forbear great Subjects: but if it ventures upon such, it +may be allow'd to use some short _Invocations_, and, as _Epicks_ do, +modestly implore the assistance of a Muse. This _Virgil_ doth in his +_Pollio_, which is a Composure of an unusual loftiness: + + _Sicilian_ Muse begin a loftier strain. + +So he invocates _Arethusa_, when _Cornelius Gallus Proconsul of +Ægypt_ and his _Amours_, matters above the common reach of _Pastoral_, +are his Subject. + + One Labor more O _Arethusa_ yield. + +Why he makes his application to _Aretheusa_ is easy to conjecture, +for she was a _Nymph_ of _Sicily_, and so he might hope that she could +inspire him with a _Genius_ fit for _Pastorals_ which first began in +that _Island_, Thus in the seventh and eighth _Eclogue_, as the matter +would bear, he invocates the Nymphs and Muses: And _Theocritus_ does +the same, + + Tell Goddess, you can tell. + +From whence 'tis evident that in _Pastoral_, tho it never pretends to +any greatness, _Invocations_ {55} may be allow'd: But whatever Subject +it chooseth, it must take care to accommodate it to the Genius and +Circumstances of a Shepherd. + +Concerning the Form, or mode of _Imitation_, I shall not repeat what +I have already said, _viz._ that this is in it self _mixt_; for +_Pastoral_ is either _Alternate_, or hath but _one Person_, or is +_mixt_ of both: yet 'tis properly and chiefly _Alternate_. as is +evident from that of _Theocritus_. + + Sing _Rural_ strains, for as we march along + We may delight each other with a Song. + +In which the _Poet_ shows that _alternate_ singing is proper to a +_Pastoral_: But as for the _Fable_, 'tis requisite that it should be +simple, lest in stead of _Pastoral_ it put on the form of a _Comedy_, +or _Tragedy_ if the _Fable_ be great, or intricate: It must be _One_; +this _Aristotle_ thinks necessary in every _Poem_, and _Horace_ lays +down this general Rule, + + Be every _Fable_ simple, and but one: + +For every Poem, that is not _One_, is imperfect, and this _Unity_ is +to be taken from the _Action_: for if that is _One_, the Poem will be +so too. Such is the Passion of _Corydon_ in _Virgil's_ second Eclogue, +_Meliboeus's_ Expostulation with _Tityrus_ about his Fortune; +_Theocritus's_ _Thyrsis, Cyclops_, and _Amaryllis_, of which perhaps +in its proper place I may treat more largely. + +{56} Let the third Rule be concerning the _Expression_, which cannot +be in this kind excellent unless borrow'd from _Theocritus's_ +_Idylliums_, or _Virgil's_ _Eclogues_, let it be chiefly simple, and +ingenuous: such is that of _Theocritus_, + + A Kid belongs to thee, and Kids are good, + +Or that in _Virgil's_ seventh Eclogue, + + This Pail of Milk, these Cakes (_Priapus_) every year + Expect; a little Garden is thy care: + Thou'rt Marble now, but if more Land I hold, + If my Flock thrive, thou shalt be made of Gold, + +than which I cannot imagine more simple, and more ingenuous +expressions. To which may be added that out of his _Palemon_, + + And I love _Phyllis_, for her Charms excell; + At my departure O what tears there fell! + She sigh'd, Farewell Dear Youth, a long Farewell. + +Now, That I call an ingenuous Expression which is clear and smooth, +that swells with no insolent words, or bold metaphors, but hath +something familiar, and as it were obvious in its Composure, and not +disguis'd by any study'd and affected dress: All its Ornament must be +like the Corn and fruits in the Country, easy to {57} be gotten, and +ready at hand, not such as requires Care, Labor, and Cost to be +obtain'd: as _Hermogenes_ on _Theocritus_ observes; _See how easie and +unaffected this sounds_, + + Pines murmurings, Goatherd, are a pleasing sound, + +_and most of his expressions, not to say all, are of the same +nature_: for the ingenuous simplicity both of Thought and Expression +is the natural _Characteristick_ of _Pastoral_. In this _Theocritus_ +and _Virgil_ are admirable, and excellent, the others despicable, and +to be pittied; for they being enfeebled by the meanes of their +subject, either creep, or fall flat. _Virgil_ keeps himself up by his +choice and curious words, and tho his matter for the most part (and +_Pastoral_ requires it) is mean, yet his expressions never flag, as is +evident from these lines in his _Alexis_: + + The glossy Plums I'le bring, and juicy Pear, + Such as were once delightful to my Dear: + I'le crop the Laurel, and the Myrtle tree, + Confus'dly set, because their Sweets agree. + +For since the matter must be low, to avoid being abject, and +despicable, you must borrow some light from the Expression; not such +as is dazling, but pure, and lambent, such as may shine thro the whole +matter, but never flash, and blind. {58} The words of such a _Stile_ +we are usually taught in our Nurses armes, but 'tis to be perfected +and polished by length of time, frequent use, study, and diligent +reading of the most approved Authors: for Pastoral is apt to be +slighted for the meaness of its Matter, unless it hath some additional +Beauty, be pure, polisht, and so made pleasing, and attractive. +Therefore never let any one, that designs to write _Pastorals_, +corrupt himself with foreign manners; for if he hath once vitiated the +healthful habit, as I may say, of Expression, which _Bucolicks_ +necessarily require, 'tis impossible he should be fit for that task. +Yet let him not affect pompous or dazling Expressions, for such belong +to _Epicks_, or _Tragedians_. Let his words sometimes tast of the +Country, not that I mean, of which _Volusius's_ Annals, upon which +_Catullus_ hath made that biting _Epigram_, are full; for though the +Thought ought to be rustick, and such as is suitable to a Shepherd, +yet it ought not to be Clownish, as is evident in _Corydon_, when he +makes mention of his Goats. + + Young sportive Creatures, and of spotted hue, + Which suckled twice a day, I keep for you: + These_ Thestilis _hath beg'd, and beg'd in vain, + But now they're Hers, since You my Gifts disdain. + +For what can be more Rustical, than to design those _Goats_ for +_Alexis_, at that very time when {59} he believes _Thestylis's_ +winning importunity will be able to prevail? yet there is nothing +Clownish in the words. In short, _Bucolicks_ should deserve that +commendation which _Tully_ gives _Crassus_, of whose Orations he would +say, _that nothing could be more free from childish painting, and +affected finery_. So let the Expression in _Pastoral_ be without gawdy +trappings, and all those little fineries of Art, which are us'd to set +off and varnish a discourse: But let an ingenuous Simplicity. and +unaffected pleasing Neatness appear in every part; which yet will be +flat, if 'tis drawn out to any length, if not close, short, and +broken, as that in _Virgil_, + + He that loves _Bavius_ Verses, hates not Thine: + +And in the same _Eclogue_, + + --It is not safe to drive too nigh, + The Bank may fail, the Ram is hardly dry: + +And in _Corydon_, + + To learn this Art what won't _Amyntas_ do? + +And in _Theocritus_ much of the same nature may be seen; as in his +other _Pastoral Idylliums_, so chiefly in his fifth. Thus _Battus_ in +the fourth _Idyllium_, complaining for the loss of _Amaryllis_, + + {60} Dear Nymph, dear as my Goats, you dy'd. + +And how soft and tender is that in the third _Idyllium_, + + And she may look on me, she may be won, + She may be kind, she is not perfect Stone, + +And in this _concise_, close way of Expression lies the chiefest +Grace of _Pastorals_: for in my opinion there's nothing in the whole +Composition that can delight more than those frequent stops, and +breakings off. Yet lest in these too it become dull and sluggish, it +must be quickned by frequent lively touches of Concernment: such as +that of the Goatherd in the third Idyllium, + + --I see that I must die: + +Or _Daphnis's_ despair, which _Thyrsis_ sings in the first +_Idyllium_, + + Ye Wolves, and Pards, and Mountain Bores adieu, + The Herdsmen now must walk no more with You. + +How tender are the lines, and yet what passion they contain! And most +of _Virgil's_ are of this nature, but there are likewise in him some +touches of despairing Love, such as is this of _Alphesiboeus_, + + Nor have I any mind to be reliev'd: + +{61} Or that of _Damon_, + + I'le dy, yet tell my Love e'en whilst I dy: + +Or that of _Corydon_, + + He lov'd, but could not hope for Love again. + +For tho _Pastoral_ doth not admit any violent passions, such as +proceed from the greatest extremity, and usually accompany despair; +yet because Despairing Love is not attended with those frightful and +horrible consequences, but looks more like _grief to be pittied_, and +a _pleasing madness_, than _rage_ and _fury_, _Eclogue_ is so far from +refusing, that it rather loves, and passionately requires them. +Therefore an unfortunate _Shepherd_ may be brought in, complaining of +his successless Love to the _Moon, Stars_, or _Rocks_, or to the +Woods, and purling Streams, mourning the unsupportable anger, the +frowns and coyness of his proud _Phyllis_; singing at his _Nymphs_ +door, (which _Plutarch_ reckons among the signs of Passion) or doing +any of those fooleries, which are familiar to Lovers. Yet the Passion +must not rise too high, as _Polyphemus's_, _Galateas's_ mad Lover, of +whom _Theocritus_ divinely thus, as almost of every thing else: + + His was no common flame, nor could he move + In the old Arts, and beaten paths of Love, + No Flowers nor Fruits sent to oblige the Fair, + {62} His was all Rage, and Madness: + +For all violent Perturbations are to be diligently avoided by +_Bucolicks_, whose nature it is to be _soft_, and _easie_: For in +small matters, and such must all the strifes and contentions of +Shepherds be, to make a great deal of adoe, is as unseemly, as to put +_Hercules's_ Vizard and Buskins on an Infant, as _Quintilian_ hath +excellently observ'd. For since _Eclogue_ is but weak, it seems not +capable of those Commotions which belong to the _Theater_, and +_Pulpit_; they must be soft, and gentle, and all its Passion must seem +to flow only, and not break out: as in _Virgil's Gallus_, + + Ah, far from home and me You wander o're + The _Alpine_ snows, the farthest Western shore, + And frozen _Rhine_. When are we like to meet? + Ah gently, gently, lest thy tender feet + Sharp Ice may wound. + +To these he may sometimes joyn some short Interrogations made to +_inanimate Beings_, for those spread a strange life and vigor thro the +whole Composure. Thus in _Daphnis_, + + Did not You Streams, and Hazels, hear the Nymphs? + +Or give the very Trees, and Fountains sense, as in _Tityrus_, + + Thee (_Tityrus_) the Pines, and every Vale, + The Fountains, Hills, and every shrub did call: + +for by this the Concernment is express'd; and of the like nature is +that of _Thyrsis_, in _Virgil's_ _Meliboeus_, + + {63} When _Phyllis_ comes, my wood will all be green. + +And this sort of Expressions is frequent in _Theocritus_, and +_Virgil_, and in these the delicacy of _Pastoral_ is principally +contain'd, as one of the old _Interpreters_ of _Theocritus_ hath +observ'd on this line, in the eighth _Idyllium_, + + Ye Vales, and Streams, a race Divine: + +But let them be so, and so seldom us'd, that nothing appear vehement, +and bold, for Boldness and Vehemence destroy the sweetness which +peculiarly commends _Bucolicks_, and in those Composures a constant +care to be soft and easie should be chief: For _Pastoral_ bears some +resemblance to _Terence_, of whom _Tully_, in that Poem which he +writes to _Libo_, gives this Character, + + His words are soft, and each expression sweet. + +In mixing _Passion_ in _Pastorals_, that rule of _Longinus_, in his +golden Treatise *peri hypsous*, must be observ'd, _Never use it, but +when the matter requires it, and then too very sparingly_. + +Concerning the _Numbers_, in which _Pastoral_ should be written, this +is my opinion; the _Heroick_ Measure, but not so strong and sounding +as in _Epicks_, is to be chosen. _Virgil_ and _Theocritus_ have given +us examples; for tho _Theocritus_ hath in one Idyllium mixt other +Numbers, yet that can be of no force against all the rest; and +_Virgil_ useth no Numbers but _Heroick_, from whence it may be +inferr'd, that those are the fittest. + +{64} _Pastoral_ may sometimes admit plain, but not long _Narrations_ +such as _Socrates_ in _Plato_ requires in a Poet; for he chiefly +approves those who use a plain _Narration_, and commends that above +all other which is short, and fitly expresseth the nature of the +Thing. Some are of opinion that _Bucolicks_ cannot endure Narrations, +especially if they are very long, and imagine there are none in +_Virgil_: but they have not been nice enough in their observations, +for there are some, as that in _Silenus_. + + Young _Chromis_ and _Mnasylus_ chanct to stray, + Where (sleeping in a Cave) _Silenus_ lay, + Whose constant Cups fly fuming to his brain, + And always boyl in each extended vein: + His trusty Flaggon, full of potent Juice, + Was hanging by, worn out with Age, and Use, &c. + +But, because _Narrations_ are so seldom to be found in _Theocritus_, +and _Virgil_, I think they ought not to be often us'd; yet if the +matter will bear it, I believe such as _Socrates_ would have, may very +fitly be made use of. + +The Composure will be more suitable to the Genius of a Shepherd, if +now and then there are some short turns and digressions from the +purpose: Such is that concerning _Pasiphae_ in _Silenus_, although tis +almost too long; but we may give _Viogil_ a little leave, who takes so +little liberty himself. + +{65} Concerning _Descriptions_ I cannot tell what to lay down, for in +this matter our Guides, _Virgil_, and _Theocritus_, do not very well +agree. For he in his first _Idyllium_ makes such a long immoderate +description of his _Cup_, that _Criticks_ find fault with him, but no +such description appears in all _Virgil_; for how sparing is he in his +description of _Meliboeus's_ Beechen Pot, the work of Divine +_Alcimedon_? He doth it in _five_ verses, _Theocritus_ runs out into +_thirty_, which certainly is an argument of a wit that is very much at +leisure, and unable to moderate his force. That _shortness_ which +_Virgil_ hath prudently made choice of, is in my opinion much better; +for a Shepherd, who is naturally incurious, and unobserving, cannot +think that tis his duty to be exact in particulars, and describe every +thing with an accurate niceness: yet _Roncardus_ hath done it, a man +of most correct judgment, and, in imitation of _Theocritus_, hath, +considering the then poverty of our language, admirably and largely +describ'd _his_ Cup; and _Marinus_ in his Idylliums hath follow'd the +same example. He never keeps within compass in his Descriptions, for +which he is deservedly blam'd; let those who would be thought +accurate, and men of judgment, follow _Virgil's_ prudent moderation. +Nor can the Others gain any advantage from _Moschus's_ _Europa_, in +which the description of the _Basket_ is very long, for that Idyllium +is not _Pastoral_; yet I confess, that some {66} descriptions of such +trivial things, if not minutely accurate, may, if seldom us'd, be +decently allow'd a place in the discourses of _Shepherds_. + +But tho you must be sparing in your _Descriptions_, yet your +_Comparisons_ must be frequent, and the more often you use them, the +better and more graceful will be the Composure; especially if taken +from such things, as the Shepherds must be familiarly acquainted with: +They are frequent in _Theocritus_ but so proper to the Country, that +none but a _Shepherd_ dare use them. Thus _Menalcas_ in the eighth +Idyllium: + + Rough Storms to Trees, to Birds the treacherous Snare, + Are frightful Evils; Springes to the Hare, + Soft Virgins Love to Man, &c. + +And _Damoetas_ in _Virgil's_ _Palæmon_, + + Woolves sheep destroy, Winds Trees when newly blown, + Storms Corn, and me my _Amaryllis_ frown. + +And that in the eighth _Eclogue_, + + As Clay grows hard, Wax soft in the same fire, + So _Daphnis_ does in one extream desire. + +And such _Comparisons_ are very frequent in him, and very suitable to +the Genius of a Shepherd; as likewise often _repetitions_, and +doublings of some words: which, if they are luckily plac'd have an +unexpressible quaintness, and make the Numbers extream sweet, and the +turns ravishing and delightful. An instance of this we have in +_Virgil's_ _Meliboeus_, + + _Phyllis_ the Hazel loves; whilst _Phyllis_ loves that Tree, + {67} Myrtles than Hazels of less fame shall be. + +As for the _Manners_ of your _Shepherds_, they must be such as theirs +who liv'd in the Islands of the Happy or Golden Age: They must be +candid, simple, and ingenuous; lovers of Goodness, and Justice, +affable, and kind; strangers to all fraud, contrivance, and deceit; in +their Love modest, and chast, not one suspitious word, no loose +expression to be allowed: and in this part _Theocritus_ is faulty, +_Virgil_ never; and this difference perhaps is to be ascrib'd to +their Ages, the times in which the latter liv'd being more polite, +civil, and gentile. And therefore those who make wanton Love-stories +the subject of Pastorals, are in my opinion very unadvis'd; for all +sort of lewdness or debauchery are directly contrary to the +_Innocence_ of the _golden_ Age. There is another thing in which +_Theocritus_ is faulty, and that is making his Shepherds too sharp, +and abusive to one another; _Comatas_ and _Lacon_ are ready to fight, +and the railing between those two is as bitter as _Billingsgate_: Now +certainly such Raillery cannot be suitable to those sedate times of +the Happy Age. + +As for _Sentences_, if weighty, and Philosophical, common Sense tells +us they are not fit for a _Shepherd's_ mouth. Here _Theocritus_ cannot +be altogether excus'd, but _Virgil_ deserves no reprehension. But +_Proverbs_ justly challenge admission into _Pastorals_, nothing being +more common in {68} the mouths of Countrymen than old Sayings. + +Thus much seem'd necessary to be premis'd out of _RAPIN_, for the +direction and information of the Reader. + + * * * * * + +ERRATA. + +p. 13. l. 15. _read_ the wind. +p. 15. l. 16. _read_ fight. +p. 60. l. 4. _read_ Shoes. +p. 95. l. 17. _read_ whilst all. +p. 112. l. 9. _read_ of my Love. + + +[ Transcriber's Note: The listed errata appear to belong to the +translation of Theocritus, not included in this reprint. The +following uncorrected words in the Rapin text are probably +misprints: + +p. 9 dissetation. +p. 17 mannes. +p. 24 theefore. +p. 25 stifes. +p. 44 finessess [uncertain reading]. +p. 64 Viogil. ] + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + +Rapin's _Discourse of Pastorals_ was first published in Latin, +with his eclogues, under the title: Eclogae, cum dissertatione de +carmine pastorali. Parisiis, apud S. Cramoisy, 1659. + +The English translation by Thomas Creech, prefixed to his translation +of the _Idylliums_ of Theocritus, appeared in 1684. A second +edition "to which is prefix'd, The Life of Theocritus. By Basil +Kennet", was printed at London for E. Curll, at the Dial and Bible +against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street, in 1713, and a third +edition, also printed for Curll, appeared in 1721. + + Ella M. Hymans + + Curator of Rare Books, + General Library, + University of Michigan + + * * * * * + + + ANNOUNCING + + the + + _Publications_ + + + of + + + THE AUGUSTAN + + REPRINT SOCIETY + + + +_General Editors_ + +RICHARD C. BOYS +EDWARD NILES HOOKER +H.T. SWEDENBERG, JR. + + + * * * * * + + + _THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY_ + + Makes Available + + + _Inexpensive Reprints of Rare Materials_ + + + from + + ENGLISH LITERATURE OF THE + + SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES + + +Students, scholars, and bibliographers of literature, history, and +philology will find the publications valuable. _The Johnsonian News +Letter_ has said of them: "Excellent facsimiles, and cheap in price, +these represent the triumph of modern scientific reproduction. Be sure +to become a subscriber; and take it upon yourself to see that your +college library is on the mailing list." + +The Augustan Reprint Society is a non-profit, scholarly organization, +run without overhead expense. By careful management it is able to +offer at least six publications each year at the unusually low +membership fee of $2.50 per year in the United States and Canada, and +$2.75 in Great Britain and the continent. + +Libraries as well as individuals are eligible for membership. Since +the publications are issued without profit, however, no discount can +be allowed to libraries, agents, or booksellers. + +New members may still obtain a complete run of the first year's +publications for $2.50, the annual membership fee. + +During the first two years the publications are issued in three +series: I. Essays on Wit; II. Essays on Poetry and Language; and III. +Essays on the Stage. + + * * * * * + + +PUBLICATIONS FOR THE FIRST YEAR (1946-1947) + +MAY, 1946: Series I, No. 1--Richard Blackmore's _Essay upon Wit_ +(1716), and Addison's _Freeholder_ No. 45 (1716). + +JULY, 1946: Series II, No. 1--Samuel Cobb's _Of Poetry_ and +_Discourse on Criticism_ (1707) + +SEPT., 1946: Series III, No. 1--Anon., _Letter to A.H. Esq.; +concerning the Stage_ (1698), and Richard Willis' _Occasional Paper_ +No. IX (1698). + +NOV., 1946: Series I, No. 2--Anon., _Essay on Wit_ (1748), together +with Characters by Flecknoe, and Joseph Warton's _Adventurer_ Nos. 127 +and 133. + +JAN., 1947: Series II, No. 2--Samuel Wesley's _Epistle to a Friend +Concerning Poetry_ (1700) and _Essay on Heroic Poetry_ (1693). + +MARCH, 1947: Series III, No. 2--Anon., _Representation of the Impiety +and Immorality of the Stage_ (1704) and anon., _Some Thoughts +Concerning the Stage_ (1704). + + +PUBLICATIONS FOR THE SECOND YEAR (1947-1948) + +MAY, 1947: Series I, No. 3--John Gay's _The Present State of Wit_; +and a section on Wit from _The English Theophrastus_. With an +Introduction by Donald Bond. + +JULY, 1947: Series II, No. 3--Rapin's _De Carmine Pastorali_, +translated by Creech. With an Introduction by J. E. Congleton. + +SEPT., 1947: Series III, No. 3--T. Hanmer's (?) _Some Remarks on the +Tragedy of Hamlet_. With an Introduction by Clarence D. Thorpe. + +NOV., 1947: Series I, No. 4--Corbyn Morris' _Essay towards Fixing the +True Standards of Wit_, etc. With an Introduction by James L. +Clifford. + +JAN., 1948: Series II, No. 4--Thomas Purney's _Discourse on the +Pastoral_. With an Introduction by Earl Wasserman. + +MARCH, 1948: Series III, No. 4--Essays on the Stage, selected, with +an Introduction by Joseph Wood Krutch. + + +The list of publications is subject to modification in response to +requests by members. From time to time Bibliographical Notes will be +included in the issues. Each issue contains an Introduction by a +scholar of special competence in the field represented. + +The Augustan Reprints are available only to members. They will never +be offered at "remainder" prices. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14495 *** |