pations, or from fcenes of nature very little embellished by art. They have nothing of an epigrammatic turn, or scholaftic affectation of period. Theocritus poffefled the difficult art of giving his verfes that amiable eafe and negligence which fhould characterize the infant ftate of poetry. He knew how to give his poems an agreeable air of innocence, adapted to thofe early ages, wherein the ingenuous fentiments of the heart affifted to warm the imagination, already excited by the most inchanting fcenes of nature. It must be confeffed, indeed, that the fimplicity of manners prevailing in his own times, and the esteem in which agriculture was ftill held, facilitated his endeavours herein. The turn for epigram and quaintnefs of phrafe had not made any way, nor had good fenfe, and a tafte for the truly beautiful, as yet given place to wit." We have quoted this character of Theocritus, because it accounts extremely well for that fimplicity we find in his writings. But whatever fimplicity we may allow the age of Theocritus, it is pretty evident that he chose to introduce, in his paftorals, Shepherds of former times. His mention of the Sybarites, Id: 5. and of Mylo's carrying off a Herdsman in the fourth Idyllion, is a proof of this. Theocritus was contemporary with Ptolemy Philadelphus, and wrote about A. a. c. 260, and we find that Milo with a hundred thousand Crotonians, overcame three hundred thousand Sybarites, and deftroyed their town, A. A. C. 509. How well Mr. Gefner has followed his original, and how fuccefsfully he has accommodated thefe Eflays to the æra of ancient fimplicity; we must now enquire. The fecond Effay, entitled Milo, must be allowed to be a very happy imitation of Theocritus, both in ftyle and fentiment. As it is tranflated entirely in a kind of blank verse, and is not, like most of the others, a mixture of verfe and profe, we fhall quote it at large. O Thou, who lovelier art than dewy morn, How bright thy fine black-eyes! thy nut-brown locks, Full Full nineteen harvefts, Chloe, have I feen; Give me thy heart, fair Chloe, for 'tis fweet O'er-hung by willows, and thick-grown with reeds. Thus Milo fung, the Shepherd of the Grot, While Chloe heard him from the green wood fhade. Smiling fhe came, and took the Shepherd's hand. Milo, the faid, dear Shepherd of the Grot, I love thee more than ewes the three-leav'd grafs, For fweet thy kils as honey to my lips, This is not only a general imitation of the ftyle and fentiment of the Greek Paftoral Poet, but feveral of his particular beauties are as closely copied by our Author as they were by Virgil. This will appear by comparing the following paffages. Hung with foft skins is my convenient grot, Επι δε μοι παρ ύδωρ ψυχρον σιβας εν δε νεναςαι Τώδε θέρες Φρυγονλος εγω λοσσον μελεδαίνω How the ripe blackberries, with their gloffy hue, Οχναι μεν παρ ποσσι παρά πλεύραισι δε μαλα Ο πακες βραβυλοισι καλαβρίθονες εραστές But ah! fair Maid, Shouldst thou not love me, what a difmal gloom Would overspread this now enchanting scene! αλλά Χω ποιμαν ξηρος Τηνοθι, χ' αν βλαναι. Idyl. 9. Id. 11. Idyl. 7. Idyl. 8. Here on the tufted grafs we'll fit us down, And fee the wild goats climb the steep above. While sheep and heifers tamely graze below, ̓Αλλ ὑπολᾶ περᾷ ταδ' άσομαι άγκας ἔχων τυ, Idyl. 8. The close imitation of the last quoted beautiful paffage, is a ftriking teftimony of the Author's good tafte; but it is a proof alfo, among many others, that he has affected orna ment much more than his original. The Sicilian Poet says fimply, "but to fit under this rock and fing, with thee, my girl, in my arms; with a profpect of my fheep feeding together, and of the fea of Sicily."-His German Imitator is not content with giving his Shepherd merely a profpect of the sea, but adds the fporting tritons and the fetting fun. Theocri 132 tus has a stream, a vine, and an apple tree bending with fruit near his cottage. Gefner has the fame; but his stream foams over a rock, waters the creffes and flowers in its course, and at laft falls into a lake, whofe fides are over-hung with willows; his vine forms a fhade to defend him from the noonday fun; and his apple tree is ftuck round with vines. Imagery is the very foul of poetry, but it may be too complex and ornate. When images are multiplied, every particular object lofes the effect it would have had when confidered fimply. Our modern Poets seem to be unapprized of this truth; feeing they are at fo much pains to croud their works with ornament. Mr. Gefner profeffes to adapt his paftoral Effays to the Golden Age; but he has fometimes introduced objects unknown, and fentiments ill accommodated, to that æra. Thus, in the paftoral we have quoted, fatyrs are introduced, "clapping their clattering caftanets ;" which, however well the found may be adapted to the fentiment in the English tranflation, we must not pass over without cenfure; the caftanet being an inftrument peculiar to the German dance, and altogether unknown to the Golden Age. The reward which Thyrfis offers Myrtillis for his fong, is a Dutch toy of a very curious conftruction. "Come Myrtillis, as the folitude of the night, and awful brightness of the moon to folemn fongs invite us, hear my propofal. This fine earthen lamp, fo curiously conftructed, will I give thee. My father made it in a dragon's form, with wings and feet; in its open mouth the lighted candle burns; while, fee its tail turned up, is twisted round to form a handle. This will I give thee, if the moving tale of Daphnis and Chloe thou wilt fing." In this tale Chloe is reprefented ftanding on the bank of a river, Impatient for th' arrival of the boat, In which her Daphnis fhould have cross'd the flood. This blunder is near akin to that of the picture, in which Abraham is prefenting a piftol at Ifaac, for it is well known. that in the Golden Age boats were not in being. Nondum In liquidas Pinus defcenderat Undas. CVID. In the Soliloquy of old Palemon there are fome fine ftrokes of fancy, and beautiful figures of expreffion. "When I review view the paft fcenes of my life, (fays he) I feem to have lived a long, long fummer's day; my gloomy moments, but as tranfient showers, that chear the plants, and fertilize the plains." It is the beauty of comparative imagery, to admit a variety of fimilar circumstances. Had Palemon compared his life to a fummer's day, only on account of its length, the image would have had nothing ftriking in it; but when he purtues the chain of fimilitude, and adds, that his gloomy moments had been like thofe tranfient showers that chear the plants, and fertilize the plains, implying, in that image, the moral utility of affliction, the comparifön then becomes extremely striking and beautiful. When the aged Shepherd mentions how long his wife Myrta had been dead, he thus happily expreffes himself: "Twelve times the Spring hath ftrewn thy grave with flowers." The beauty of the expreffion confifts in this, that what at the first glance appeared to be fiction, is, upon reflection, difcovered to be truth. When fimple imagery can affume a metaphorical air, without lofing any thing of its original propriety, it has always a happy effect. It is feldom, however, that this felicity of expreffion can be hit upon; for as there are no rules to direct us in the fearch of it, it must be merely the refult of chance and accident. None of these rural Effays has afforded us more pleasure than that entitled Lycas, or the Invention of Gardens. Nothing can be more fimple than the thought, or more poetical than the expreffion. "Shut up at home by the rude Winter's cold, and ftormy winds that whirl the flakes of fnow in furious blafts; my active fancy fhall from memory draw the lively images of flowery May, of fultry Summer, or the beauteous fcenes of golden Autumn. From the beft I'll chufe, and thence for Daphne will compofe a fong. Thus for his Mistress doth the Shepherd chufe the choiceft flowers, to form a chaplet to adorn her hair. O, may I please my Daphne, as I fing, how, when the world was young, a Shepherd Swain invented Gardens. "This is the fpot the Shepherd Lycas faid, beneath this elm at yefter fetting-fun, the charming Chloe gave me first a kifs. Here didft thou ftand, fair Chloe, when, emboldened by a figh, I threw my arms around thy lovely waift; meanwhile my fluttering heart, my tearful eyes, the broken accents from my ftammering tongue, all spoke my love. Then I 3 dropt |