A Full Enquiry into the Nature of the Pastoral (1717) by Thomas Purney

T >> Thomas Purney >> A Full Enquiry into the Nature of the Pastoral (1717)

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Again, if a Writer has a Genius for Pastoral he will have some Thoughts
occur so inimitably Simple, that they would appear ridiculous in the
Common Language; and 'tis necessary that the Language should answer to
the Thought. These are the finest Thoughts of all for pastoral.

There are also several Thoughts which, tho' extreamly agreeable to
the simple Innocence of young Country Girls, will appear too luscious,
unless the Simplicity and Rusticity of the Speaker appear's, by the
Old Language spoken. But we smile at a Thought in such simple Language,
which perhaps we shall nauseate in a polite Dialect.

But one of the greatest Advantages of Old-Words, is, that they afford
the Writer so fine an Opportunity of rendring his Language most
inimitably soft and smooth. This cannot be done by any other Means; and
how proper soft and simple Language is to Pastoral (at least where
the Characters are Young, Tender, and Innocent) I need not say. As for
VIRGIL and those Pastoral Writers who seem not to aim at Simplicity
in either their Characters or Sentiments, the using of Old-Words is
entirely different with regard to them. To see a Sentiment, which would
as well become any other Person as a Shepherd, dress'd in the Simplicity
of an Ancient Dialect, would appear nothing but Affectation. We are
used to see such Sentiments in another Dress. Nay, were their Thoughts
Simple, 'twould not be agreeable for them to use Old-Words, unless the
whole Turn of their Language was answerable to it; to have a common,
ordinary Language, with Old-Words scatter'd through it, is a mixt
confused Language, and what is very expressively named by our Word
Hodge-podge. 'Tis not enough therefore, for the forming a pastoral
Language to use Old-Words; a Writer must set down, and by true Pains and
Industry constitute a Language entirely of a piece and consistant;
in performing which the choicest Old-Words will be of some little
Assistance.

If I might advise you, Cubbin, I would have you always write Pastorals
in either such a Language as this, entirely uniform and of a piece, or
else to write in a strong polite Language. Never write any single thing
in a low and mean Language. Polite Language is only faulty with respect
to it's being in Pastoral; but low Language is in it's own Nature
faulty. The first is only unnatural; the latter is stupid and dull.
Therefore unless you resolve to go quite thro', never weaken or enervate
your Pastoral Language at all. Unless you resolve to add Simplicity
and Softness, to supply the place of Strength, never rob it of it's
Strength. It had better have strength and Sprightliness and Politeness
than Nothing.

The best Way is that which Sir _Philip Sidney_ has taken, to suppose
your Swains to live in the _Golden-Age_, and to be above the ordinary
Degree of Shepherds, for Kings Sons and Daughters, were then of
that Employ. And upon this Supposition to make 'em talk in a polite,
delightful and refined Dialect. By this Means you will disable the
Criticks at once.

But perhaps some may expect that I should vindicate the Use of
Old-Words, on my own Account. But for that Reason I am the more careless
in touching the Subject; because I would leave the World to a free and
unbias'd Judgment of what I have done. Nor is this an Age, indeed, to
begin to vindicate Old-Words in. The Method has been approv'd of in all
Ages even in Epick Poetry and Tragedy, and should we go now to defend it
in Pastoral? A Friend indeed of _SPENCER_'s wrote a Vindication of his
Old-Words, but had _SPENCER_ been living be would doubtless have been
ashamed of it's appearing in the World. 'Tis the Opinion of the best
Judges that the Old-Words used by Mr. _Row_, even In the Tragedy of
_JANE SHORE_ are a great Beauty to that Piece. And those who have
objected against _SALLUST_ for affecting Old-Words, have made nothing
out. Tho' History is to deliver plainly Matters of Fact, and not to
flourish, and beautify it's self with foreign Ornaments, as Poetry is.
There are not so many disapprove of _SALLUST_'s Old-Words, as commend
him for adding a Majesty and Solemness to his Writings thereby.

I might add (were there occasion for vindicating Old-Words) that we
have render'd our _English_ Language unexpressive and bare of Words, by
throwing out several useful Old-Words; as _Freundina_ a _She-Friend_;
_Theowin_ a _She-Servant_, &c. But as no one has shewn Old-Words to
be faulty, for so many hundred Years, 'twould be folly to trouble the
Reader with a Vindication of 'em, at this Day. The only Question is,
whether an Author has chose the Softest and Finest; or has shown by his
Choice the weakness of his Judgment.

SECT. 3.

_Of Compound Words_.

Another thing which occasions Softness in the Pastoral Language, if
rightly managed, is the use of Compound Words. But there is nothing
requires a greater Genius than to form Beautiful Compound Words in Epick
Poetry, or more Exactness and Labour in Pastoral. In Epick Poetry 'tis
absurd to make a Compound Word, unless it helps forward the Sence; and
in Pastory, it must add to the Softness of the Dialect, and in some
measure assist the Thought, yet it need not do it so much as in Epick
Poetry; where a Writer of Genius will form such Compound Words as will
each contain as much as a whole Line. As may be seen in _Homer_, and
the _Greek_ Poets, especially. Among the _English_, _Milton_'s are often
very fine.

_Brandish'd aloft the horrid Edge came down,
Wide-wasting_.

The Compound Words, in Pastory, must be so easy and natural, as scarce
to be observ'd from the other Language. They must run easy and smooth,
and glide off the Tongue, and that will occasion their not being
observ'd in the reading.

A Pastoral Writer will often be able, if he gives an Image in one
Line, by a Compound Word in that Line to give another Image, or
another Thought as full and as fine an one as that which the whole
Line contains. But as this and the like Observations cannot be
well understood without Instances quoted, I shall leave 'em to the
Observation of those who intend to engage in Pastoral Writing; for that
and nothing else, will put 'em upon a thorough Search into the Springs
and Rules by which all former Pastoral Writers have excell'd.

SECT. 4.

_Of Turns of Words and Phrazes_.

Another help to Softness, and the very greatest Beauty of all in the
Pastoral Language, is, a handsome use of Phrazes. This must depend
entirely on the Genius of the Writers, for there is no one Rule can be
given for the attaining thereto. A Person who writes now may imitate
_Ovid_ and _Spencer_ in this particular (if he can submit his Fancy
to Imitation) and that is all the Assistance he can have. As for
rural Phrazes, there are not above half a dozen in all the Counties or
Dialects that I am acquainted with.

All that we can do on this Head, is to leave the Reader to Observation.
For I confess that I do not so much as know how I came by those few
I myself have, farther than that by use and practising in an Uncommon
Dialect, I happen'd on 'em at Unawares.

However I may quote those which are the very finest of any in _Spencer_.
Who is the only Writer in our Language that ever attempted tender
Phrazes or Turns of Words. Yet there are two such Passages in _Creech_'s
_Theocritus_, which I will also quote.

_All as the Sheep, such was the Shepherd's Look;
For pale and wan he was (alas the while!)_ &c.

And again.

_Ye Gods of Love, who pity Lover's Pain.
(If any Gods the Pain of Lovers pity)_ &c.

And again.

_A simple Shepherd Born in_ Arcady,
_Of gentlest Blood that ever Shepherd bore_, &c.

Such beautiful Turns of Words as these are extremely scarce in
_Spencer_; but he has not one but what is inimitably fine and natural.

Let us now see the two Phrazes which _Creech_ has happen'd upon.
Whose Language I have observ'd to be infinitely the best of any of our
Pastoral writers, next to Spencer. This is one of them. A Shepherdess
says to a persuading Swain.

_You will deceive, you Men are all Deceit;
And we so willing to believe the Cheat_.

The other is this, to Diana; when she consents.

_I liv'd your Vot'ry, but no more can live_.

CHAP. III.

_The Tender in Pastory distinguish'd from that in Epick poetry or
Tragedy_.

'Tis strange to me that our Pastoral Writers should make no Distinction
between their SOFT when they write Pastories, and when they write Epick
Poetry. This in _Philips_ is the Epick Softness, or what we call the
Beautiful sometimes in Epick Poetry in Opposition to the Sublime.

_Breath soft ye Winds, ye Waters gently flow;
Shield her ye Trees, ye Flow'rs around her grow_, &c.

And this which also is the Sixth Pastory.

_Once_ Delia _lay, on easy Moss reclin'd,
Her lovely Limbs half bare, and rude the Wind_, &c.

This also is of the same kind of SOFT.

_A Girland deckt in all the Pride of May,
Sweet as her Breath, and as her Beauty Gay_, &c.

But Instances were endless. In Opposition to this kind of Soft, I shall
quote out of _Spencer_ some Passages which have the truest Softness.
For such that Author has, beyond any in the World, tho' perhaps not very
often. He begins his last Pastory thus.

_A gentle Shepherd sate besides a Spring,
All in the shadow of a bushy Breer_, &c.

And his first he begins thus.

_A Shepherd's Boy (no better do him call)_ &c.

His Pastoral named _Colin Clout's come home_, begins thus.

_The Shepherd-boy (best known by that Name)
Who after TITYRUS first sang his Lay,
Lays of sweet Love, without Rebuke or Blow,
Sate, as his manner was, upon a Day_, &c.

These Lines of _Spencer_ and those of _Philips_, both contain agreeable
Images and Thoughts, yet are they as different as _Milton_ and
_D'Urfey_.

I shall only make one Observation on this difference. Namely, that in
the soft and beautiful Lines of _Philips_, each Word, only signifies a
soft and beautiful Idea; As _Breath, Waters, Flow, Gently, Soft_, &c.
but in _Spencer_ the sound also is soft. Had such an Author dress'd this
inimitable Thought of _Philips_, the Line would have glided as smooth
and easy off the Tongue, as the Waters he mentions, do along the
Meadows.

SECT. II.

_That no Language is so fit for Pastoral as the English_.

I have before observed, that this softness is effected, among other
things by little Words; yet I cannot help observing here, that our
Language is infinitely the finest of any in the World for Pastoral, and
it's abounding so much in little Words is one Reason of it. The Pomps
and Stateliness of the Latin Lines could not have been made proper for
Pastoral, unless entirely alter'd, and 'tis not likely that a Genius
daring enough to do that would engage in Pastoral.

The _Romans_ had not a Particle, as we have, before their
_Substantives_; As _A_ and _The Tree_. Seldom used a Word before the
Verbs; as _He goes_, _They go_. Nor had they our _Doth_ and _Does_;
without which no _Englishman_ could form a Pastoral Language. As the
sweet Simplicity of that Line, I have just quoted, is occasion'd by
nothing else.

_A Shepherd-boy (no better do him call_.)

The _Greek_ Language was greatly more fit for Pastoral than the _Latin_.
Among other Reasons, because the former had so many Particles; and could
render their Language uncommon, by their different Dialects, and by
their various Methods of changing, and of compounding Words. Which no
Language will admit of in an equal degree, besides the _English_. But
then the _Greek_ Language is too sonorous for Pastoral. Give me leave to
show the inimitable softness and sweetness of the _English_ Tongue, only
by instancing in one Word. Which will also show how copious a Language
ours is. I know but three Words the _Greeks_ had to express the Word Lad
or Swain by: [Greek: Agrikos, Poimruos; and Bokolos]; and how sonorous
are they all. We have six; Swain, Boy, Shepherd, Youth, Stripling, Lad;
and how inimitably soft is the sound of 'em all.

_Theocritus_ has more Turns of Words or Phrazes than _Spencer_; yet he
could in none of 'em come up to _Spencer_'s smoothness and simplicity
in his Numbers. As I quoted only the Phrazes of my Country-men In the
Chapter on that Head; I will here put down the finest in Theocritus,
tho' I cannot say indeed that he has any but in his first Pastoral.

[Greek: Archete boukolikas Moisai philai harchet haoithas. Thursis hod
hox Ahitnas, kai Thursidos adea phona. Pa pok had esth, oka Daphnis
etaketo, pa poka Numphai;]

The finest of these Lines (and the softest but one that I remember thro'
all his Pieces) is the middle one; it is most incorrigibly translated
by _Creech_: tho' I blame him not for it, because of the difficulty of
inventing fine Phrazes, much more of translating those of other Men,
into Rhime; for which Reason _Creech_ has not attempted to give us any
of _Theocritus_'s Turns of Words.

CHAP. IV.

_That there may be several sorts of Pastorals_.

To conclude this Essay, as there are Tempers and Genius's of all sorts,
so perhaps it may not be amiss to allow Writings of all sorts too. I
think every Person's Aim should be to be subserving as much as possible,
to the Delight and Amusement of his Fellow-Creatures. And if any can
take pleasure in what is really not pleasant, 'tis pity, methinks, to
rob 'em of it. Yet if there is in nature a Method which pursued will be
still more delightful, the Critick is to be observed who points out the
Way thereto.

If any of my Countrymen therefore can take delight from reading the
Pastorals of _Theocritus_ and _Virgil_, or any of those who have
imitated those two Ancients, I shall be ready to allow that there may
be several sorts of Pastorals. 'Tis certain that _Milton_ and _Homer_,
(thro' the Scene of the Former lying about the Sphere of Men) are as
different as _East_ from _West_, yet both excellent. Tragedy has
as different sorts as Epick-Poetry; Nor are _Julius Caesar_ and the
_Orphan_ of the same Nature. The same difference in Tragedy, is between
all those, whose Chief CHARACTER is a Hero, and those that draw a
Female, as _Jane Shore_, the Lady _Jane Gray_, _and the like_, are to me
entirely different from _Shakespear's_, not respecting the Excellency of
'em. _Shakespear_ having a Genius made for the Sublime, and perhaps Mr.
_Row_ rather for the Soft and Tender; as appears in two Passages at the
End of _JANE SHORE_. Which in my Judgment are not much excell'd by even
_Otway_ himself.

Since I have mention'd that Author, I can't help remarking how difficult
a thing it is for any Person to know what his own Genius is fittest for;
and how great a Chance it is whether ever a Writer comes to know it.
Tho' _Otway_ had so fine a Genius for the TENDER, it never appear'd till
a little before he dyed. Thro' all his Plays we cannot trace even
the least Glimpse of it, till his two last, _The Orphan_ and _Venice
Preserv'd_. But we run the Digression too far.

SECT. 2.

_What Kind of Pastorals would please most Universally; and delight the
greatest Number of Readers_.

For my own Part, as I said, I could be delighted with any Kind of
Pastoral, if the Writer would but be at the Pains of selecting the
most beautiful Images, and tenderest Thoughts. This is the first and
principal Matter. Yet this might be perform'd by a moderate Capacity,
without a Genius born for Tragedy.

Would a Person but form a delightful Story, invent new and uncommon and
pleasing Characters, and furnish his Mind with a small Number of fine
Images from the Country, before he sate down to write his Pieces, He
would not fail of Success. But if Writers will only put down a parcel
of common triffling Thoughts from _Theocritus_ and _Virgil_, nor will so
much as aim at any thing themselves, can you blame me Cubbin, if I throw
'em aside. Let 'em have a thousand Faults, I can be pleas'd by 'em,
if they have but Beauties with 'em; nor will you ever hear me blame
_Shakespear_ for his Irregularity. And Pastoral is delightful to me in
it's own Nature, that were these Authors to employ but my Mind in any
manner, I should have Patience to peruse 'em.

But if these Authors were unwilling to be at the Pains of forming a
pleasant Story themselves, they might go upon little Tales already
known, such as, _The Two Children in the Wood_, and a thousand others
inimitably pretty and delightful.

And had we a Set of such Pastorals as these, I am satisfied they would
take extreamly. More Cubbin, perhaps than yours ever will; because
perfect Pastories are directed only to Persons of Reading and Judgment.
But you cannot I suppose satisfie your own Mind, unless you write up to
what you judge the Standard of Perfection in every sort of Writing.

_FINIS_.

_Notes on the Text_.

It was impractical to issue Purney's _Enquiry_ in facsimile because
of the blurred condition of the photostats. This reprint follows the
original text faithfully, with the following exceptions: the long
"s" and the double "v" are modernized; small capitals, which appear
frequently in the 1717 version, are reduced to lower-case letters; a few
very slight typographical errors have been silently corrected. On page
40, line 1, _thoroughly_ reads _throughly_ in the original; and the
three lines of Greek on p. 70, somewhat garbled in the original, are
given in corrected form.

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