My Pipe, whofe foothing Sound could Paffion move,
And first taught Stella's Virgin Heart to love,
Untun'd, fhall hang upon this blasted Oak,
Whence Owls their Dirges fing, and Ravens croak:
Nor Lark, nor Linnet fhall by Day delight,
Nor Nightingale divert my Moan by Night;
The Night and Day fhall undistinguish'd be
Alike to Stella, and alike to me.

Let us fee how these three Writers of Paftoral Dialogue have described their favourite Shepherdeffes, or Miftreffes. We fhall, in Order as they were wrote, begin with Mr. Philips,

Mild as a Lamb, and harmless as a Dove,
True as the Turtle, is the Maid I love.
'How we in fecret love, I fhall not say;
Divine her Name, and I give up the Day.

Here is enough Simplicity, and rather too much; for the Shepherd is very thoughtless to risque his Prize that he contends for, on Hobbinol's gueffing his Miftrefs's Name, and then after saying, that fhe is as harmless as a Dove, it is too much Sameness to fay in the very next Line, that he is as true as a Turtle, that might have been well exprefs'd in one Line;

As true and harmless as the Turtle Dove. And to speak the Truth, the Turtle Dove had been pretty well flown by most Pastoral Writers. And herein lies one of the greateft Difficulties in these Sort of Compofitions, to avoid common-place Epithets, or else to introduce them in a Manner which may feem new. Upon this Head we cannot overpraise Mr. Pope, who fpeaketh himself in his own fine Phrafe, inftead of the Shepherd's :

Strephon

Strephon.

All Nature mourns, the Skies relent in Showers; Hufh'd are the Birds, and clos'd the drooping Flowers: If Delia fmile, the Flowers begin to spring, The Skies to brighten, and the Birds to fing.

Daphnis.

All Nature laughs, the Groves are fresh and fair, The Sun's mild Luftre warms the vital Air; If Sylvia fmiles new Glories gild the Shore, And vanquish'd Nature feems to charm no more.

This laft Line has fo very remote Sense, and is of fuch difficult Reading, that it is more like a strain'd Line in Heroick, than what it ought here to be, the Praise of a young Shepherdefs by a Swain. Think not, benign Reader, that we venture to find any Fault with thefe fine Verfes, all we intend, or would be thought to mean is, that they are mifplac'd: In what Manner has Mr. Gay exprefs'd himfelf, who left the Arcadian Plains, and draws his Scene of Action at home.

Lobbin Clout.

My Blouzelinda is the blitheft Lafs,
Than Primrose sweeter, or the Clover-grafs.
Fair is the King-cup that in Meadow blows,
Fair is the Daifie that befide her grows,
Fair is the Gilly flow'r, of Gardens sweet,
Fair is the Mary-gold for Pottage meet.
But Blouzelind's than Gillyflow'r mere fair,
Than Daifie, Mary-gold, or King-cup rare.

Cuddy.

Cuddy.

My brown Buxoma is the featest Maid,
That e'er at Wake delightfome Gambol play'd.
Clean as young Lambkins or the Goofe's Down,
And like the Goldfinch in her Sunday Gown.
The witless Lamb may sport upon the Plain,
The frifking Kid delight the gaping Swain,
The wanton Calf may skip with many a Bound,
And my Cur Tray play defteft Feats around:
But neither Lamb nor Kid, nor Calf nor Tray,
Dance like Buxama on the first of May.

Lobbin Clout.

Sweet is my Toil when Blouzelind is near,
Of her bereft 'tis Winter all the Year.
With her no fultry Summer's Heat I know;
In Winter, when fhe's nigh, with Love I glow.
Come Blouzelinda, cafe thy Swain's Defire,
My Summer's Shadow and my Winter's Fire!

Here is nothing but plain and fimple Nature: The Flowers, the Beasts, the Seasons, nothing out of their Sight, or Reach, nothing affected, but all in Character, and all beautifully fo.

Now coming to speak of the Dramatick Paftoral Writers, and firft of Tao, we cannot help thinking, that his artful Manner of praifing the Beauty of Sylvia, by another Woman, as quoted in the 20th Page of the foregoing Volume, has fomething in it very masterly, to which we refer, and proceed to Guarini, the other great Italian dramatick paftoral Poet, who makes his Faithful Shepherd speak of his Miftrefs's Beauty thus:

CRUDA

RUDA Amarilli, che col nome ancora
D'amar, ahi laffo, amaramente infegni.
Amarilli del candido liguftro

Più candida, e più bella:

Ma del'afpido fordo

E più forda, più fera, e più fugace:
Poiche col dirt' offendo,

I'mi morrò tacendo:

Mà grideran per me le piagge, e i monti,
E puefta felva, à cui

Si fpeffo il tuo bel nome
Di rifonare infegno :
Per me piangendo i fonti,
E mormorando i venti
Diranno i miei lamenti :
Parlerà nel mio volto
La Pietate, e'l dolore ;

Efe fia muta ogn'altra cofa, al fine
Parlerà il mio morire,

E ti dirà la morte il mio martire.

Which I have tranflated thus:

Ah Amarillis! far more beautiful,

And much more fair than are the whiteft Lillies;
But than deaf Adders far more deaf and cruel;
Since I offend thee when I fpeak my Love,
My Tongue shall never dare; but yet for me
Shall fpeak the Fields, the Mountains, and the
By me fo often taught to found thy Name: [Woods,
For me fhall Fountains weep, and murmuring Winds
Whisper out my Complaints; in my fad Face
Grief and Diftrefs fhall speak, and if at last
All other Things are mute, even then
my Death
Shall fpcak, and tell thee, that Love's Martyr dies.

I

I fhall speak with the more Pleasure on the next Poet; firft, as he is a Briton, next, that he has Beauties equal to the two great Italians mention'd before, and lastly, that I have the Pleasure of being the firft to point out to the Inhabitants of this Part of our Ifland, a Beauty that was conceiv'd and born in the North. Reader, be well aware, and defpife not the Diction of this paftoral Comedy of the Gentle Shepherd: It is a Dialect well adapted to the Subject, and has great Applause from very great Men, Mr. Pope preferr'd it to any Paftoral in the Italian, except thofe wrote by Taffo and Guarini, and thou mayst understand, that Tafo was the Inventor of this Kind of Poefy.

In this Paftoral of our Countryman, Mr. Allan Ramfay, are many cooth Words and Phrases, right worthy being brought into the Dialect spoken by the moft polite, in this moft courtly Part of Britain; neither can we without Marvel, fee fo many Words borrow'd from France and other Countries, and grafted into our Speech, and fee our best Writers, and most courtly Speakers, neglect fo many well founding Expreffions and fignificant Words, as are to be found in our northern Dialect.

The other Poets we have quoted have brought in Shepherds praifing their belov'd Shepherdeffes, but Mr. Allan Ramfay introduces a Maiden praising and defcribing the Gentle Shepherd.

Peggy. Patie to me is dearer than my Breath, But want of him I dread nae other (a) Skaith. There's nane of a' the Herds that tread the Green Has fic a Smile or fic twa glancing Een.

And then he speaks with fic a taking Art,

His Words they (b) thirle like Mufick thro' my Heart.

How

(a) Damage.

(b) Thrill.