Part 45

Sentiments like these, as they have no ground in nature, are of little value in any poem, but in pastoral they are particularly liable to censure, because it wants that exaltation above common life, which in tragic or heroic writings often reconciles us to bold flights and daring figures.--JOHNSON.]

Præceps aërii specula de montis in undas Deferar.

From yon high cliff I plunge into the main. Dryden.--WAKEFIELD.

This passage in Pope is a strong instance of the abnegation of feeling in his Pastorals. The shepherd proclaims at the beginning of his chant that it is his dying speech, and at the end that he has resolved upon immediate suicide. Having announced the tragedy, Pope treats it with total indifference, and quietly adds, "Thus sung the shepherds," &c.]

Pope had at first written:

Thus sung the swains while day yet strove with night, And heav'n yet languished with departing light.

"Quære," he says to Walsh, "if languish be a proper word?" and Walsh answers, "Not very proper."]

Et sol decedens crescentes duplicat umbras. The shadows lengthen as the sun grows low. Dryden.--WAKEFIELD.

"Objection," Pope said to Walsh, "that to mention the sunset after twilight (day yet strove with night) is improper. Is the following alteration anything better?

And the brown ev'ning lengthened ev'ry shade."

Walsh. "It is not the evening, but the sun being low that lengthens the shades, otherwise the second passage is the best."]

WINTER:

THE FOURTH PASTORAL,

DAPHNE.

TO THE MEMORY OF MRS. TEMPEST.

LYCIDAS.

Thyrsis, the music of that murm'ring spring Is not so mournful as the strains you sing; Nor rivers winding through the vales below, So sweetly warble, or so smoothly flow. Now sleeping flocks on their soft fleeces lie, 5 The moon, serene in glory, mounts the sky, While silent birds forget their tuneful lays, Oh sing of Daphne's fate, and Daphne's praise!

THYRSIS.

Behold the groves that shine with silver frost, Their beauty withered, and their verdure lost! 10 Here shall I try the sweet Alexis' strain, That called the list'ning dryads to the plain? Thames heard the numbers as he flowed along, And bade his willows learn the moving song.

LYCIDAS.

So may kind rains their vital moisture yield, 15 And swell the future harvest of the field. Begin; this charge the dying Daphne gave, And said, "Ye shepherds sing around my grave!" Sing, while beside the shaded tomb I mourn, And with fresh bays her rural shrine adorn. 20

THYRSIS.

Ye gentle muses, leave your crystal spring, Let nymphs and sylvans cypress garlands bring Ye weeping loves, the stream with myrtles hide, And break your bows, as when Adonis died; And with your golden darts, now useless grown, 25 Inscribe a verse on this relenting stone: "Let nature change, let heav'n and earth deplore, "Fair Daphne's dead, and love is now no more!" 'Tis done, and nature's various charms decay, See gloomy clouds obscure the cheerful day! 30 Now hung with pearls the dropping trees appear, Their faded honours scattered on her bier. See, where on earth the flow'ry glories lie, With her they flourished, and with her they die. Ah what avail the beauties nature wore? 35 Fair Daphne's dead, and beauty is no more! For her the flocks refuse their verdant food, The thirsty heifers shun the gliding flood, The silver swans her hapless fate bemoan, In notes more sad than when they sing their own; 40 In hollow caves sweet echo silent lies, Silent, or only to her name replies: Her name with pleasure once she taught the shore, Now Daphne's dead, and pleasure is no more! No grateful dews descend from ev'ning skies, 45 Nor morning odours from the flow'rs arise; No rich perfumes refresh the fruitful field, No fragrant herbs their native incense yield. The balmy zephyrs, silent since her death, Lament the ceasing of a sweeter breath; 50 Th' industrious bees neglect their golden store! Fair Daphne's dead, and sweetness is no more! No more the mountain larks, while Daphne sings, Shall list'ning in mid-air suspend their wings; No more the birds shall imitate her lays, 55 Or hushed with wonder, hearken from the sprays: No more the streams their murmurs shall forbear, A sweeter music than their own to hear, But tell the reeds, and tell the vocal shore, Fair Daphne's dead, and music is no more! 60 Her fate is whispered by the gentle breeze, And told in sighs to all the trembling trees; The trembling trees, in ev'ry plain and wood, Her fate remurmur to the silver flood; The silver flood, so lately calm, appears 65 Swelled with new passion, and o'erflows with tears; The winds, and trees, and floods, her death deplore, Daphne, our grief! our glory now no more! But see! where Daphne wond'ring mounts on high Above the clouds, above the starry sky! 70 Eternal beauties grace the shining scene, Fields ever fresh, and groves for ever green! There while you rest in amaranthine bow'rs, Or from those meads select unfading flow'rs, Behold us kindly, who your name implore, 75 Daphne our goddess! and our grief no more!

LYCIDAS.

How all things listen, while thy muse complains! Such silence waits on Philomela's strains, In some still ev'ning, when the whisp'ring breeze Pants on the leaves, and dies upon the trees. 80 To thee, bright goddess, oft a lamb shall bleed, If teeming ewes increase my fleecy breed. While plants their shade, or flow'rs their odours give, Thy name, thy honour, and thy praise shall live!

THYRSIS.

But see, Orion sheds unwholesome dews: 85 Arise; the pines a noxious shade diffuse; Sharp Boreas blows, and nature feels decay, Time conquers all, and we must time obey, Adieu ye vales, ye mountains, streams, and groves, Adieu ye shepherds' rural lays and loves; 90 Adieu, my flocks; farewell, ye sylvan crew; Daphne, farewell; and all the word adieu!

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