in other words, for three months together; or, when it was exhausted before, entirely to omit it: whence it comes to pass that fome of his Eclogues (as the fixth, eighth, and tenth for example) have nothing but their Titles to diftinguifh them. The reafon is evident, becaufe the year has not that variety in it to furnish every month with a particular defcription, as it may every season. Of the following Eclogues I fhall only fay, that thefe four comprehend all the fubjects which the Critics upon Theocritus and Virgil will allow to be fit for paftoral: That they have as much variety of defeription, in refpect of the feveral feafons, as Spenfer's; that in order to add to this variety, the feveral times of the day are obferv'd, the rural employments in each season or time of day, and the rural fcenes or places proper to fuch employments; not without fome regard to the feveral ages of man, and the different paffions proper to each age. But after all, if they have any merit, it is to be attributed to fome good old Authors, whose works as I had leifure to ftudy, fo, I hope, I have not wanted care to imitate. FIRST in thefe fields I try the fylvan ftrains, Nor blufh to fport on Windfor's blissful plains: Fair Thames, flow gently from thy facred fpring, While on thy banks Sicilian Muses fing; NOTES. Thefe Paftorals were written at the age of fixteen, and then paft thro' the hands of Mr. Walsh, Mr. Wycherley, G. Granville afterwards Lord Lansdown, Sir William Trumbal, Dr. Garth, Lord Hallifax, Lord Somers, Mr. Mainwaring, and others. All thefe gave out Author the greatest encouragement, and particularly Mr. Walsh, whom Mr. Dryden, in his Poftfcript to Virgil, calls the beft Critic of his age. "The Author (fays he) feems to have "a particular genius for this kind of Poetry, and a Judgment "that much exceeds his years. He has taken very freely from "the Ancients. But what he has mixed of his own with theirs "is no way inferior to what he has taken from them. It is "not flattery at all to fay that Virgil hat written nothing fo "good at his Age. His Preface is very judicious and learned." Letter to Mr. Wycherley, Ap. 1705. The Lord Lanfdown about the fame time, mentioning the youth of our Poet, fays (in a printed Letter of the Character of Mr. Wycherley) "that if he goes on "as he has begun in his Paftoral way, as Virgil first tried his Let vernal airs thro' trembling ofiers play, You, that too wife for pride, too good for pow'r, Enjoy the glory to be great no more, And carrying with you all the world can boast, O let my Mufe her flender reed inspire, NOTES. 10 "ftrength, we may hope to fee English Poetry vie with the « Roman, " &c. Nothwithstanding the early time of their pro duction, the Author efteemed thefe as the moft correct in the verfification, and mufical in the numbers, of all his works. The reason for his labouring them into fo much foftnefs, was, doubtlefs, that this fort of poetry derives almost its whole beauty from a natural cafe of tought and smoothness of verfe; whereas that of most other kinds confifts in the ftrength and fulness of both. In a letter of his to Mr. Walsh about this time we find an enumeration of feveral niceties in Verfification, which perhaps have never been frictly obferved in any English poem, except in these Paftorals. They were not printed till 1709. Sir William Trumbal.) Our Author's friendfhip with this gentleman commenced at very unequal years; he was under fixteen, but Sir William above fixty, and had lately refign'd his employ. ment of Secretary of State to King William. VER. 12. in your native fhades) Sir W. Trumbal was born in Windsor-forest, to which he retired, after he had refigned the poft of Secretary of State to King William III. IMITATIONS. VER. 1. Prima Syracofio dignata eft ludere verfu, This is the general exordium and opening of the Paftorals, in imitation of the fixth of Virgil, which fome have therefore not improbably thought to have been the first originally. In the beginnings of the other three Paftorals he imitates exprefly thofe which now ftand firft of the three chief Poets in this kind, Spencer, Virgil, Theocritus. So when the Nightingale to reft removes, The Thrush may chant to the forfaken groves, Soon as the flocks fhook of the nightly dews, DAPHNI S. Hear how the birds, on ev'ry bloomy fpray, With joyous mufic wake the dawning day! Why fit we inute, when early linnets fing, When warbling Philomel falutes the spring? Why fit we fad, when Phofphor fhines fo clear, And lavish Nature paints the purple year? NOTES 20 25 VER. 17. etc. The Scene of this Paftoral a Valley, the Time the Morning. It food originally thus,, Daphnis and Strephen to the fhades retir'd, Both warm'd by Love, and by the Mufe infpir'd, In flow'ry vales they fed their fleecy care; IMITATIONS. A Shepherd's Boy (he feeks no better name) Beneath the fhade a fpreading beech difplays, Thyris, the Mufi of that murm'ring Spring, are manifeftly imitations of - Shepherd's Boy (no better do him call)) - Tityre, cu patule recubans fub tegmine fagi. -Αδύ τι τὸ ψιθύρισμα καὶ οἱ πίτυς, αἰπόλε, τήναι, STREP HON. Sing then, and Damon shall attend the ftrain, And I this bowl, where wanton ivy twines, 35 And what is that, which binds the radiant fky, Where twelve fair figns in beauteous order lie? 40 DAMON. Then fing by turns, by turns the Mufes fing, Now hawthorns bloffom, now the daifies fpring, VARIATIONS. VER. 34. The first reading was, And his own image from the bank furveys. VER. 35, 36. IMITATIONS. Lenta quibus torno facili fuperaddita vitis, Diffufos edera veftit pallente corymbos. Virg. VER. 38. The various feafons) The fubject of these Paftorals engraven on the bowl is not without its propriety. The Shepherd's befitation at the name of the Zodiac, imitates that in Virgil, Et quis fuit alter, Defcripfit radio totum qui gentibus orbem? VER. 41. Then fing by turas,) Literally from Virgil, Et nunc omnis ager, nunc omnis parturit arbos, |