And indeed nothing is more certain, than that no real Shepherds can be altogether like those of Theocritus. Can any one think that 'tis natural for Shepherds to say like his?
[1]Gods! When she view'd, how strong was the Surprise!
Her Soul took Fire, and sparkled through her Eyes!
How did her Passions, how her Fury move!
How soon she plung'd into th' Abyss of Love!
Let the following Passages be examin'd:
O that, to Crown what e're my Wish can crave,
I were that Bee which flies into your Cave!
There softly through your Garland wou'd I creep,
And steal a Kiss when you are fast asleep!
I know what Love is now, a cruel God,
A Tygress bore, and nurs'd him in a Wood,
A cruel God, he shoots through ev'ry Vein———
The Fair Calistris, as my Goats I drove,
With Apples palts me, and still murmurs Love.
The Pastures flourish, and the Flocks improve,
All smiles, so soon as here resorts my Love;
But Oh! When e're the dear one leaves the place,
At once there fades the Shepherds and the Grass.
Ye Gods, I wish not heaps of Gold refin'd,
Nor rapid swiftness to outstrip the Wind;
But let me sit and sing by yonder Rock,
Clasp thee, my Dear, and view my feeding Flock.
I am of opinion that there will be found in these Expressions more Beauty and more Delicacy of Imagination than real Shepherds have.
But I don't know how Theocritus having sometimes rais'd his Shepherds in so pleasing a manner above their native Genius, could let them so very often fall to it again: I wonder he did not perceive 'twas fit that a certain gross Clownishness, which is always very unbecoming, should be omitted. When Daphnis in the first Idyllium is ready to die for Love, and a great number of Deities are come to visit him, in the midst of that honourable Company, he is reprov'd for being like the Goat-herds, who envy the pleasure of their Copulating Goats, and are Jealous of them; and 'tis most certain that the Terms
- ↑ These Lines, and some in the following Pages, are taken out of English Versions.
us'd
