"I could, as further instances of my success, pro"duce certificates and testimonials from the favour"ites and ghostly fathers of the most eminent princes "of Europe; but shall content myself with the "mention of a few cures, which I have performed "by this my Grand Universal Restorative, during "the practice of one month only since I came to this "city. "Cures in the month of February, 1713. "George Spondee, Esq. poet, and inmate of the "parish of St. Paul's Covent-Garden, fell into vio"Îent fits of the spleen upon a thin third night. He "had been frighted into a vertigo by the sound of "cat-calls on the first day; and the frequent hissings "on the second made him unable to endure the bare "pronunciation of the letter S. I searched into the "causes of his distemper; and, by the prescription "of a dose of my Obsequium, prepared secundum "artem, recovered him to his natural state of mad46 ness. I cast in at proper intervals the words, ill "taste of the town, envy of critics, bad performance " of the actors, and the like. He is so perfectly "cured, that he has promised to bring another play 66 upon the stage next Winter. "A lady of professed virtue of the parish of "St. James's, Westminster, who hath desired her name may be concealed, having taken offence at a " phrase of double meaning in conversation, undis"covered by any other in the company, suddenly "fell into a cold fit of modesty. Upon a right ap"plication of praise of her virtue, I threw the lady "into an agreeable waking dream, settled the fer❝mentation of her blood into a warm charity, so as "to make her look with patience on the very gentle. "man that offended. "Hilaria, of the parish of St. Giles's in the Fields, "a coquette of long practice, was, by the reprimand "of an old maiden, reduced to look grave in com62 pany, and deny herself the play of the fan. In "short, she was brought to such melancholy cir"cumstances, that she would sometimes unawares "fall into devotion at church. I advised her to take 66 a few innocent freedoms, with occasional kisses, pre"scribed her the exercise of the eyes, and immediately "raised her to her former state of life. She on a "sudden recovered her dimples, furled her fan, threw "round her glances, and for these two Sundays last 66 past has not once been seen in an attentive posture. "This the church-wardens are ready to attest upon "oath. "Andrew Terror, of the Middle-Temple, Mo"hock, was almost induced, by an aged bencher of "the same house, to leave off bright conversation, "and pore over Coke upon Littleton. He was so ill "that his hat began to flap, and he was seen one day "in the last term at Westminster-hall. This patient "had quite lost his spirit of contradiction; I, by the "distillation of a few of my vivifying drops in his ear, drew him from his lethargy, and restored him to his usual vivacious misunderstanding. He is at present very easy in his condition. 66 66 "I will not dwell upon the recital of the innumer"able cures I have performed within twenty days "last past; but rather proceed to exhort all persons "of whatever age, complexion, or quality, to take "as soon as possible of this my intellectual oil; "which, applied at the ear, seizes all the senses with 66 a most agreeable transport, and discovers its effects, "not only to the satisfaction of the patient, but all "who converse with, attend upon, or any way relate "to him or her that receives the kindly infection. "It is often administered by chamber-maids, valets, "or any the most ignorant domestic; it being one "peculiar excellence of this my oil, that it is most "prevalent, the more unskilful the person is, or ap VOL. IV. EE given up by Heinsius, Salmasius, Rapin, and the critics in general. They likewise observe, that but eleven of all the Idyllia of Theocritus are to be admitted as Pastorals: and even out of that number the greater part will be excluded for one or other of the reasons above-mentioned. So that when I remarked in a former paper, that Virgil's Eclogues, taken altogether, are rather select poems than pastorals; I might have said the same thing, with no less truth, of Theocritus. The reason of this I take to be yet unobserved by the critics, viz. they never meant them all for Pastorals. Now it is plain Philips hath done this, and in that particular excelled both Theocritus and Virgil. 3. As simplicity is the distinguishing characteristic of Pastoral, Virgil hath been thought guilty of too courtly a style; his language is perfectly pure, and he often forgets he is among peasants. I have frequently wondered, that since he was so conversant in the writings of Ennius, he had not imitated the rusticity of the Doric as well by the help of the old obsolete Roman language, as Philips has by the antiquated English: For example, might he not have said quoi instead of cui; quoijum for cujum; vold for vult, etc. as well as our modern hath welladay for alas, whileome for of old, make mock for deride, and witless younglings for simple lambs, etc. by which means he had attained as much of the air of Theocritus, as Philips hath of Spencer? 4. Mr. Pope hath fallen into the same error with Virgil. His clowns do not converse in all the simplicity proper to the country: his names are borrowed from Theocritus and Virgil, which are improper to the scene of his pastorals. He introduces Daphnis, a See Rapin, de Carm. par. iii Alexis, and Thyrsis on British plains, as Virgil hath done before him on the Mantuan: whereas Philips, who hath the strictest regard to propriety, makes choice of names peculiar to the country, and more agreeable to a reader of delicacy; such as Hobbinol, Lobbin, Cuddy, and Collin Clout. 5. So easy as Pastoral writing may seem (in the simplicity we have described it) yet it requires great reading, both of the ancients and moderns, to be a master of it. Philips hath given us manifest proofs of his knowledge of books. It must be confessed his competitor hath imitated some single thoughts of the ancients well enough (if we consider he had not the happiness of an university education); but he hath dispersed them here and there, without that order and method which Mr. Philips observes, whose whole third pastoral is an instance how well he hath studied the fifth of Virgil, and how judiciously reduced Virgil's thoughts of the standard of Pastoral; as his contention of Collin Clout and the Nightingale shows with what exactness he hath imitated every line in Strada. 6. When I remarked it as a principal fault, to introduce fruits and flowers of a foreign growth, in descriptions where the scene lies in our own country, I did not design that observation should extend also to animals, or the sensitive life; for Mr. Philips hath with great judgment described wolves in England in his first Pastoral. Nor would I have a poets lavishly confine himself (as Mr. Pope hath done) to one particular season of the year, one certain time of the day, and one unbroken scene in each eclogue. It is plain Spencer neglected this pedantry, who, in his Pastoral of November, mentions the mournful song of the Nightingale, "Sad Philomel her song in tears doth steep." And Mr. Philips, by a poetical creation, hath raised up finer beds of flowers than the most industrious gardeners; his roses, endives, lilies, kingcups, and daffidils, blow all in the same season. 7. But the better to discover the merits of our two contemporary Pastoral-writers, I shall endeavour to draw a parallel of them, by setting several of their particular thoughts in the same light, whereby it will be obvious how much Philips hath the advantage. With what simplicity he introduces two shepherds singing alternately? HOBB. "Come, Rosalind, O come, for without thee "Come, Rosalind, O, come; my brindled kine, 66 My snowy sheep, my farm, and all, is thine. LANQ. "Come, Rosalind, O come; here shady bowers, "And sweetly waste out live-long time away." Our other Pastoral-writer, in expressing the same thought, deviates into downright poetry: STREPH. "In Spring the fields, in Autumn hills I love, DAPH. "Sylvia's like Autumn ripe, yet mild as May, In the first of these authors, two shepherds thus innocently describe the behaviour of their mistresses • |