Therefore, in short, let him that writes Pastorals think brevity, if
it doth not obscure his sense, to be the greatest grace which he can
attain.
Now why _Bucolicks_ should require such Brevity, and be so
essentially sparing in _Expression_, I see no other reason but this:
It loves _Simplicity_ so much that it must be averse to that Pomp and
Ostentation which _Epick_ Poetry must show, for that must be copious
and flowing, in every part smooth, and equal to it self: But
_Pastoral_ must dissemble, and hide even that which it would {42}
show, like _Damon's_ _Galatea_, who flies then when she most desires
to be discovered.
And to the Bushes flys, yet would be seen.
And this doth not proceed from any malitious ill-natur'd Coyness, as
some imagine, but from an ingenuous modesty and bashfulness, which
usually accompanies, and is a proof of _Simplicity: Tis very rare_,
says Pliny, _to find a man so exquisitely skillful, as to be able to
show those Features in a Picture which he hides_, and I think it to be
so difficult a task, that none but the most excellent Wits can attempt
it with success: For small Wits usually abound with a multitude of
words.
The third Grace of _Bucolicks_ is _Neatness_, which contains all the
taking prettiness and sweetness of Expression, and whatsoever is
call'd the Delicacies of the more delightful and pleasing _Muses_:
This the Rural _Muses_ bestow'd on _Virgil_, as _Horace_ in the tenth
_Satyr_ of his first Book says,
And _Virgils_ happy Muse in Eclogues plays,
soft and facetious;
Which _Fabius_ takes to signify the most taking neatness and most
exquisite Elegance imaginable: For thus he explains this place, in
which he agrees with _Tully_, who in his _Third Book de Oratore_,
says, the _Atticks_ are Facetious _i.
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