34 
Tn reading the following ‘‘ risum_ te- 
neatis ©” _ 
&* My beds are all furnish’d with fleas, 
Whose bitings invite me to scratch 5 
Well stock’d are my orchards with ace 
And my pig-styes white over with thatch :' 
Iseldom a pimple have met, 
Such health does magnesia bestow 3 - 
My horse-pond is border’d with wet, 
Where the flap-docks and sting-nettles 
grow. 
I have found out a gift for my fair, 
In my Cheshire some rotten I’ve found; 
But let me the plunder forbear, 
Nor give that dear bosam a wound : 
Though oft from her lips I have heard, 
That the rotten her palate would please 5 
Yet he ne’er could be true, she averr’d; 
Who would rob the poor mite of his 
cheese.?. 
TE OE ae RR ESE sO ay Be 7 is oa 
6« JT sleep not a wink all the night, 
And my days they do dolefully pass, 
Till [ see her (O} exquisite sight !) 
Come tripping it over the grass. 
Oh, say can’st thou hear me complain, 
Nor list to thy shepherd so true ? 
O! come, and give life to the swain, 
Who now is .a-dying for you ; 
No hurt my sweet Phillis shall ail, 
_ - By Venus the goddess I vow, 
For, whilst Iam holding the pail, 
Why She shall be milking her cow.” 
Now for Theocritus, to whom £ shall, 
for the present, confine myself. Tallow, 
that many parts of the Sicilian poet might 
be exhibited in a view almost as ludicrous 
asthe ballads of Shenstone. But, as Mr. 
B. has aliowed good scope to pastoral 
poetry, and included init “rural pecture,” 
as well as “matural sentiment”, I am 
confident that I can make such extracts 
from Theocritus, as shall rescue him from 
the indiseriminate censure of insipid 
whining and vulgar rusticity. 
First, for ‘‘ natural sentiment and pas- 
sion.” "In these excerpts, there would ap- 
pear a yenuine simplicity, tree from that 
cant or ging-song, of which Mr, B. so 
justly complains, if we could consider the 
sentinfent only, and abstract from it ail 
the imitations of after ages, We must 
endeavour to do this, and we may judge 
of its merit with some degree of success. 
For the sake of English readers, I shall 
make my selections from Mr. Powhele’s 
Version, instead of the original, But I 
must beg Mr. Powhele’s pardon, for 
using his first version; as 1 possess his 
quarto edition only. 
edition of his Theocritus, Bion and Mos- 
chus, the translations, I understand, were 
corrected and greatly improved, 
ay 
“oo 
Vindication and Specimens of Theocritus. 
In a subsequent 
fAug. t, 
PICTURE OF JEALOUSY. 
‘< Two youths, (bright ringlets grace 
- their brows, ) 
Breathe, in alternate strife, their amorous 
VOWS 5 
On each, by turns, the faithless fair-one 
Satlee, 
And views the rival pair with wanton wiles; 
Brimful, thro’ passion, swell their twinkling 
eyes, 
And their full bosoms heave with fruitless 
sighs.”? p- 20. 
PORTRAIT OF HECATE. 
€¢ Pale Hecate, who stalks o’er many a tomb, 
And adds fresh horror to sepulcbral gloom 5 
Whilst reeking gore distains the paths of 
death, 
And bicodhounds fly the blasting of her 
breath !”” p. 30. 
THE CONTAGION OF LOVE. 
«¢ Full oft hath Love with wild disorder 
sway*d 
The roving consort, and the frenzied- maid ; 
Venom’d alike, the dark contagion spreads 
Thro’ virgin chambers or thro” bridal beds.” 
p. 39 
KIND WISH OF AFFECTION. / 
<¢ O were a little bee’s my happier lot, 
Then would I waft me to thy shady grot 5 
Unheeded, thro’ its fern and ivy creep, 
And with soft murmurs lull my love to 
sleep !” p- 42. 
MAD EXPRESSION OF LOVE.’ 
« And could not, on his hills, Adonis fire” 
The raving goddess with such wild desire 5 
That to her breast she drew his quivering ~ 
breath, 
And lock’d his limbs in her’s, tho” chill’d by 
death !”? ° p. 44. 
SUCCESSFUL LOVE. 
‘¢ Re mine, to triumph in the Dorian lay, 
Beneath thatrock to shun the glare of day ; 
Enjoy, with thee, my girl, the breezy sea, 
And view the pastur’d sheep yet clasping 
thee?” p. $1. 
_THE WAY TO GET RID OF LOVE. 
‘© Thyonichus! what shall I do to get rid 
Of my passion? I’ll do, ag my neighbourSim 
did; 
You know, tho’ he lov’d the proud girl to dis- 
traction, 
He enlisted, and fought away love i in. an ac- 
tion; 
AndI too, no dastardly fellow, I wist, 
To fight 1 it away, am resolv’d to enlist.” 
pati. 
THE GOSSIP. 
‘¢ Come bring me my scarf, and see there my 
umbrella ; 
But, as for my Zopy, the dear little fellow, 
You 
, 
wt 
