But now the reeds shall hang on yonder tree, For ever silent, since despis'd by thee. Oh! were I made by some transforming pow'r 45 And yet my numbers please the rural throng, song: The Nymphs forsaking ev'ry cave and spring, 50 For See what delights in sylvan scenes appear! bow'rs; When weary reapers quit the sultry field, 60 65 And crown'd with corn their thanks to Ceres yield. IMITATIONS. Ver. 60. Descending Gods have found Elysium here.] habitarunt Di quoque sylvas"-Virg. "Et formosus oves ad flumina pavit Adonis." Idem. P. 70 This harmless grove no lurking viper hides, But see, the shepherds shun the noon-day heat, The lowing herds to murm'ring brooks retreat, 80 86 Ver. 67, 68.] I think these two lines would not have passed without animadversion in any of our great schools. Ver. 79, 80. VARIATIONS. Your praise the tuneful birds to heav'n shall bear, So the verses were originally written. But the Author, young as he was, soon found the absurdity which Spenser himself overlooked, of introducing wolves into England. P. IMITATIONS. Ver. 80. And winds shall waft, &c.] "Partem aliquam, venti, divûm referatis ad aures !” To closer shades the panting flocks remove; VARIATIONS. Ver. 91. Me love inflames, nor will his fires allay. IMITATIONS. Ver. 88. Ye gods! &c.] “Me tamen urit amor; quis enim modus adsit amori?" Idem. P. 90 P. Virgil, in his Epic, attempted to paint those manners which he had never seen; and in his Pastora, those rustic manners which he was little acquainted with. AUTUMN: THE THIRD PASTORAL1. OR, HYLAS AND EGON. TO MR. WYCHERLEY. BENEATH the shade a spreading Beech displays, Hylas and Ægon sung their rural lays; This mourn'd a faithless, that an absent Love, Ye Mantuan nymphs, your sacred succour bring; 5 REMARKS. 1 This Pastoral consists of two parts, like the viiith of Virgil: The Scene, a Hill; the Time, at Sunset. P. 2 His intrigues with the Dutchess of Cleveland, his marriage with the Countess of Drogheda, Charles the Second's displeasure on this marriage, his debts and distresses, and other particulars of his life, are well related by Dennis in a letter to Major Pack, 1720. In Dennis's collection of Letters, published in two volumes, 1721, to which Mr. Pope subscribed, Lord Lansdown has drawn his character, as a writer, in an elegant manner; chiefly with a view of shewing the impropriety of an epithet given to him by Lord Rochester, who called him slow Wycherley; for that, notwithstanding his pointed wit, and forcible expression, he composed with facility and haste. Thou, whom the Nine, with Plautus' wit inspire, The art of Terence, and Menander's fire; Whose sense instructs us, and whose humour charms, Whose judgment sways us, and whose spirit warms! Oh, skill'd in Nature! see the hearts of Swains, 11 Their artless passions, and their tender pains. REMARKS. Ver. 7. Thou, whom the Nine,] Mr. Wycherley, a famous author of Comedies; of which the most celebrated were the PlainDealer and Country Wife. He was a writer of infinite spirit, satire, and wit. The only objection made to him was, that he had too much. However, he was followed in the same way by Mr. Congreve; though with a little more correctness. P. Surely with much more correctness, taste, and judgment. Ver. 8. The art of Terence, and Menander's fire ;] This line alludes to that famous character given of Terence, by Cæsar: "Tu quoque, tu in summis, ô dimidiate Menander, Poneris, et merito, puri sermonis amator : Lenibus atque utinam scriptis adjuncta foret vis Comica." So that the judicious critic sees he should have said—with Menander's fire. For what the poet meant, was, that his friend had joined to Terence's art, what Cæsar thought wanting in Terence, namely, the vis comica of Menander. Besides,--and Menander's fire, is making that the Characteristic of Menander which was not. He was distinguished for having art and comic spirit in conjunction, and Terence having only the first part, is called the half of Menander. W. Ver. 9. Whose sense instructs us,] He was always very careful in his encomiums not to fall into ridicule, the deserved fate of weak and prostitute flatterers, and which they rarely escape. For sense, he would willingly have said moral ; propriety required it. But this dramatic Poet's moral was remarkably faulty. His plays are all shamefully profligate both in the Dialogue and Action. W. Ver. 11. Oh, skill'd] Few writers have less nature in them than Wycherley. K 2 |