ght each other with a Song.

In which the _Poet_ shows that _alternate_ singing is proper to a
_Pastoral_: But as for the _Fable_, 'tis requisite that it should be
simple, lest in stead of _Pastoral_ it put on the form of a _Comedy_,
or _Tragedy_ if the _Fable_ be great, or intricate: It must be _One_;
this _Aristotle_ thinks necessary in every _Poem_, and _Horace_ lays
down this general Rule,

Be every _Fable_ simple, and but one:

For every Poem, that is not _One_, is imperfect, and this _Unity_ is
to be taken from the _Action_: for if that is _One_, the Poem will be
so too. Such is the Passion of _Corydon_ in _Virgil's_ second Eclogue,
_Meliboeus's_ Expostulation with _Tityrus_ about his Fortune;
_Theocritus's_ _Thyrsis, Cyclops_, and _Amaryllis_, of which perhaps
in its proper place I may treat more largely.

{56} Let the third Rule be concerning the _Expression_, which cannot
be in this kind excellent unless borrow'd from _Theocritus's_
_Idylliums_, or _Virgil's_ _Eclogues_, let it be chiefly simple, and
ingenuous: such is that of _Theocritus_,

A Kid belongs to thee, and Kids are good,

Or that in _Virgil's_ seventh Eclogue,

This Pail of Milk, these Cakes (_Priapus_) every year
Expect; a little Garden is thy care:
Thou'rt Marble now, but if more Land I hold,
If my Flock thrive, thou shalt be made of Gold,

than which I cannot imagine more simple, and more ingenuous
expressions. To which may be added that out of his _Palemon_,

And I love _Phyllis_, for her Charms excell;
At my departure O what tears there fell!
She sigh'd, Farewell Dear Youth, a long Farewell.

Now, That I call an ingenuous Expression which is clear and smooth,
that swells with no insolent words, or bold metaphors, but hath
something familiar, and as it were obvious in its Composure, and not
disguis'd by any study'd and affected dress: All its Ornament must be
like the Corn and fruits in the Country, easy to {57} be gotten, and
ready at hand, not such as requires Care, Labor, and Cost to be
obtain'd: as _Hermogenes_ on _Theocritus_ observes; _See how easie and
unaffected this sounds_,

Pines murmurings, Goatherd, are a pleasing sound,

_and most of his expressions, not to say all, are of the same
nature_: for the ingenuous simplicity both of Thought and Expression
is the natural _Characteristick_ of _Pastoral_. In this _Theocritus_
and _Virgil_ are admirable, and excellent, the others despicable, and
to be pit