A Full Enquiry Into The Nature Of The Pastoral (1717) Part 7

Com.) _I milk two Goats; a Maid in yonder Plain Lookt on, and Sigh'd_, Dost milk thy self poor Swain!

And what follows soon after.

Com.) _The fair Calistria, as my Goats I drove, With Apples pelts me, and still murmurs Love_.

Idyll. 5.

Tho' these Thoughts are so exceeding Beautiful thro' their Simplicity, I rather take 'em to be Agreeable Thoughts; and Simplicity to be only an Adjunct or Addition to 'em; as Pa.s.sion is an Addition and Embellishment to the Sublime Thoughts.

The Mournful Thought, with the Addition of Simplicity, is as pleasing, I think, as the Agreeable with Simplicity. The finest of this kind that I remember in _THEOCRITUS_, are in his 22 _Idyll_. A Shepherd resolves to Hang himself, being scorn'd by the Fair he ador'd. For the more he was frown'd upon the more he loved.

_But when o'recome, he could endure no more, He came and wept before the hated Dora; He wept and pin'd, he hung the sickly Head, The Threshold kist, and thus at last he said_.

Many Thoughts In the Complaint are as fine as this. As, of the following Lines, the 3d and 4th.

_Unworthy of my Love, this Rope receive.

The last, most welcome Present I can give.

I'll never vex thee more. I'll cease to woe.

And whether you condemned, freely go; Where dismal Shades and dark_ Oblivion _dwell_.

Of the same Nature also is what soon after follows.

_Yet grant one Kindness and I ask no more; When you shall see me hanging at the Door.

Do not go proudly by, forbear to smile.

But stay,_ Sweet Fair, _and gaze, and weep a while; Then take me down, and whilst some Tears are shed, Thine own soft Garment o're my Body spread.

And grant One Kiss,--One Kiss when I am dead.

Then dig a Grave, there let my Love be laid; And when you part, say thrice,_ My friend is Dead.

All these Thoughts contain Simplicity as an Addition to the Mournful.

And 'tis impossible for any Thoughts to be more Natural.

'Twere endless to enumerate all the several kinds of Beautiful Pastoral Thoughts, but from these any one may discover the rest; and the general Rule we gave at the beginning of the Chapter will be a Direction for his ranging them into distinct Cla.s.ses.

Yet give me leave to mention one Kind, which I think we may term the finest. 'Tis where the Agreeable Thought, and the Tender, meet together, and have besides, the Addition of Simplicity. I would explain my Meaning by a Quotation out of some Pastoral Writer, but I am at a loss how to do it; give me leave therefore to bring a Pa.s.sage out of the Orphan. A Thought may contain the Tender, either with regard to some Person spoken of, or the Person speaking. The first is common, this Play is full of it. I will therefore Instance in the latter. And first where 'tis chiefly occasion'd by the turn that is given to it in the Expression.

Chamont presses his Sister to tell him who has abused her.

Mon.) _But when I've told you, will you keep your Fury Within it's bound? Will you not do some rash And horrid Mischief? for indeed_, Shamont, _You would not think how hardly I've been used From a near Friend_.

Cham.) _I will be calm; but has_ Castalio _wrong'd thee?_

Mon.) _Oh! could you think it!_ (Cham.) _What?_

Mon.) _I fear he'll kill me_. (Cham.) _Hah!_

Mon.) _Indeed I do; he's strangely cruel too me.

Which if it lasts, I'm sure must break my Heart_.

Act. 4.

In the other pa.s.sage the Tender lyes more in the Thought.

Mon.) _Alas my Brother!

What have I done? And why do you abuse me?

My Heart quakes in me; in your settled Face And clouded Brow methink's I see my Fate; You will not kill me!_

Cham.) _Prithee, why dost talk so?_

Mon.) _Look kindly on me then, I cannot bear Severity; it daunts and does amaze me.

My Heart's so tender, should you charge me rough.

I should but Weep, and Answer you with Sobing.

But use me gently, like a loving Brother, And search thro' all the Secrets of my Soul_.

CHAP. VI.

_Of three Kind of Thoughts which seem to be false, yet are admitted and valued by Pastoral Writers_.

Tho' I proposed not to consider those Thoughts which are false, either in their own Nature, or with Respect to Pastoral; yet there are some such, that yet are thought good, by the generality of Writers, which I shall therefore Just mention; since Pastoral-Writers are especially fond of 'em, and seem to look upon 'em as Beautys. Of these false Thoughts there are, I think, three sorts. The EMBLEMATICAL, the ALLEGORICAL, and the REFINED.

Of the first Sort, or the EMBLEMATICAL, _SPENCER_ was so fond, that he makes it run all thro' his first and last Pastoral; which two come the nearest of any he has to true Pastorals; and contain Thoughts more pleasant than those in his other (especially his Allegorical) Pieces.

But these pleasant Thoughts are mostly Emblematical, as this, which I think, is in SPENCER.

_My Leaf is dry'd, my Summer Season's done, And Winter, blasting Blossoms, hieth on_.

Meaning that his happy time of Life was past, and Old Age drew on. I need not prove these Thoughts to be improper for Pastoral.

The Second Sort, or the ALLEGORICAL, is also what _SPENCER_ delighted equally in. His every Pastoral almost has under the plain Meaning a hidden one. Let all judge of Allegorical Pastorals as they please, but in my Opinion, they are not consistent with the Simplicity of that Poem.

The Third Sort I mention'd was the _REFINED_. And of this our Modern Swains are as fond, as _SPENCER_ was of the two first. But all the Difficulty is to show that their Thoughts are refin'd; for all allow a Refin'd Thought to be faulty. But those I am going to mention are not at present look't upon as such. As that Apostrophe, where the Shepherd calls upon the Works of Nature to a.s.sist him in his Grief. This Thought being us'd by all Pastoral-Writers show's how Beautiful they thought it: And the generality of them, 'tis plain, took delight in the Affectation of it, because they have put it as affected as they could.

If 'tis possible for any, the finest Turn, that can be given it, to prevent the Affectation, I think the Ingenious Mr. _ROW_ has done it, in his excellent Tragedy, call'd _JANE Sh.o.r.e_.

_Give me your Drops, Ye soft-descending Rains, Give me your Streams, Ye never-ceasing Springs, &c_.

But the very best Turn, methinks, that can possibly be given to this Thought, Mr. _PHILIPS_, in his Pastorals, has. .h.i.t upon.

_Teach me to grieve, with bleating Moan, my Sheep, Teach me, thou ever-flowing Stream, to weep; Teach me, ye faint, ye hollow Winds, to sigh, And let my Sorrows teach me how to dye_.

The Thought likewise of the Heavens and the Works of Nature wailing along with the Swain, is what Pastoral-Writers all aim at. I need not quote different Authors, for the different Turns that are given to this Thought; I remember Mr. _CONGREVE_ has it in four several Places. The best express'd, I think, is this.

_The Rocks can Melt, and Air in Mists can mourn, And Floods can weep, and winds to Sighs can turn, &c_.

It seem's to be turn'd the best next in these Lines.

_And now the Winds, which had so long been still, Began the swelling Air, with Sighs to fill, &c_.