SUMMER:

THE SECOND PASTORAL.*

OR,

ALEX I S.

TO DR. GARTH.

A Shepherd's Boy (he feeks no better name)

Led forth his flocks along the filver Thame,
Where dancing fun-beams on the waters play'd,
And verdant alders form'd a quiv'ring fhade.
Soft as he mourn'd, the ftreams forgot to flow,
The flocks around a dumb compaffion show,

VARIATIONS.

VER. 1, 2, 3, 4, were thus printed in the first edition:
A faithful fwain, whom Love had taught to fing,
Bewail'd his fate befide a filver spring;

Where gentle Thames his winding waters leads
Thro' verdant forefts, and thro' flow'ry meads.

VER. 3. Originally thus in the MS.

There to the winds he plain'd his hapless love,
And Amaryllis fill'd the vocal grove.

REMARKS.

P.

W.

5

* It is unfortunate that this second pastoral, the worst of the four, should be infcribed to the best judge of all his four other friends to whom they were addreft.

VER. 2. Thame,] An inaccurate word, instead of Thames.

VER. 3. The Scene of this Paftoral by the river fide, fuitable to the heat of the feafon; the Time, noon.

F 3

P.

The

The Naïads wept in ev'ry watʼry bow'r,
And Jove confented in a filent show'r.

Accept, O GARTH, the Mufe's early lays,
That adds this wreath of ivy to thy bays;
Hear what from Love unpractis'd hearts endure,
From Love, the fole disease thou canst not cure.
Ye fhady beeches, and ye cooling streams,
Defence from Phoebus', not from Cupid's beams,
To you I mourn, nor to the deaf I sing,

The woods fhall answer, and their echo ring,
The hills and rocks attend my doleful lay,
Why art thou prouder and more hard than they?

REMARKS.

ΙΟ

15

VER. 9. Dr. Samuel Garth, Author of the Dispensary, was one of the first friends of our Poet, whofe acquaintance with him began at fourteen or fifteen. Their friendship continued from the year 1703 to 1718, which was that of his death.

P.

He was a man of the sweetest disposition, amiable manners, and univerfal benevolence. All parties, at a time when party violence was at a great height, joined in praising and loving him. I hope I may be pardoned from speaking of his character con amore, from my near connexion with one of his defcendants; and yet I trust I fhall not be accufed of an improper partiality. One of the most exquifite pieces of wit ever written by Addison, is a defence of Garth against the Examiner, 1710.

VER. 16. The woods fball answer, and their echo ring,] Is a line out of Spenfer's Epithalamion.

P.

VER. 18. Why art thou prouder and more hard than they ?] A line unworthy our Author, containing a falfe and trivial thought; as is also the 22d line.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 8. And Jove confented]

"Jupiter et laeto defcendet plurimus imbri." Virg. P.

VER. 15. nor to the deaf I fing.]

"Non canimus furdis, refpondent omnia fylvae." Virg. P.

The

The bleating sheep with my complaints agree,
They parch'd with heat, and I inflam'd by thee. 20
The fultry Sirius burns the thirsty plains,

While in thy heart eternal winter reigns.

Where ftray ye, Muses, in what lawn or grove, While your Alexis pines in hopeless love?

In those fair fields where facred Ifis glides,

Or elfe where Cam his winding vales divides?
As in the crystal spring I view my face,
Fresh rifing blushes paint the wat'ry glass;

VARIATIONS.

VER. 27. Oft in the crystal spring I cast a view,
And equal'd Hylas, if the glass be true;

But fince thofe graces meet my eyes no more,
I fhun, &c.

REMARKS.

P.

25

VER. 27. As in the] This is one of those paffages in which Virgil, by too clofely copying Theocritus, has violated propriety; and not attended to the different characters of Cyclops and Corydon. The fea, which is a proper looking-glafs for the gigantic fon of Neptune, who alfo conftantly dwelt on the shore, was certainly not equally adapted to the face of the little Land-shepherd. The fame may be said of the cheese and milk, and numerous herds of Polypheme, exactly fuited to his Sicilian fituation, and the rude and favage ftate of the speaker, whofe character is admirably fupported through the whole eleventh Idyllium of Theocritus.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 23. Where ftray ye, Mufes, &c.]

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Quae nemora, aut qui vos faltus habuere, puellae
Naïades, indigno cum Gallus amore periret ?
Nam neque Parnaffi vobis juga, nam neque Pindi
Ulla moram fecere, neque Aonia Aganippe."
Virg. out of Theocr.

VER 27. Virgil again, from the Cyclops of Theocritus,

66 nuper me in littore vidi,

Cum placidum ventis ftaret mare; non ego Daphnim,
Judice te, metuam, fi nunquam fallat imago."

F 4

P.

P.

But

But fince those graces please thy eyes no more,
I fhun the fountains which I fought before.
Once I was skill'd in ev'ry herb that grew,
And ev'ry plant that drinks the morning dew;
Ah wretched fhepherd, what avails thy art,
To cure thy lambs, but not to heal thy heart!

Let other fwains attend the rural care,
Feed fairer flocks, or richer fleeces sheer:

But nigh yon' mountain let me tune my lays,
Embrace my Love, and bind my brows with bays.
That flute is mine which Colin's tuneful breath
Infpir'd when living, and bequeath'd in death:
He faid; Alexis, take this pipe, the fame
That taught the groves my Rofolinda's name :

REMARKS.

30

35

40

VER. 35, 36. Care,] The only faulty rhymes, care and sheer, perhaps in these poems, where verfification is in general fo exact and correct.

VER. 39. Colin] The name taken by Spenser in his Eclogues, where his mistress is celebrated under that of Rofalinda.

P.

VER. 42. Rofalinda's] This is the Lady with whom Spenfer fell violently in love, as foon as he left Cambridge and went into the North; it is uncertain into what family, and in what capacity. Her name is an Anagram, and the letters of which it is composed will make out her true name; for Spenfer (fays the learned and ingenious Mr. Upton, his beft Editor) is an Anagrammatist in many of his names: thus Algrind tranfpofed is Archbishop Grindal; and Morrel is Bishop Elmer. He is fupposed to hint at the cruelty and coquettery of his Rofalind in B. 6. of the Fairy Queen, in the character of Mirabella.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 40. bequeath'd in death, &c.] Virg. Ecl, ii.
"Eft mihi disparibus feptem compacta cicutis

Fiftula, Damoetas dono mihi quam dedit olim,
Et dixit moriens, Te nunc habet ifta fecundum,"

P. But

But now the reeds fhall hang on yonder tree,
For ever filent, fince defpis'd by thee.

Oh! were I made by fome transforming pow'r
The captive bird that fings within thy bow'r!
Then might my voice thy lift'ning ears employ,
And I thofe kiffes he receives enjoy.

And yet my numbers please the rural throng,
Rough Satyrs dance, and Pan applauds the fong:
The Nymphs, forfaking ev'ry cave and spring,
Their early fruit, and milk-white turtles bring!
Each am'rous nymph prefers her gifts in vain,
On you their gifts are all bestow'd again.
For you the fwains their fairest flow'rs defign,
And in one garland all their beauties join;
Accept the wreath which you deferve alone,
In whom all beauties are compriz'd in one.

See what delights in fylvan scenes appear!
Defcending Gods have found Elyfium here.
In woods bright Venus with Adonis stray'd,

And chafte Diana haunts the foreft-fhade.

Come, lovely nymph, and bless the filent hours, When fwains from sheering feek their nightly bow'rs;

When weary reapers quit the fultry field,

65

And crown'd with corn their thanks to Ceres yield,

IMITATIONS.

VER. 60. Defcending Gods have found Elyfium here.]

"Habitarunt Di quoque fylvas"-Virg.

"Et formofus oves ad flumina pavit Adonis." Idem. P.