And tho' fometimes they near approach the fun,
Sometimes beyond our fyftem's Orbit run ;
Throughout their race they act their maker's will,
His pow'r declare, his purposes fulfil.

We are now to speak of those preceptive poems that treat of the bufinefs and pleafures of mankind; and here Virgil claims our firft and principal attention, who in his Georgics has laid down the rules of husbandry in all its branches with the utmoft exactness and perfpicuity, and at the fame time embellished them with all the beauties and graces of poetry. Tho' his subject was husbandry, he has delivered his precepts, as an ingenious author ob ferves, not with the fimplicity of a ploughman, but with the addrefs of a poet. The meaneft of his rules are laid down with a kind of grandeur, and he breaks the clods, and toffes about the dung with an air of gracefulness*. Of ́ the different ways of conveying the fame truth to the mind, he takes that which is pleafanteft; and this chiefly diftinguishes poetry from profe, and renders Virgil's rules of husbandry more delightful and valuable than any other.

These poems which are esteemed the most perfect of the author's works are, perhaps, the best that can be propofed for the young ftudents imitation in this manner of writing; for the whole of his Georgics is wrought up with wonderful art, and decorated with all the flowers of poetry.

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In the first of the four books, he propofes the general defign of each Georgic, and after a folemn invocation of all the heathen deities, who are fuppofed to be any ways concerned in rural affairs, he addreffes himself particu larly to Auguftus Caefar, whom he compliments with Di vinity then falling in with his fubject, he speaks of the different kinds of tillage, that are fuitable to different foils; traces out the origin of agriculture; prefents us with a catalogue of the implements of hufbandry, and points out the business peculiar to each feafon. He next defcribes the changes of the weather, and the figns in the heavens and the earth, by which the approaching change may be foretold; and in compliment to Auguftus, introduces fome prodigies which are said to have pre* Mr. Addison. I 3

ceded the death of Julius Cæfar. This naturally leads him to implore the gods, for the prefervation of Auguftus and of Rome, and with this fupplication he concludes his firft Georgic.

After the figns in the heavens, portending the change of weather, which are too many to be here inferted, the prodigies that are fuppofed to have preceded Cafar's death, and the deftructive war occafioned by it, are very artfully introduced; and, tho' no one can believe that Nature fuffered thefe commotions in behalf of a man who had enflaved his country, yet all will be pleased with the poet's address, and the circumstances he has affimulated on the occafion.

The fun reveals the fecrets of the sky;

And who dares give the Source of Light the lie?
The change of empires often he declares,
Fierce tumult, hidden treasons, open-wars.
He firft the fate of Caefar did foretel,
And pitied Rome, when Rome in Cæfar fell.
In iron clouds conceal'd the public light,
And impious mortals fear'd eternal night.

Nor was the fact foretold by him alone:
Nature herfelf ftood forth, and feconded the fun..
Earth, air, and feas, with prodigies were fign'd,
And birds obfcene, and howling dogs divin'd.
What rocks did Etna's bellowing mouth expire··
From her torn entrails! and what floods of fire!
What clanks were heard, in German skies afar,
Of arms and armies, rushing to the war!
Dire earthquakes rent the folid Alps below,
And from their fummits hook th'eternal fnow:
Pale spectres in the close of night were feen;
And voices heard of more than mortal men.
In filent groves, dumb fheep and oxen spoke,
And streams ran backward, and their beds forfook:
The yawning earth disclos'd th' abyss of hell:
The weeping statues did the wars foretel ;
And holy fweat from brazen idols fell.
Then rifing in his might the King of Floods
Rush'd thro' the forefts, tore the lofty woods
And rolling onward with a fweepy fway,
Bore houses, herds, and lab'ring hinds away.

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Blood fprang from wells, wolves howl'd in town by night,
And boding victims did the priests affright.

Such peals of thunder never pour'd from high;
Nor forky light'nings flafh'd from fuch a fullen fky.
Red meteors ran across th' ethereal space,
Stars disappear'd, and comets took their place.
For this, th' Emathian plains once more were ftrow'd
With Roman bodies, and juft heaven thought good
To fatten twice thofe fields with Roman blood.
Then after length of Time, the lab'ring fwains;
Who turn the turfs of those unhappy plains,
Shall rufty piles from the plough'd furrows take,
And ever empty helmets pass the rake.
Amaz'd at antique titles on the ftones
And mighty relicks of gigantic bones.

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The subject of the fecond book is planting, in which the poet points out all the different methods of raifing trees; fpeaks of their variety, and lays down rules for the management of each. He then defcribes the foils that are fuitable to the different plants; makes a di greffion in praise of his native country; gives fome directions for discovering the nature of each foil; lays down rules for dreffing vines, olives, &c. and concludes with a fine panegyrick on rural life.

As this Georgic abounds with beauties, we fhall confider it more particularly, and give the reader fomé examples of the manner in which he has treated the fubject. What he has faid with respect to the grafting and management of trees, is worthy of our admiration.

'Tis ufual now, an inmate graff to fee
With infolence invade a foreign tree:
Thus pears and quinces from the crab-tree come;
And thus the ruddy cornel bears the plum.
The thin-leav'd arbute, hazel-graffs receives,
And planes huge apples bear, that bore but leaves.
Thus maftful beech the briftly chefnut bears,
And the white afh is white with blooming pears,
And greedy fwine from grafted elms are fed,
With falling acorns, that from oaks are bred.

But various are the ways to change the state
Of plants, to bud, to graft, t'inoculate.
For where the tender rinds of trees difclofe
Their fhooting gems, a fwelling knot there grows;
Juft in that space. a narrow flit we make,
Then other buds from bearing trees we take :
Inferted thus, the wounded rind we close,
In whose moist womb th' admitted infant grows.
But when the fmoother bole from knots is free,
We make a deep incifion in the tree;
And in the folid wood the flip inclose,
"The bat'ning baftard shoots again and grows;
And in short space the laden boughs arise,
With happy fruit advancing to the skies.
The mother plant admires the leaves unknown.
Of alien trees, and apples not her own.

Here Virgil, in confidering the effects of the union between trees of different kinds, attends particularly to thofe circumstances that feemed the most wonderful, and which not only expreffed the capacity and tendency of trees to be thus united, but excited at the fame time admiration and pleasure in the mind.-His method of tranfplanting trees is altogether as beautiful, and con. cludes with a fine reflection on the force and power of

cuftom.

Some peasants, not t'omit the nicest care,
Of the fame foil their nursery prepare,
With that of their plantation; left the tree
Transplanted, fhou'd not with the foil agree.
Befides, to plant it as it was, they mark
The heav'n's four quarters on the tender bark;
And to the north or fouth reftore the fide,
Which at their birth did heat or cold abide.
So ftrong is cuftom, each effects can use
In tender fouls of pliant plants produce.

But because precepts laid down one after another, notwithstanding all the poet's endeavours to make them entertaining, would by degrees tire, Virgil fuffers the reader fometimes to reft for the fake of a pertinent and

pleafing digreffion, or leads him out of the road to entertain him with a beautiful description.-Such is that of Italy.

But neither Median woods, (a plenteous land)
Fair Ganges, Hermus rolling golden fand,
Nor Bactria, nor the richer Indian fields,
Nor all the gummy fhores Arabia yields ?
Nor any foreign earth of greater name,
Can with sweet Italy contend in fame.
Nor bulls whofe noftrils breathe a living flame
Have turn'd our turf, no teeth of ferpents here
Were fown, an armed hoft, an iron crop to bear.
But fruitful vines, and the fat olives freight,
And harvests heavy with their fruitful weight,
Adorn our fields; and on the chearful green,
The grazing flocks and lowing herds are feen.
The warrior horfe here bred, is taught to train:
There flows Clitumnus thro' the flow'ry plain;
Whose waves, for triumphs after profp'rous war,
The victim ox, and fnowy fheep prepare.
Perpetual fpring our happy climate fees;

Twice breed the cattle, and twice bear the trees;
And fummer funs recede by flow degrees.

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The following defcription is of the fame beautiful caft; and the reader will obferve that these, and indeed all the descriptions in Virgil, are fo artfully introduced, that they feem to arife naturally out of the principal argument and defign of the poem.

But eafy quiet, a fecure retreat,

A harmless life that knows not how to cheat,
With home-bred plenty the rich owner blefs,.
And rural pleasures crown his happiness.
Unvex'd with quarrels, undisturb'd with noife,
The country-king his peaceful realm enjoys:
Cool grots, and living lakes, the flow'ry pride
Of meads, and streams that thro' the valley glide;
And fhady groves that eafy fleep invite,

And after toilfome days, a foft repose at night.
Wild beafts of nature in his woods abound;
And youth, of labour patient, plough the ground,

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