the Labour of Shepherds, if I could invent a Life
more agreeable; but the latter must be form'd from a Man's Imagination,
the former from Observation; and _Virgil_ could draw that almost as well
as _Theocritus_. I wonder the Writers of Pastoral should be so fond
of showing their Shepherds Beating Their Ronts, or Scolding With each
other, or the like; when they might describe 'em sleeping upon Violets;
plaiting rosy Chaplets by a lovely Rivulet; getting _Strawberries_ for a
Lass, &c.

'Tis observable, that no Tragedy can be well constituted without a
mixture of Love; and even _Shakespear_, (who seem's to have had so
little of the Soft or Tender in his Genius) was obliged to have some
recourse to that Passion, in forming his most regular Tragedy; I mean
Othello. Not that an Hero should be soften'd, much less drawn in his
most degenerate Hours, when he is in Love. For, methinks, the French
seem a little too fond of introduceing Love, when they draw their
greatest Hero's as amorous Love-Sops, and omit all that is truly Great
in their Characters.

Now if Love, with Reason manag'd, appear so well in Tragedy, it must
sure be extreamly proper for Pastoral. In the first we are to be rais'd
and heated; in the latter sooth'd and soften'd: The one has to do with
Personages, all gentle and tender; the Subject of the other is Fury and
Bravery. I would therefore have, methinks, a Sprinkling of Love thro'
all my Pastorals; and 'twill give the Writer an Opportunity of showing
the Tenderness, and the Simplicity of his Characters in the finest
Manner: Yet must it be so diversify'd and broken, by other Incidents
interfering, as not to cloy and nauseate the Reader, with the Repetition
of nothing but Love and Love.

The vulgar Notion is, that Wrestling, and such like Incidents are
properest for Pastoral; but if a Writer introduces such, he'll find 'em
so few, that 'twill be necessary to touch upon Love besides.

But methinks, I would not show my _CHARACTERS_ in so low and clownish
a degree of Life; For if I draw 'em so rough, and Porter-like, in one
place, I cannot give 'em Tenderness and Simplicity in another; without
breaking in upon the Manners.

So that if I was compell'd to put this Circumstance of Wrestling into
a Pastoral, I would have recourse, even there, to Love, to render it
Pleasurable to the Mind; as thus: A tender-hearted Lass should be plac'd
Spectator of her Wrestling Lover: By this means the Poet might make it
shine i