Mr. CAMPBELL, in his "Life of Spenser," accounts for the fact of there being so few first-rate pastoral writers among the English poets by observing, that "favourable as the circumstances of England have been to the development of the genius in all the higher walks of poetry, they have not been propitious to the humbler pastoral muse. Her trades and manufactures, the very blessings of her wealth and industry, throw the indolent shepherd's life to a distance from her cities and capital, where poets, with all their love of the country are generally found; and impress on the face of the country, and on its rustic manners a gladsome, but not romantic appearance." To Scotland these remarks are not applicable. The wild scenery of that romantic country, and the rustic habits of the peasantry who inhabit the agricultural districts, afford abundant materials for the successful cultivation of pastoral poetry. Hence the faithful and beautiful delineation of the character and pursuits of the Scotch peasantry by ALLAN RAMSAY, which, Mr. CAMPBELL has asserted, "has no parallel in the richer language of England." The pastoral songs of BURNS, and other Scottish poets, are equal to those of any other age or nation, and will bear competition with the most eminent productions of the Italian muse. The pastoral is either epic or dramatic. The latter is a sort of comedy or tragi-comedy in verse, with songs and odes interspersed. It is an innovation, if not an improvement upon the original form of pastoral writing. Of the tragic kind, the best specimen in English is "Dione" by GAY, the writer of the well-known "Fables." RAMSAY'S "Gentle Shepherd" is the most striking example we have of a national pastoral. It is a beautiful Arcadian drama, containing many fine passages, but disfigured by coarse allusions and descriptions. There are two eminent Italian authors who have also attempted the same species of pastoral composition and succeeded-Tasso, in his "Amynta," and GUARINI in his "Pastor Fido." Of this agreeable class of pastoral comic writing, it has been remarked by JAMIESON, in his "Grammar of Rhetoric and Polite Literature," that "few entertainments can present an assemblage of so many captivating objects-beautiful pictures of nature; the charms of music which touch the heart; characters pleased, cheerful, and happy, engaged in those simple cares and attachments which occupy human life without fatiguing it, and which, being dictated by innocence, and restrained by virtue, gently agitate without distracting the mind: attempts of this sort have accordingly been honoured with the warmest approbation." We have selected some of the prettiest short pastorals from our English poets, which will illustrate the observations transcribed from Dr. BLAIR and Dr. JOHNSON, A fuller account of the origin and history of Pastoral Poetry, with critical notices of the ancient and modern writers who have excelled in it, will be found in "DALZELL'S Lectures on the ancient Greeks," a work con. taining a variety of useful information relating to our most celebrated Poets, Historians, and Philosophers. HAPPINESS OF A SHEPHERD'S LIFE. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. BORN, 1564; DIED, 1616. HAPPINESS OF A SHEPHERD'S LIFE. To be no better than a homely swain; To carve out dials quaintly, point by point, So many hours must I take rest; 429 years, So many days my ewes have been with young; To shepherds, looking on their silly sheep, To kings, that fear their subjects' treachery? When care, mistrust, and treason wait on him. SIR HENRY WOTTON. BORN, 1568; DIED, 1639. PRAISE OF A COUNTRY LIFE. MISTAKEN mortals! did you know Where joy, heart's-ease, and comforts grow, And seek them in these bowers; Where winds sometimes our woods perhaps may shake, But blustering care could never tempest make, Nor murmurs e'er come nigh us, Save of fountains that glide by us. Here's no fantastic masque or dance, But of our kids that frisk and prance; Unless upon the green; Two harmless lambs are butting one another, Save what the ploughshare gives the ground. Go! let the diving negro seek For gems hid in some forlorn creek; We all pearls scorn, Save what the dewy morn Congeals upon each little spire of grass, Which careless shepherds beat down as they pass; And gold ne'er here appears, Save what the yellow harvest bears. PHINEAS FLETCHER. THE HAPPY SHEPHERD. THRICE, oh, thrice happy, shepherd's life and state! Shuts out proud fortune with her scorns and fawns: THE HAPPY SHEPHERD. No feared treason breaks his quiet sleep, No Syrian worms he knows, that with their thread Instead of music, and base flattering tongues, His certain life, that never can deceive him, 431 Of troublous world, nor lost in slothful ease: His bed of wool yields safe and quiet sleeps, The lively picture of his father's face: Never his humble house nor state torment him: Less he could like, if less his God had sent him; And when he dies, green turfs, with grassy tomb, content him. BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER. BORN, 1586; DIED, 1616. BORN, 1576; DIED, 1625. FOLDING THE FLOCKS. SHEPHERDS all, and maidens fair, And let your dogs lie loose without, Or the crafty, thievish fox, So shall you good shepherds prove, Now, good night! may sweetest slumbers And soft silence fall in numbers |