her foreign Cause. But I shall always wave the being particular
in such Cases as these. To point at Faults directly, I think the
Business of a Carper, not a Critick.

CHAP. IV.

_Of the Moral; and what kind of Moral Pastoral require's_.

The fourth Quality that a Fable ask's, to render it compleat, is a
Moral Result. I need not trouble you with a Proof of a Moral's being
necessary; 'tis plain that every Poem should be made as perfect as 'tis
capable of being, and no one will ever affirm a Moral to be unnatural in
Pastoral. But if any one should demand a Proof, 'tis thus: Poetry aim's
at two Ends, Pleasure and Profit; but Pastoral will not admit of direct
Instructions; therefore it must contain a Moral, or lose one End, which
is Profit. We might as easy show that the other End of Poetry, _viz_.
Pleasure, is also impair'd, if the Moral be neglected; but the thing is
plain.

To hasten therefore to enquire what kind of Moral is proper for
Pastoral, we must look back into the Reasons prescribed by Nature for
the Morals in all Sorts of Poetry.

Epick Poetry and Tragedy are conversant about Hero's, Kings, and
Princes, therefore the Morals there, should be directed to Persons
engaged in Affairs of State, and at the Helm, and be of such a Nature
as these; _A Crown will not render a Person Happy, if he does not pursue
his Duty towards God and Man; the best Method of Securing a Government,
is to occasion Unity in it_, and the like.

Again, Comedy's Subject is to expose the Ill Habits in low Life. It's
moral therefore should contain Instructions to the middle Sort of
People: As, _What Ills attend on Covetousness_. Or, _On a Parent's being
too Severe_, or the like.

* * * * *

But so easy and gentle a kind of Poetry is Pastoral, that 'tis not very
pleasant to the busy Part of the World. Men in the midst of Ambition,
delight to be rais'd and heated by their Images and Sentiments. Pastoral
therefore addresses it self to the Young, the Tender, and particularly
those of the _SOFT-SEX_. The Characters also in Pastoral are of the
same Nature; _An Innocent Swain_; or _Tender-Hearted Lass_. From such
Characters therefore we must draw our Morals, and to such Persons must
we direct them; and they should particularly aim at regulating the Lives
of Virgins and all young Persons.

* * * * *

What Nature I would have a Moral of, cannot so well be explain'd as by
Ex