few remarks which, I think, have escaped their observation.

The original of poetry is ascribed to that age which succeeded the
creation of the world: and as the keeping of flocks seems to have been
the first employment of mankind, the most ancient sort of poetry was
probably _pastoral_. It is natural to imagine, that the leisure of those
ancient shepherds admitting and inviting some diversion, none was so
proper to that solitary and sedentary life as singing; and that in their
songs they took occasion to celebrate their own felicity. From hence a
poem was invented, and afterwards improved to a perfect image of that
happy time; which, 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 tranquility 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; 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, 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