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At fecura quies, et nefcia fallere vita,
Dives opum variarum; at latis otia fundis,
Speluncæ, vivique lacus at frigida Tempe,
Mugitufque boum, mollefque fub arbore fomni
Non abfunt. Illic faltus, ac luftra ferarum,
Et patiens operum parvoque affueta juventus,
Sacra deûm, fanétique patres: extrema per illos
Juftitia excedens terris veftigia fecit.

VIRG. Georg. II. 1. 467.

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ADVERTISEMENT.

The most rational definition of Paftoral Poetry feems to be that of the learned and ingenious Dr. JOHNSON, in the 37th Number of his RAMBLER.

Paftoral,' fays he, being the representation of an • Action or Paffion, by its effects on a Country Life, has nothing peculiar, but its confinement to Rura

Imagery, without which it ceases to be Pastoral.' This Theory the Author of the following Eclogues has endeavoured to exemplify.

ECLOGUE I.

THERON; or, the Praise of RURAL LIFE,

SCENE, a Heath:

Seafon, SPRING; Time, MORNING.

AIR Spring o'er Nature held her gentleft fway;

FAIR

Fair Morn diffus'd around her brightest ray;
Thin mifts hung hovering on the diftant trees,
Or roll'd from off the fields before the breeze.
The Shepherd THERON watch'd his fleecy train,
Beneath a broad oak, on the graffy plain.

A heath's green wild lay pleasant to his view,
With fhrubs and field-flowers deck'd of varied hue:

There hawthorns tall their filver bloom difclos'd,

Here flexile broom's bright yellow interpos'd;

There purple orchis, here pale daifies spread,
And sweet May-lilies richest odour shed.
From many a copfe and bloffom'd orchard near,
The voice of birds melodious charm'd the ear;
There shrill the lark, and foft the linnet fung,
And loud through air the throstle's mufick rung.
The gentle Swain the chearful fcene admir'd;

The chearful scene the fong of joy inspir'd.

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Chant on,' he cry'd, ye warblers on the fpray!

'Bleat on, ye flocks, that in the pastures play! 'Low on, ye herds, that range the dewy vales! 'Murmur, ye rills! and whisper foft, ye gales! 'How bleft my lot, in these fweet fields affign'd, Where Peace and Leifure footh the tuneful mind; "Where yet fome pleasing veftiges remain

'Of unperverted Nature's golden reign,

When Love and Virtue rang'd Arcadian fhades, 'With undefigning youths and artless maids!

< For

For us, though deftin'd to a later time, 'A lefs luxuriant foil, lefs genial clime,

For us the country boasts enough to charm, In the wild woodland or the cultur'd farm. Come, CYNTHIO, come! in town no longer ftay; From crowds, and noife, and folly, hafte away! The fields, the meads, the trees, are all in bloom, 'The vernal showers awake a rich perfume, "Where DAMON's manfion, by the glaffy ftream, 'Rears its white walls that thro' green willows gleam, Annual the neighbours hold their hearing-day;

And blithe youths come, and nymphs in neat array: "Those fhear their sheep, upon the smooth turf laid, 'In the broad plane's or trembling poplar's fhade; These for their friends th' expected feaft provide, 'Beneath cool bowers along th' inclofure's fide.

To view the toil, the glad repast to share,
Thy DELIA, my MELANIA, fhall be there;
Each, kind and faithful to her faithful fwain,
Loves the calm pleasures of the pastoral plain.
" Come,

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