Other prying ingenious Men make other conjectures, as to this mazing
Controversy thus _Vossius_ delivers himself; _The Antients cannot be
reconcil'd, but I rather incline to their opinion who think_ Bucolicks
_were invented either by the_ Sicilians _or_ Peloponesians, _for both
those use the_ Dorick _dialect, and all the_ Greek Bucolicks _are writ
in that_: As for my self I think, that what _Horace_ says of _Elegies_
may be apply'd to the present Subject.
But who soft Elegies was the first that wrote
Grammarians doubt, and cannot end the doubt:
For I find nothing certain about this matter, since neither _Valla_ a
diligent inquirer after, and a good judge in such things, nor any of
the late writers produce any thing upon which I can safely rely; yet
what beginning this kind of Poetry {14} had, I think I can pretty well
conjecture: for tis likely that first Shepherds us'd Songs to recreate
themselves in their leisure hours whilst they fed their Sheep; and
that each man, as his wit served, accommodated his Songs to his
present Circumstances: to this Solitude invited, and the extream
leisure that attends that employment absolutely requir'd it: For as
their retirement gave them leisure, and Solitude a fit place for
Meditation, Meditation and Invention produc'd a Verse; which is
nothing else but a Speech fit to be sung, and so Songs began: Thus
_Hesiod_ was made a Poet, for he acknowledges himself that he receiv'd
his inspiration;
Whilst under _Helicon_ he fed his Lambs.
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