Upon this he says to Walsh, "Objection that the letter is hunted too much—sing the sylvan—peaceful plains—and that the word sing is used two lines afterwards, Sicilian muses sing." He proposed to read "try" in the place of "sing;" "happy" instead of "peaceful," and adds, "Quære. If try be not properer in relation to first, as we first attempt a thing; and more modest? and if happy be not more than peaceful?" Walsh replies, "Try is better than sing. Happy does not sound right, the first syllable being short. Perhaps you may find a better word than peaceful as flow'ry." Pope rejected all three epithets, and substituted "blissful."
[4] Evidently imitated from Spenser's Prothalamion:
Sweet Thames run softly till I end my song.—Wakefield.
[5] Because Theocritus, the father of Pastoral Poetry, was a Sicilian.—Professor Martyn.
[6] Paradise Regained, ii. 27:
Where winds with reeds and osiers whisp'ring play.
Dryden, Theodore and Honoria:
The winds within the quiv'ring branches played.—Wakefield.
[7] Roscommon's Essay on Translated Verse:
And Albion's rocks repeat his rural song.—Wakefield.