by giving us an esteem for the virtues of a
former age, might recommend them to the present. And since the life of
shepherds was attended with more tranquillity than any other rural
employment, the poets chose to introduce their persons, from whom it
received the name of pastoral.

A pastoral is an imitation of the action of a shepherd, or one
considered under that character. The form of this imitation is dramatic,
or narrative, or mixed of both[3]; the fable simple; the manners not too
polite nor too rustic: the thoughts are plain, yet admit a little
quickness and passion, but that short and flowing: the expression
humble, yet as pure as the language will afford; neat, but not florid;
easy, and yet lively. In short, the fable, manners, thoughts, and
expressions are full of the greatest simplicity in nature.

The complete character of this poem consists in simplicity[4], brevity,
and delicacy; the two first of which render an eclogue natural, and the
last delightful.

If we would copy nature, it may be useful to take this idea along with
us, that pastoral is an image of what they call the golden age. So that
we are not to describe our shepherds as shepherds at this day really
are, but as they may be conceived then to have been; when the best of
men followed the employment.[5] To carry this resemblance yet further,
it would not be amiss to give these shepherds some skill in astronomy,
as far as it may be useful to that sort of life. And an air of piety to
the gods should shine through the poem, which so visibly appears in all
the works of antiquity; and it ought to preserve some relish of the old
way of writing; the connection should be loose, the narrations and
descriptions short,[6] and the periods concise. Yet it is not
sufficient, that the sentences only be brief, the whole eclogue should
be so too. For we cannot suppose poetry in those days to have been the
business of men, but their recreation at vacant hours.[7]

But with respect to the present age, nothing more conduces to make these
composures natural, than when some knowledge in rural affairs is
discovered.[8] This may be made to appear rather done by chance than on
design, and sometimes is best shown by inference; lest by too much study
to seem natural, we destroy that easy simplicity from whence arises the
delight. For what is inviting in this sort of poetry, as Fontenelle
observes, proceeds not so much from the idea of that business, as of the
tranquill