from the continent of the Leffer Afia, or from Egypt, which, about the era of the Grecian paftoral, was the hofpitable nurse of letters, it is not eafy to determine. From the fubjects, and the manner of Theocritus, one would incline to the latter opinion, while the hiftory of Bion is in favour of the former. However, though it should still remain a doubt through what channel the paftoral travelled weftward, there is not the leaft fhadow of uncertainty concerning its oriental origin. In thofe ages, which, guided by facred chronology, from a comparative view of time, we call the early ages, it appears from the most authentic historians, that the chiefs of the people employed themselves in rural exercifes, and that aftronomers and legiflators were at the fame time fhepherds. Thus Strabo informs us, that the hiftory of the creation was communicated to the Egyptians by a Chaldæan fhepherd. From thefe circumstances, it is evident, not only that fuch fhepherds were capable of all the dignity and elegance peculiar to poetry, but that whatever poetry they attempted, would be of the paftoral kind; would take its fubjects from those scenes of rural fimplicity, in which they were converfant, and, as it was the offspring of Harmony and Nature, would employ the powers it derived from the former to celebrate the beauty and benevolence of the latter. Accordingly we find that the most ancient poems treat of agriculture, aftronomy, and other objects within the rural and natural fyftems. What conftitutes the difference between the Georgic and the Paftoral is love and the colloquial, or dramatic form of compofition peculiar to the latter: this form of compofition is fometimes difpenfed with, and love and rural imagery alone are thought fufficient to diftinguish the paftoral. The tender paffion, however, seems to be effential to this fpecies of poetry, and is hardly ever excluded from thofe pieces, that were intended to come under this denomination: even in those eclogues of the Amabean kind, whofe only purport is a trial of skill between contending fhepherds, love has its ufual fhare, and the praises of their respective miftreffes are the general fubjects of the compet itors. It is to be lamented, that scarce any oriental compofitions of this kind have survived the ravages of ignorance, tyranny, and time; we cannot doubt that many fuch have been extant, poffibly as far down as that fatal period, never to be mentioned in the world of letters without horror, when the glorious monuments of human ingenuity perished in the afhes of the Alexandrian library. Those ingenious Greeks, whom we call the parents of paftoral poetry, were probably no more than imitators of imitators, that derived their harmony from higher and remoter fources, and kindled their poetical fires at thofe then unextinguished lamps, which burned within the tombs of oriental genius. It is evident that Homer has availed himself of those magnificent images and defcriptions, fo frequently to be met with in the books of the Old Testament; and why may not Theocritus, Mofchus and Bion have found their archetypes in other eastern writers, whofe names have perished with their works? yet, though it may not be illiberal to admit such a supposition, it would certainly be invidious to conclude what the malignity of cavillers alone could fuggeft with regard to Homer, that they deftroyed the fources from which they borrowed, and, as it is fabled of the young of the pelican, drained their supporters to death. As the feptuagint translation of the Old Teftament was performed at the request, and under the patronage of Ptolemy Philadelphus, it were not to be wondered if Theocritus, who was entertained at that prince's court, had borrowed fome part of his pastoral imagery from the poetical paffages of those books. I think it can hardly be doubted, that the Sicilian poet had in his eye certain expreffions of the prophet Ifaiah, when he wrote the following lines : Νυν τα μεν φορεοίε βατοι, Φοκεοιτε δ ̓ ἀκανθαι Let vexing brambles the blue violet bear, All, all revers'd-The pine with pears be crown'd, The caufe indeed of thefe phenomena is very different in the Greek from what it is in the Hebrew poet; the former employing them on the death, the latter on the birth of an important perfon: but the marks of imitation are nevertheless obvious. It might, however, be expected, that if Theocritus had borrowed at all from the facred writers, the celebrated pastoral Epithalamium of Solomon, fo much within his own walk of poetry, would not certainly have escaped his notice. His Epithalamium on the marriage of Helena, moreover, gave him an open field for imitation; therefore, if he has any obligations to the royal bard, we may expect to find them there. The very opening of the poem is in the fpirit of the Hebrew fong: Ουτω δε πρωίζα κατεδραθες, ὦ φιλε γαμβρε; The colour of imitation is ftill ftronger in the following paffage : Αως αντέλλοισα καλον διεφαίης προσωπον, Η καπω κυπαρισσος, ή αρματι Θεσσαλος ίππος. This defcription of Helen is infinitely above the style and figure of the Sicilian pastoral-" She is like the rifing of the golden morning, when the night departeth, and when the winter is over and gone. She refembleth the cyprefs in the garden, the horse in the chariots of Theffaly." These figures plainly declare their origin, and others equally imitative might be pointed out in the fame idyllium. 4 This beautiful and luxuriant marriage paftoral of Solomon is the only perfect form of the oriental eclogue, that has furvived the ruins of time, a happiness for which it is, probably, more indebted to its facred character, than to its intrinfic merit. Not that it is by any means deftitute of poetical excellence. Like all the eastern poetry, it is bold, wild, and unconnected in its figures, allufions and parts; and has all that graceful and magnifi, cent daring which characterises its metaphorical and comparative imagery. In confequence of these peculiarities, fo ill adapted to the frigid genius of the north, Mr. Collins could make but little use of it as a precedent for his oriental eclogues, and even in his third eclogue, where the fubject is of a fimilar nature, he has chofen rather to follow the mode of the Doric and the Latin paftoral. The scenery and fubjects then of the eclogues alone are Oriental; the ftyle and colouring are purely European; and, for this reason, the author's preface, in which he intimates that he had the originals from a merchant who traded to the East, is omitted, as being now altogether fuperfluous. With regard to the merit of thefe eclogues, it may justly be afferted, that in fimplicity of description and expreffion, in delicacy and softness of numbers, and in natural and unaffected tenderness, they are not to be equalled by any thing of the pastoral kind in the English language. (To be continued.) FOR THE MONTHLY ANTHOLOGY. THE DUELLIST; OR, AN ADDRESS TO MEN OF HONOUR. "An old friend with a new face." IT is a lucky thing, Gentlemen, for the poor pitiful Christians of our times, that the custom of duelling has not become a part of the common law. They have armed this with the halter against us, and it would no fooner acquit us on the plea of fafhion, than nature would resist the force of a fuicide on his urging. The polished modes of Japan, or morality, listen to a knave, who should prove the existence of a community of fwindlers, as a precedent for his own crimes. But what are we, men of figure, to do in this cafe? It is vain for us to urge our reputation on this tribe of religionists. They preach humility. It is idle to infift on the privileges re fulting from the disparity between us and the vulgar. They blot out our rank, and substitute the sneaking drivellers of principle as the noble of nature. If we talk to them of satisfaction, they turn from us with the contempt of an anchorite, with an apothegm on our dusty being, or with the fangfroid of a pettifogger's advice in a lawfuit. But fhall thefe doltifb goffips preach to us our duty, your green-bag gentry fet as our judges, and a jury of cobblers and tailors stitch a leathern doublet to screen our wounded honour? A jury of our peers, where the privileges of quality would be allowed, might be tolerable; but your law machines, your writ, declaration, plea, and iffue-men are no more fit for a Court of Honour, than the hog-driver of Ulyffes for Penelope's confidant. As for us, we have in general descended from men of blood, heroes in the cradle, and whose first lisp bid defiance. Their objects and end were honour and intrigue. And shall we now abandon our pretences to the quality of our ancestors? One vulgar compromife is treafon to ourselves and to our race. Our long lease of heraldry expires at it, our title becomes extinct, and the stream of honour is dried up before it reaches the channel of posterity. And when the distinctions of opinion are over, we must budge on with the canaille in the great highway of morality, and a court of feffions of our grandmothers must approve and establish the route of our lives. I know however it is a vain thing to prefs any defence of our rights on men, who have nothing of the fenfitive plant in their compofition, and prefent the muscles of a ftoic to infults of the world. These fellows are as infenfible to the wounds of which a man of honour bleeds, as if Achilles-like they had been indurated in the Styx of barbarity. With this want of the proper fenfe to perceive, it is no wonder they have no wisdom to judge. Hence when we have honourably hit our man, they seem to have no idea of our having acquitted ourselves like gentlemen; but the whole pack of juftice is put upon the fcent, and we are dinned to death with the yelping of the bar-catcalls, with their wickedly and feloniously, their "VI ET ARMIS, percuffit ac murdravit." The attorney is feed for drawing his indictments, and the judges and jury for making us malefactors. And with this |