Part 5

{65} Concerning _Descriptions_ I cannot tell what to lay down, for in this matter our Guides, _Virgil_, and _Theocritus_, do not very well agree. For he in his first _Idyllium_ makes such a long immoderate description of his _Cup_, that _Criticks_ find fault with him, but no such description appears in all _Virgil_; for how sparing is he in his description of _Meliboeus's_ Beechen Pot, the work of Divine _Alcimedon_? He doth it in _five_ verses, _Theocritus_ runs out into _thirty_, which certainly is an argument of a wit that is very much at leisure, and unable to moderate his force. That _shortness_ which _Virgil_ hath prudently made choice of, is in my opinion much better; for a Shepherd, who is naturally incurious, and unobserving, cannot think that tis his duty to be exact in particulars, and describe every thing with an accurate niceness: yet _Roncardus_ hath done it, a man of most correct judgment, and, in imitation of _Theocritus_, hath, considering the then poverty of our language, admirably and largely describ'd _his_ Cup; and _Marinus_ in his Idylliums hath follow'd the same example. He never keeps within compass in his Descriptions, for which he is deservedly blam'd; let those who would be thought accurate, and men of judgment, follow _Virgil's_ prudent moderation. Nor can the Others gain any advantage from _Moschus's_ _Europa_, in which the description of the _Basket_ is very long, for that Idyllium is not _Pastoral_; yet I confess, that some {66} descriptions of such trivial things, if not minutely accurate, may, if seldom us'd, be decently allow'd a place in the discourses of _Shepherds_.

But tho you must be sparing in your _Descriptions_, yet your _Comparisons_ must be frequent, and the more often you use them, the better and more graceful will be the Composure; especially if taken from such things, as the Shepherds must be familiarly acquainted with: They are frequent in _Theocritus_ but so proper to the Country, that none but a _Shepherd_ dare use them. Thus _Menalcas_ in the eighth Idyllium:

Rough Storms to Trees, to Birds the treacherous Snare, Are frightful Evils; Springes to the Hare, Soft Virgins Love to Man, &c.

And _Damoetas_ in _Virgil's_ _Palæmon_,

Woolves sheep destroy, Winds Trees when newly blown, Storms Corn, and me my _Amaryllis_ frown.

And that in the eighth _Eclogue_,

As Clay grows hard, Wax soft in the same fire, So _Daphnis_ does in one extream desire.

And such _Comparisons_ are very frequent in him, and very suitable to the Genius of a Shepherd; as likewise often _repetitions_, and doublings of some words: which, if they are luckily plac'd have an unexpressible quaintness, and make the Numbers extream sweet, and the turns ravishing and delightful. An instance of this we have in _Virgil's_ _Meliboeus_,

_Phyllis_ the Hazel loves; whilst _Phyllis_ loves that Tree, {67} Myrtles than Hazels of less fame shall be.

As for the _Manners_ of your _Shepherds_, they must be such as theirs who liv'd in the Islands of the Happy or Golden Age: They must be candid, simple, and ingenuous; lovers of Goodness, and Justice, affable, and kind; strangers to all fraud, contrivance, and deceit; in their Love modest, and chast, not one suspitious word, no loose expression to be allowed: and in this part _Theocritus_ is faulty, _Virgil_ never; and this difference perhaps is to be ascrib'd to their Ages, the times in which the latter liv'd being more polite, civil, and gentile. And therefore those who make wanton Love-stories the subject of Pastorals, are in my opinion very unadvis'd; for all sort of lewdness or debauchery are directly contrary to the _Innocence_ of the _golden_ Age. There is another thing in which _Theocritus_ is faulty, and that is making his Shepherds too sharp, and abusive to one another; _Comatas_ and _Lacon_ are ready to fight, and the railing between those two is as bitter as _Billingsgate_: Now certainly such Raillery cannot be suitable to those sedate times of the Happy Age.

As for _Sentences_, if weighty, and Philosophical, common Sense tells us they are not fit for a _Shepherd's_ mouth. Here _Theocritus_ cannot be altogether excus'd, but _Virgil_ deserves no reprehension. But _Proverbs_ justly challenge admission into _Pastorals_, nothing being more common in {68} the mouths of Countrymen than old Sayings.

Thus much seem'd necessary to be premis'd out of _RAPIN_, for the direction and information of the Reader.

* * * * *

ERRATA.

p. 13. l. 15. _read_ the wind. p. 15. l. 16. _read_ fight. p. 60. l. 4. _read_ Shoes. p. 95. l. 17. _read_ whilst all. p. 112. l. 9. _read_ of my Love.

[ Transcriber's Note: The listed errata appear to belong to the translation of Theocritus, not included in this reprint. The following uncorrected words in the Rapin text are probably misprints:

p. 9 dissetation. p. 17 mannes. p. 24 theefore. p. 25 stifes. p. 44 finessess [uncertain reading]. p. 64 Viogil. ]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Rapin's _Discourse of Pastorals_ was first published in Latin, with his eclogues, under the title: Eclogae, cum dissertatione de carmine pastorali. Parisiis, apud S. Cramoisy, 1659.

The English translation by Thomas Creech, prefixed to his translation of the _Idylliums_ of Theocritus, appeared in 1684. A second edition "to which is prefix'd, The Life of Theocritus. By Basil Kennet", was printed at London for E. Curll, at the Dial and Bible against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street, in 1713, and a third edition, also printed for Curll, appeared in 1721.

Ella M. Hymans

Curator of Rare Books, General Library, University of Michigan

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MAY, 1946: Series I, No. 1--Richard Blackmore's _Essay upon Wit_ (1716), and Addison's _Freeholder_ No. 45 (1716).

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