1796.] ‘ 
and Ifaac, and Jacob with his beloved 
_ Rachel, and Efau; Jofeph and his 
brethren were fhepherds, as they confeffed 
to Pharaoh. Moies and Zipporah, Saul 
and David, kings of Ifrael, and Mefa, 
King of Moab, had executed this ho- 
nourable office; and king Cyrus had.ex- 
.ercifed it among the ancient Perfians. 
Romulus and Remus, the founders cf 
Rome, with Fauftulus, who educated 
them, kept fheep; and among thofe 
valiant Romans, the fame of whofe ex- 
ploits has echoed over the world, we 
read of many whofe names difcover their 
erigin, fuch as the Vituli, the Vitellii, 
the. Porcii, the Capri, the Tauri, and 
_ the Bubulci. Many perfons have rifen 
to the higheft dignitics, from the paftoral 
ftate: Giges, king of Lydia; Sophy, 
king of the Turks; Primiflans, king of. 
Bohemia; Tamerlane, emperor of the 
Scythians; Juftin, emperor of the Ro- 
ynans; Viriatus, captain of the Portu- 
guefe; and Sixtus the firft, the Roman 
pontiff: and, in truth, what is the fife 
of a fhepherd, but the fimilitude of em- 
Fire? but afyftem of government, With 
modération and mildnefs ? For what can 
be more fimilar to the government of a 
kingdom than the management ofa flock ? 
To defend them-from wild beatts, to 
fecure them from robbers, to guide them 
to good paftures, cool fhades, and clear 
waters; to threaten them with his 
voice, to chaftife with the crook thofe 
who ftray; toamufe them with the pipe 
and with the fong, to cure them with 
herbs when they are fick ; to be clothed 
with their wool, to feed upon their milk, 
- and thus to pafs peaceably through life ? 
Among the vain deities whom the blind- 
ed Gentiles worfhipped, Apollo, Mer- 
cury, Daphne, and Pan, and Proteus, 
and Paris, and Polyphemus, were fhep- 
herds; and the true God whom we 
ferve, is frequently ityled a fhepherd, in 
the ‘holy Scriptures; fo ancient and {0 
honourable is the paftoral life, which the 
avarice of inen has now made defpicable ! 
** Much knowledge is certainly necef» 
fary for a fthepherd; an acquaintance 
with the nature of foils and paftures, the 
virtues of herbs, the changes of weather, 
the movements of the heavenly bodies, 
the effects of the fun, and the qualiries 
of animals; and this life, though the 
mioft quiet, produces in its employments 
all things necefiary for our fubfiftence ; 
wool, milk, fkins, the fleth of animals, 
herbs, grain, fruit. What life, then, can 
be more delightful than the paftoral life ? 
MontHiry Mac, No, IX. 
Pretry of Spain and Portugal: 
or what prejudice can be greater than 
that which denies this truth ? . 
“ What ftyle can be more conformable 
to reafon, or lefs vitiated, than the 
fimple flyle of the thepherd? and there- 
fore is it that the ancient writers have de- 
livered their precepts in the paftoral lan-— 
guage, as being moft pure and natural. 
Under this allegory, Solomon veiled the 
myfteries of ‘our faith, in his Songs to 
his beloved ; inftru€ting us, by his lofty 
theme, and by a ftrain of poctry as fub- 
lime in itfelf, as it is humble in its fimi- 
litude ; which example alone would be 
fufficient, with the men of this age, to 
dignify paftorat produétions. In this 
ftyle the Greeks and Romans, and the 
ftalians, the Spaniards, and our Portu- 
guefe, have written works, many. in 
number, and rare in quality; marvellous 
works, to enumerate which would be 
another new undertaking! ‘Therefore, 
curious reader, I prefent to you the 
manners and language of fhepherds, as 
the true dottrine of wifdom. I do not 
give you gilded pills of poifon, nor offer 
to you flowers that conceal a viper; in- 
ftead of thefe you have peatlsin the fhell, 
and plain honefty inftead: of polifhed 
falfehood.”” 
So curioufly has this ingenious Portu- 
guefe defended paftoral poetry! But 
though we may agree with him that the 
life he defcribes is the mof natural and 
moft honourable ftate of man, we fhall be 
very far from acknowledging, that either 
his eclogues, or thofe of any other poet, 
fairly reprefent it. / 
Garcilafo de la Vega, in the moft 
enormous of his eclogues, has introduced 
almoft action. enough for a drama. Al- 
banio opens it, with a foliloguy oflamen- 
tations, and then he falls aflee Salicio 
then enters, finging a tranflation of He- 
race's ‘favourite ode, “; Beatus ile qué 
procul. neégosis,’’ ot which there aré 
above twenty verfions in the Spanifh lan- 
guagg, In the middle of it, he ftops. 
fhort, on feeing a man fleeping, dilates 
upon the excellence of fleep; and then, 
recognizing’ Albanio, informs, the reader, 
that he knows him, that: he was once 
very happy, and 1s now very miferablc, 
but that he had notyet learned the caufe. 
Albanio now talks in his fleep,and Salicio 
interrupts and wakes him. -He now re- 
queits him to relate his hiftory, and Al- 
banio tells avery long ftory of his beng 
the intimate friend of a young female 
relation, with whom he ufed to hunt; 
how he one-day told his tove;, fhe left 
4U him, _ 
699 
! 

