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could carry on the melody of verfe without its aid. LE C T. But it does not follow, that therefore it must be barbarous in the English language, which is deftitute of these advantages. Every language has powers and graces, and mufic peculiar to itself; and what is becoming in one, would be ridiculous in another. Rhyme was barbarous in Latin; and an attempt to conftru&t English Verses after the form of hexameters, and pentameters, and Sapphics, is as barbarous among us. It is not true, that rhyme iş merely a monkifh invention. On the contrary, it has obtained under different forms, in the Verfification of moft known nations. It is found in the antient poetry of the northern nations of Europe; it is faid to be found among the Arabs, the Perfians, the Indians, and the Americans. This fhews that there is fomething in the return of fimilar founds, which is grateful to the ears of moft part of mankind. And if any one, after reading Mr. Pope's Rape of the Lock, or Eloifa to Abelard, fhall not admit our rhyme, with all its varieties of paufes, to carry both elegance, and fweetness of found, his ear muft be pronounced to be of a very peculiar kind.

THE prefent form of our English Heroic rhyme in couplets, is a modern fpecies of Versification. The measure generally used in the days of Queen Elizabeth, King James, and King Charles I. was the ftanza of eight lines, such as Spencer employs, borrowed from the Italian; a measure very constrained

XXXVIII.

LECT. conftrained and artificial. Waller was the first who brought couplets into vogue; and Dryden afterwards established the ufage. Waller - first fmoothed our Verfe; Dryden perfected it. Mr. Pope's Verfification has a peculiar character. It is flowing and smooth in the highest degree; far more laboured and correct than that of any who went before him. He introduced one confider. able change into Heroic Verfe, by totally throwing aside the triplets, or three lines rhym ing together, in which Mr. Dryden abounded. Dryden's Verfification, however, has very great merit; and, like all his productions, has much fpirit, mixed with careleffness. If not so smooth and correct as Pope's, it is however more varied and easy. He fubjects himself less to the rule of clofing the fense with the couplet; and frequently takes the liberty of making his couplets run into one another, with fomewhat of the freedom of Blank Verfe.

LECTURE XXXIX.

IN

PASTORAL POETRY-LYRIC POETRY.

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the last Lecture, I gave an account of the Rife LE CT. and Progrefs of Poetry, and made fome obfervations on the nature of English Verfification. I-now proceed to treat of the chief kinds of Poetical Compofition; and of the critical rules that relate to them. I fhall follow that order which is most fimple and natural, beginning with the leffer forms of Poetry, and afcending from them to the Epic and Dramatic, as the moft dignified. This Lecture shall be employed on Paftoral and Lyric Poetry.

THOUGH I begin with the confideration of Paftoral Poetry, it is not because I confider it as one of the earliest forms of Poetical Compofition. On the contrary, I am of opinion that it was not cultivated as a distinct fpecies, or fubject of Writing, until fociety had advanced in refinement. Moft Authors have indeed indulged the fancy, that because the life which mankind at firft led was rural,

therefore

XXXIX.

LECT. therefore their first Poetry was Paftoral, or em ployed in the celebration of rural scenes and objects. I make no doubt, that it would borrow many of its images and allufions from thofe natural objects, with which men were beft acquainted; but I am perfuaded that the calm and tranquil scenes of rural felicity were not, by any means, the first objects, which infpired that ftrain of Compofition which we now call Poetry. It was infpired, in the first periods of every nation, by events and objects which roufed men's paffions; or, at least, awakened their wonder and admiration. The actions of their Gods and Heroes, their own exploits in war, the fucceffes or misfortunes of their countrymen and friends, furnished the first Themes to the Bards of every country. What was of a Paftoral kind in their Compositions, was incidental only. They did not think of chufing for their Theme, the tran. quillity and the pleasures of the country, as long as these were daily and familiar objects to them. It was not till men had begun to be affembled in great cities, after the diftinctions of rank and ftation were formed, and the buftle of Courts and large Societies was known, that Paftoral Poetry affumed its prefent form. Men then began to look back upon the more fimple and innocent life, which their forefathers led, or which, at leaft, they fancied them to have led: they looked back upon it with pleasure; and in thofe rural fcenes, and paftoral occupations, imagining a degree of felicity to take place, fuperior to what they now

enjoyed,

XXXIX.

enjoyed, conceived the idea of celebrating it in LECT. Poetry. It was in the court of King Ptolemy, that Theocritus wrote the firft Paftorals with which we are acquainted; and in the court of Auguftus, he was imitated by Virgil.

BUT whatever may have been the origin of Paftoral Poetry, it is, undoubtedly, a natural, and very agreeable form of Poetical Compofition. It recals to our imagination, thofe gay fcenes, and pleafing views of nature, which commonly are the delight of our childhood and youth; and to which, in more advanced years, the greatest part of men recur with pleasure. It exhibits to us a life, with which we are accustomed to affociate the ideas of peace, of leifure, and of innocence; and therefore, we readily fet open our heart to such representations as promise to banish from our thoughts the cares of the world, and to transport us into calm Elyfian regions. At the fame time, no fubject feems to be more favourable to Poetry. Amidft rural objects, nature prefents, on all hands, the finest field for defcription; and nothing appears to flow more, of its own accord, into Poetical Numbers, than rivers and mountains, meadows and hills, flocks and trees, and fhepherds void of care. Hence, this fpecies of Poetry has, at all times, allured many Readers, and excited many Writers. But, notwithstanding the advantages it poffeffes, it will appear, from what I have farther to obferve upon it, that there is hardly any fpecies