The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Full Enquiry into the Nature of the
Pastoral (1717), by Thomas Purney

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: A Full Enquiry into the Nature of the Pastoral (1717)

Author: Thomas Purney

Release Date: March 10, 2005 [EBook #15313]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A FULL ENQUIRY INTO THE ***

Produced by S.R.Ellison, David Starner, and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team.

Series Two:

_Essays on Poetry_

No. 4

Thomas Purney, _A Full Enquiry into the
True Nature of Pastoral_ (1717)

With an Introduction by
Earl Wasserman

The Augustan Reprint Society
January, 1948
_Price_: $1.00

_GENERAL EDITORS_

RICHARD C. BOYS, _University of Michigan_
EDWARD NILES HOOKER, _University of California, Los Angeles_
H. T. SWEDENBERG, JR., _University of California, Los Angeles_

_ASSISTANT EDITOR_

W. EARL BRITTON, _University of Michigan_

_ADVISORY EDITORS_

EMMETT L. AVERY, _State College of Washington_
BENJAMIN BOYCE, _University of Nebraska_
LOUIS I. BREDVOLD, _University of Michigan_
CLEANTH BROOKS, _Yale University_
JAMES L. CLIFFORD, _Columbia University_
ARTHUR FRIEDMAN, _University of Chicago_
SAMUEL H. MONK, _University of Minnesota_
ERNEST MOSSNER, _University of Texas_
JAMES SUTHERLAND, _Queen Mary College, London_

Lithoprinted from copy supplied by author
by
Edwards Brothers, Inc.
Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.
1948

INTRODUCTION

In the preface to each of his volumes of pastorals (_Pastorals. After
the simple Manner of Theocritus, 1717_; _Pastorals. viz. The Bashful
Swain: and Beauty and Simplicity, 1717_) Thomas Purney rushed into
critical discussions with the breathlessness of one impatient to reveal
his opinions, and, after touching on a variety of significant topics,
cut himself short with the promise of a future extensive treatise
on pastoral poetry. In 1933 Mr. H.O. White, unable to discover the
treatise, was forced to conclude that it probably had never appeared
(_The Works of