Nay tell me first, in what more happy fields The Thistle springs, to which the Lily yields: And then a nobler prize I will refign; For Sylvia, charming Sylvia fhall be thine. DAMON. 90 Ceafe to contend, for, Daphnis, I decree, The bowl to Strephon, and the lamb to thee: Bleft Swains, whofe Nymphs in ev'ry grace excel; Bleft Nymphs, whofe Swains thofe graces fing fo well! Now rife, and hafte to yonder woodbine bow'rs, 97 A foft retreat from fudden vernal fhow'rs; The turf with rural dainties fhall be crown'd, While op'ning blooms diffufe their sweets around. For fee! the gath'ring flocks to fhelter tend, And from the Pleiads fruitful fhow'rs descend. VARIATIONS. VER. 99. was originally, The turf with country dainties shall be spread, And trees with twining branches shade your head. REMARKS. P. VER. 93. Ceafe to contend,] An author of ftrong fenfe, but not of equal taste and feeling, and who preferred the dungeons of the Strand to the valleys of Arcadia, fays, "That every intelligent reader fickens at the mention of the crook and the pipe, the sheep and the kids." This appears to be an unjust and harsh condemnation of all Paftoral Poetry. And the fame author` depreciates and defpifes the Amynta of Taffo, and the Paftor Fido of Guarini, two pieces of exquifite poetry, and which have gained a lasting applause. IMITATIONS. VER. 90. The Thifle Springs, to which the Lily yields] Alludes to the device of the Scots Monarchs, the Thistle worn by Queen Anne; and to the arms of France, the Fleur de lys. The two riddles are in imitation of those in Virg. Ecl. iii. "Dic quibus in terris infcripti nomina Regum P. A mixture of British and Grecian ideas may juftly be deemed a blemish in these Paftorals: and propriety is certainly violated, when he couples Pactolus with Thames, and Windfor with Hybla. Complaints of immoderate heat, and wishes to be conveyed to cooling caverns, when uttered by the inhabitants of Greece, have a decorum and confiftency, which they totally lofe in the character of a British fhepherd: and Theocritus, during the ardors of Sirius, muft have heard the murmurings of a brook, and the whifpers of a pine, with more home-felt pleasure, than Pope could poffibly experience upon the fame occafion. We can never completely relifh, or adequately understand any author, especially any ancient, except we keep in our eye, his climate, his country, and his age. Pope himself informs us, in a Note, that he judiciously omitted the following verse, And lift'ning wolves grow milder as they hear, on account of the abfurdity, which Spenfer overlooked, of introducing wolves into England. But on this principle, which is certainly a just one, may it not be asked why he should speak, the scene lying in Windfor Foreft, of the fultry Sirius, of the grateful clusters of grapes, of a pipe of reeds, the antique fistula, of thanking Ceres for a plentiful harveft, of the facrifice of lambs, with many other inftances that might be adduced to this purpose. That Pope however was fenfible of the importance of adapting images to the scene of action, is obvious from the following example of his judgment; for in tranflating Audiit Eurotas, juffitque edifcere Lauros, he has dexterously dropt the laurels appropriated to Eurotas, as he is fpeaking of the river Thames, and has rendered it, Thames heard the numbers, as he flow'd along, And bade his Willows learn the moving fong. In the paffages which Pope has imitated from Theocritus, and from his Latin Translator Virgil, he has merited but little applause. It may not be unentertaining to fee how coldly and unpoetically Pope has copied the fubfequent appeal to the Nymphs on the death of Daphnis, in comparison of Milton on Lycidas, one of his juvenile, but one of his most exquifite pieces. Where were ye, Nymphs, when the remorseless deep For neither were ye playing on the fteep Where your old bards, the famous Druids lie; Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream. LYCIDAS. The mention of places remarkably romantic, the fuppofed habitations of Druids, Bards, and Wizards, is far more pleafing to the imagination, than the obvious introduction of Cam and Ifis, as feats of the Mufes. SUMMER: THE SECOND PASTORAL. * O R, ALEX I S. TO DR. GARTH. A Shepherd's Boy (he seeks no better name) a Led forth his flocks along the filver Thame, VARIATIONS. VER. 1, 2, 3, 4, were thus printed in the first edition: 5 Where gentle Thames his winding waters leads P. VER. 3. Originally thus in the MS. There to the winds he plain'd his hapless love, REMARK S. W. * It is unfortunate that this second pastoral, the worst of the four, should be inscribed to the best judge of all his four other friends to whom they were addreft. VER. 2. Thame,] An inaccurate word, inftead of Thames. VER. 3. The Scene of this Paftoral by the river fide, suitable to the heat of the feafon; the Time, noon. F 3 P. The The Naïads wept in ev'ry wat❜ry bow'r, Accept, O GARTH, the Mufe's early lays, Ye fhady beeches, and ye cooling streams, The woods fhall answer, and their echo ring, REMARKS. ΙΟ 15 VER. 9. Dr. Samuel Garth, Author of the Dispensary, was one of the first friends of our Poet, whofe acquaintance with him began at fourteen or fifteen. Their friendship continued from the year 1703 to 1718, which was that of his death. P. He was a man of the sweetest disposition, amiable manners, and univerfal benevolence. All parties, at a time when party violence was at a great height, joined in praifing and loving him. I hope I may be pardoned from speaking of his character con amore, from my near connexion with one of his defcendants; fhall not be accufed of an improper partiality. and yet I trust I One of the most exquifite pieces of wit ever written by Addison, is a defence of Garth against the Examiner, 1710. VER. 16. The woods fall answer, and their echo ring,] Is a line out of Spenfer's Epithalamion. P. VER. 18. Why art thou prouder and more hard than they?] A line unworthy our Author, containing a falfe and trivial thought; as is alfo the 22d line. IMITATIONS. VER. 8. And fove consented] "Jupiter et laeto defcendet plurimus imbri." Virg. P. VER. 15. nor to the deaf I fing] "Non canimus furdis, refpondent omnia fylvae." Virg. P. The |