And tho' fometimes they near approach the fun, We are now to speak of those preceptive poems that treat of the bufinefs and pleafures of mankind; and here Virgil claims our firft and principal attention, who in his Georgics has laid down the rules of husbandry in all its branches with the utmoft exactness and perfpicuity, and at the fame time embellished them with all the beauties and graces of poetry. Tho' his subject was husbandry, he has delivered his precepts, as an ingenious author ob ferves, not with the fimplicity of a ploughman, but with the addrefs of a poet. The meaneft of his rules are laid down with a kind of grandeur, and he breaks the clods, and toffes about the dung with an air of gracefulness*. Of ́ the different ways of conveying the fame truth to the mind, he takes that which is pleafanteft; and this chiefly diftinguishes poetry from profe, and renders Virgil's rules of husbandry more delightful and valuable than any other. These poems which are esteemed the most perfect of the author's works are, perhaps, the best that can be propofed for the young ftudents imitation in this manner of writing; for the whole of his Georgics is wrought up with wonderful art, and decorated with all the flowers of poetry. : In the first of the four books, he propofes the general defign of each Georgic, and after a folemn invocation of all the heathen deities, who are fuppofed to be any ways concerned in rural affairs, he addreffes himself particu larly to Auguftus Caefar, whom he compliments with Di vinity then falling in with his fubject, he speaks of the different kinds of tillage, that are fuitable to different foils; traces out the origin of agriculture; prefents us with a catalogue of the implements of hufbandry, and points out the business peculiar to each feafon. He next defcribes the changes of the weather, and the figns in the heavens and the earth, by which the approaching change may be foretold; and in compliment to Auguftus, introduces fome prodigies which are said to have pre* Mr. Addison. I 3 ceded the death of Julius Cæfar. This naturally leads him to implore the gods, for the prefervation of Auguftus and of Rome, and with this fupplication he concludes his firft Georgic. After the figns in the heavens, portending the change of weather, which are too many to be here inferted, the prodigies that are fuppofed to have preceded Cafar's death, and the deftructive war occafioned by it, are very artfully introduced; and, tho' no one can believe that Nature fuffered thefe commotions in behalf of a man who had enflaved his country, yet all will be pleased with the poet's address, and the circumstances he has affimulated on the occafion. The fun reveals the fecrets of the sky; And who dares give the Source of Light the lie? Nor was the fact foretold by him alone: } Blood fprang from wells, wolves howl'd in town by night, Such peals of thunder never pour'd from high; } The subject of the fecond book is planting, in which the poet points out all the different methods of raifing trees; fpeaks of their variety, and lays down rules for the management of each. He then defcribes the foils that are fuitable to the different plants; makes a di greffion in praise of his native country; gives fome directions for discovering the nature of each foil; lays down rules for dreffing vines, olives, &c. and concludes with a fine panegyrick on rural life. As this Georgic abounds with beauties, we fhall confider it more particularly, and give the reader fomé examples of the manner in which he has treated the fubject. What he has faid with respect to the grafting and management of trees, is worthy of our admiration. 'Tis ufual now, an inmate graff to fee But various are the ways to change the state Here Virgil, in confidering the effects of the union between trees of different kinds, attends particularly to thofe circumstances that feemed the most wonderful, and which not only expreffed the capacity and tendency of trees to be thus united, but excited at the fame time admiration and pleasure in the mind.-His method of tranfplanting trees is altogether as beautiful, and con. cludes with a fine reflection on the force and power of cuftom. Some peasants, not t'omit the nicest care, But because precepts laid down one after another, notwithstanding all the poet's endeavours to make them entertaining, would by degrees tire, Virgil fuffers the reader fometimes to reft for the fake of a pertinent and pleafing digreffion, or leads him out of the road to entertain him with a beautiful description.-Such is that of Italy. But neither Median woods, (a plenteous land) Twice breed the cattle, and twice bear the trees; } } The following defcription is of the fame beautiful caft; and the reader will obferve that these, and indeed all the descriptions in Virgil, are fo artfully introduced, that they feem to arife naturally out of the principal argument and defign of the poem. But eafy quiet, a fecure retreat, A harmless life that knows not how to cheat, And after toilfome days, a foft repose at night. : |