let it not be forgot, that on the entrance into this shrubbery the first object that strikes us is a Venus de Medicis, beside a bason of gold-fish, encom passed round with shrubs, and illustrated with the following inscription :

Semi-reducta Venus'.*

'To Venus, Venus here retir'd,
My sober vows I pay;

Not her on Paphian plains admir'd,
The bold, the pert, the gay.

'Not her whose amorous leer prevail'd
To hribe the Phrygian boy;
Not her who, clad in armour, fail'd
To save disastrous Troy.

Fresh rising from the foamy tide,

She every hosom warms,

While half withdrawn she seems to hide,
And half reveals her charms.

Learn hence, ye boastful sons of Taste !
Who plan the rural shade,

Learn hence to shun the vicious waste
Of pomp, at large display'd.

'Let sweet Concealment's magic art

Your mazy bounds invest,
And while the sight unveils a part,
Let Fancy paint the rest.

'Let coy reserve with cost unite
To grace your wood or field;
No ray obtrusive pall the sight,
In aught you paint or build.

'And far be driven the sumptuous glare
Of gold, from British groves,

And far the meretricious air

Of China's vain alcoves.

'Tis bashful Beauty ever twines

The most coercive chain;

'Tis she that sovereign rule declines,

Who best deserves to reign.'

*EXPLANATION.

Venus half-retired;

A PREFATORY ESSAY ON ELEGY.

BY WILLIAM SHENSTONE.

It is observable that discourses prefixed to poetry are contrived very frequently to inculcate such tenets as may exhibit the performance to the greatest advantage: the fabric is very commonly raised in the first place, and the measures by which we are to judge of its merit are afterwards adjusted.

There have been few rules given us by the critics concerning the structure of Elegiac poetry; and far be it from the author of the following trifles to dignify his own opinions with that denomination: he would only intimate the great variety of subjects, and the different styles in which the writers of Elegy have hitherto indulged themselves, and endeavour to shield the following ones by the latitude of their example.

If we consider the etymology of the word*, the epithet which Horace gives itt, or the confession which Ovid makes concerning it, I think we may conclude thus much, however, that Elegy, in its true and genuine acceptation, includes a tender and querulous idea; that it looks upon this as its peculiar characteristic, and so long as this is thoroughly sustained, admits of a variety of subjects,

which by its manner of treating them it renders its own: it throws its melancholy stole over pretty different objects, which, like the dresses at a funeral procession, gives them all a kind of solemn and uniform appearance.

It is probable that Elegies were written, at first, upon the death of intimate friends and near relations; celebrated beauties, or favourite mistresses; beneficent governors and illustrious men : one may add, perhaps, of all those who are placed by Virgil in the laurel grove of his Elysium, (Vide Hurd's Dissertation on Horace's Epistle)

Quique sui memores alios fecere merendo.

After these subjects were sufficiently exhausted, and the severity of fate displayed in the most affecting instances, the poets sought occasion to vary their complaints, and the next tender species of sorrow that presented itself was the grief of absent or neglected lovers; and this indulgence might be indeed allowed them, but with this they were not contented: they had obtained a small corner in the province of love, and they took advantage from thence to overrun the whole territory: they sung its spoils, triumphs, ovations and rejoicings*, as well as the captivity and exequies that attended it: they gave the name of Elegy to their pleasantries as well as lamentations: till at last, through their abundant fondness for the myrtle, they forgot that the cypress was their peculiar garland.

In this it is probable they deviated from the original design of Elegy; and it should seem that

* Dicite Io Pæan, et Io bis dicite Pæan.

Ovid.

any kind of subjects, treated in such a manner as to diffuse a pleasing melancholy, might far better deserve the name, than the facetious myrth and libertine festivity of the successful votaries of Love.

But not to dwell too long upon an opinion which may seem, perhaps, introduced to favour the following performance, it may not be improper to examine into the use and end of Elegy. The most important end of all poetry is to encourage virtue. Epic and tragedy chiefly recommend the public virtues; Elegy is of a species which illustrates and endears the private. There is a truly virtuous pleasure connected with many pensive contemplations, which it is the province and excellency of Elegy to enforce; this, by presenting suitable ideas, has discovered sweets in melancholy which we could not find in mirth; and has led us, with success, to the dusty urn, when we could draw no pleasure from the sparkling bowl. As Pastoral conveys an idea of simplicity and innocence, it is in particular the task and merit of Elegy to show the innocence and simplicity of rural life to advantage; and that in a way distinct from Pastoral, as much as the plain but judicious landlord may be imagin'd to surpass his tenant both in dignity and understanding. It should also tend to elevate the more tranquil virtues of humility, disinterestedness, simplicity, and innocence: but then there is a degree of elegance and refinement no way inconsistent with these rural virtues, and that raises Elegy above that merum rus, that unpolished rusticity, which has given our Pastoral writers their highest reputation.

Wealth and splendor will never want their proper weight; the danger is, lest they should too much preponderate: a kind of poetry, therefore, which throws its chief influence into the other scale, that magnifies the sweets of liberty and independence, that endears the honest delights of love and friendship, that celebrates the glory of a good name after death, that ridicules the futile arrogance of birth, that recommends the innocent amusement of letters, and insensibly prepares the mind for that humanity it inculcates; such a kind of poetry may chance to please, and if it please, should seem to be of service.

As to the style of Elegy, it may be well enough determined from what has gone before; it should imitate the voice and language of grief; or, if a metaphor of dress be more agreeable, it should be simple and diffuse, and flowing as a mourner's veil. A versification, therefore, is desirable, which, by indulging a free and unconstrained expression, may admit of that simplicity which Elegy requires.

Heroic metre, with alternate rhyme, seems well enough adapted to this species of poetry; and, however exceptionable upon other occasions, its inconveniencies appear to lose their weight in shorter Elegies, and its advantages seem to acquire an additional importance. The world has an admirable example of its beauty in a collection of Elegies* not long since published; the product of a gentleman of the most exact taste, and whose untimely death merits all the tears that Elegy can shed.

*By Hammond.