Now 'tis not sufficient to make a Poem a true _Pastoral_, that the
Subject of it is the action of a Shepherd, for in _Hesiods_ *erga* and
_Virqils Georgicks_ there are a great many things that belong to the
employment of a Shepherd, yet none fancy they are Pastorals; from
whence 'tis evident, that beside the _matter_, which we have defin'd
to be the action of a Sheapard, there is a peculiar _Form_ proper to
this kind of _Poetry_ by which 'tis distinguish'd from all others.
Of Poetry in General _Socrates_, as _Plato_ tells us, would have
_Fable_ to be the _Form_: _Aristotle_ Imitation: I shall not dispute
what difference there is between these two, but only inquire whether
Imitation be the _Form_ of _Pastoral_: 'Tis certain that _Epick_
Poetry is differenc't from _Tragick_ only by {29} the manner of
imitation, for the latter imitates by _action_, and the former by bare
_narration_: But _Pastoral_ is the imitation of a _Pastoral_ action
either by bare narration, as in _Virgil's_ _Alexis_, and
_Theocritus's_ 7th _Idyllium_, in which the Poet speaks all along in
his own Person: or by action as in _Virgil's_ _Tityrus_, and the first
of _Theocritus_, or by both mixt, as in the Second and Eleventh
_Idylliums_, in which the Poet partly speaks in his own Person, and
partly makes others speak, and I think the old _Scholiast_ on
_Theocritus_ took an hint from these when he says, that Pastoral is a
mixture made up of all sorts, for 'tis Narrative, Dramatick, and mixt,
and _Aristotle_, tho obscurely, seems to hint in those words, _In
every one of the mentioned Arts there is Imitation, in some simple, in
some mixt_; now this latter being peculiar to _Bucolicks_ makes its
very form and Essence: and therefore _Scaliger_, in the 4th Chapter of
his first Book of Poetry, reckons up three Species of _Pastorals_, the
first hath but one Person, the second several, which sing alternately;
the third is mixt of both the other: And the same observation is made
by _Heinsius_ in his Notes on _Theocritus_, for thus he very plainly
to our purpose, _the Character of_ Bucolicks _is a mixture of all
sorts of Characters, Dramatick, Narrative, or mixt_: from all which
'tis very manifest that the manner of _Imitation_ which is proper to
_Pastorals_ is the mixt: for in other kinds of Poetry 'tis one and
simple, at least {30} not so manifold; as in _Tragedy Action_: in
_Epick_ Poetry _Narration_.
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