lose in the character of a British shepherd and Theocritus, during the ardors of Sirius, must have heard the murmurings of a brook, and the whispers of a pine,* with more home-felt pleasure, than POPE † could possibly experience upon the same occasion. We can never completely relish, or adequately understand, any author, especially any Ancient, except we constantly 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 list'ning wolves grow milder as they hear, on account of the absurdity, which Spenser 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 Windsor-Forest, of the SULTRY SIRIUS, of the GRATEFUL CLUSTERS of grapes,|| of a pipe of reeds, the antique fistula, of thanking Ceres for a plentiful harvest,** of the sacrifice * Idyll. i. ver. 1. † Past. iv. ver. 1. ‡ Past. ii. § Past. ii. ver. 21. || Past. iii. ver. 74. ¶ Past. ii. ver. 41, ** Ibid. ver. 66. of lambs, with many other instances that might be adduced to this purpose. That POPE, however, was sensible of the importance of adapting images to the scene of action, is obvious from the following example of his judgment; for, in. translating, Audiit EUROTAS, jussitque ediscere LAUROS, he has dexterously dropt the laurels appropriated to Eurotas, as he is speaking of the river Thames, and has rendered it, Thames heard the numbers, as he flow'd along, In the passages which Pope has imitated from Theocritus, and from his Latin translator, Virgil, he has merited but little applause. It may not be unentertaining to see, how coldly and unpoetically POPE has copied the subsequent appeal to the nymphs on the death of Daphnis, in comparison of Milton on LYCIDAS, one of his juvenile, but one of his most exquisite pieces. *Past. iv. ver. 81. † Ibid. ver. 14. Πα Πα ποκ' αρ' ήσθ' ὁκα Δαφνις ἐτακείο; τα ποκα, Νυμφάι ; Ου γαρ δη ποταμοιο με αν ροον ειχει Αναπω, Ουδ' Αίνας σκοπιαν, ἐδ' Ακιδῷ ἱερον ύδωρ.* Where stray ye, Muses, in what lawn or grove, In those fair fields where sacred Isis glides, Or else where Cam his winding vales divides.† Where were ye, nymphs, when the remorseless deep For neither were ye playing on the steep Where your old bards, the famous Druids, lie; Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high, Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream.‡ The mention of places remarkably romantic, the supposed habitation of Druids, bards, and wizards, is far more pleasing to the imagination, than the obvious introduction of Cam and Isis, as seats of the Muses. A shepherd in Theocritus wishes, with much tenderness and elegance, both which must suffer in a literal translation, "Would I could become a murmuring bee, fly into your grotto, and be permitted B 4 THEOCRITUS, Idyll. i. 66. + POPE, Past. ii. 23. + MILTON. permitted to creep among the leaves of ivy and fern that compose the chaplet which adorns your head."* POPE has thus altered this image: Oh! were I made, by some transforming pow'r, On three accounts the former image is preferable to the latter for the pastoral wildness, the delicacy, and the uncommonness of the thought. I cannot forbear adding, that the riddle of the Royal Oak, in the first Pastoral, invented in imitation of the Virgilian enigmas in the third eclogue, savours of pun, and puerile conceit. Say, Daphnis, say, in what glad soil appears A wond'rous tree, that sacred monarchs bears? With what propriety could the tree, whose shade protected the king, be said to be prolific of princes? * Αιθε γενοίμαν Α βομβευσα μελισσα, και ἐς τεον ανδρον ἐκοιμαν, + Past. ii. 45. Idyll. iii. 12. That That POPE has not equalled Theocritus, will, indeed, appear less surprising, if we reflect, that no original writer ever remained so unrivalled by succeeding copyists as this Sicilian master. If it should be objected, that the barrenness of invention, imputed to POPE from a view of his PASTORALS, is equally imputable to the Bucolics of Virgil, it may be answered, that, whatever may be determined of the rest, yet the first and last Eclogues of Virgil, are indisputable proofs of true genius, and power of fancy. The influence of war on the tranquillity of rural life, rendered the subject of the first new and interesting its composition is truly dramatic; and the characters of its two shepherds are well supported, and happily contrasted; and the last has expressively painted the changeful resolutions, the wild wishes, the passionate and abrupt exclamations, of a disappointed and despairing lover. Upon the whole, the principal merit of the PASTORALS of POPE, consists in their correct and musical versification; musical, to a degree of which rhyme could hardly be thought capa ble; |