that they studied together, it is easy to suppose how much he must
miss the companion of his labours, and the partner of his
discoveries; but what image of tenderness can be excited by these
lines? -


We drove afield, and both together heard
What time the grey fly winds her sultry horn,
Battening our flocks with the fresh dews of night.


We know that they never drove afield, and that they had no flocks to
batten; and though it be allowed that the representation may be
allegorical, the true meaning is so uncertain and remote, that it is
never sought, because it cannot be known when it is found.

Among the flocks, and copses, and flowers, appear the heathen
deities; Jove and Phoebus, Neptune and AEolus, with a long train of
mythological imagery, such as a college easily supplies. Nothing
can less display knowledge, or less exercise invention, than to tell
how a shepherd has lost his companion, and must now feed his flocks
alone, without any judge of his skill in piping; and how one god
asks another god what is become of Lycidas, and how neither god can
tell. He who thus grieves will excite no sympathy; he who thus
praises will confer no honour.

This poem has yet a grosser fault. With these trifling fictions are
mingled the most awful and sacred truths, such as ought never to be
polluted with such irreverent combinations. The shepherd likewise
is now a feeder of sheep, and afterwards an ecclesiastical pastor, a