Which will be every whit as good as some Idyllia of Shepherds speaking of nothing but their Goats or their Cows.
The Business is not purely to describe, we must describe such Objects as are delightful: When the quiet that reigns in the Country, and the simplicity and tenderness which are discover'd there in making Love, are represented to me, my Imagination, mov'd and affected with these pleasing Ideas, is fond of a Shepherd's Life; but tho' the vile and low Employments of Shepherds, were describ'd to me with all the exactness possible, I shou'd never be taken with 'em, and my Imagination wou'd not in the least be touch'd. The chief advantage of Poetry consists in representing to us in a lively manner the things that concern us, and in striking strongly a Heart which is pleas'd with being mov'd.
Here's enough, and perhaps too much against these Shepherds of Theocritus, and those who, like 'em, have too much of the Shepherd in 'em. What we have left of Moschus and Bion in the Pastoral kind, makes me extreamly lament what we have lost of theirs. They have no manner of Rusticity, but rather a great deal of Delicacy and Grace, and some Ideas wholly new and pleasing. They are accus'd of being too florid; and I do not deny but that they may be said to be such in some few places; yet I don't know why the Criticks are more inclin'd to excuse Theocritus's Clownishness, than Moschus and Bion's Elegancy; methinks they should have done the contrary. Is it not that Virgil has prejudic'd every one for Theocritus, having done to no other the honour of imitating and copying him? Or is it not rather that the Learned have a taste that uses to nauseate what is Delicate and Genteel? What ever it is, I find that all their Favour is for Theocritus, and that they have resolv'd to dubb him Prince of the Bucolick Poets.
The Moderns have not often been guilty of making their Shepherds thus Clownish. The Author of Astræa, in that Romance, which otherwise is full of admirable things, has rather run into the other extream. Some of his Shepherds are absolutely drawn such as they ought to have been, but some others, if I am not mistaken, might better have been plac'd in Grand Cyrus, or in Cleopatra. These Shepherds often seem to me Courtiers disguis'd in a Pastoral Dress, and ill Mimicks of what they would imitate; sometimes they appear to me most Cavilling Sophisters; for tho' none but Sylvander has studied in the School of the Massilians, there are some others who happen to be as full of Subtility as himself; though I don't comprehend how they cou'd even but understand him, not having like him took their Degrees in the Massilian Schools.
It does not belong to Shepherds to speak of all sorts of Matters, and when a Poet has a mind to raise his Style, he may make use of other Persons. When Virgil desir'd to give a pompous Description of the imaginary Return of the Golden Age, which he promises tothe
