The Moderns have produc'd nothing in this Kind, except Rapin's Books of Gardening, and the celebrated Poem on Cyder by an ingenious Author, that not long since resided among us; who, if he had enjoy'd the Advantage of Virgil's Language, would have been second to Virgil in a much nearer Degree. As long as the fluctuating State of our Tongue will permit, this English Georgic shall infallibly flourish,
—& honos erit huic quoque Pomo.
And to this Apple Honours shall be paid.
Among the Pleasures of a Country Life, we may reckon Hunting, Fishing, Hawking, and the like; which are excellent Subjects for Didactic Verse, and are very fruitful of poetic Matter. We have only some Essays of this Sort, and those by modern Hands, except only Gratius's Cynægeticon, which owes all its Value to Fortune, rather than any true Merit of its own; viz. that it has the Advantage of being writ in the Augustan Age, and being recommended by Ovid, a Contemporary, in the following Verse,
Aptaque venanti Gratius arma dabit.
And Gratius to the Hunter Arms supplies.
Oppian's Halieutica and Cynegetica are scarce to be reckon'd among the Writings of the Ancients, but to be plac'd rather in the Middle Age[276].
The Rules for writing upon these Subjects are the same with what I have mention'd under the Georgics; I have no Occasion, therefore, to add new ones here. The same may be said for that Species of Poetry, that consists in teaching the Art of Poetry; the Manner of Writing is the same, as far as the Difference of the Matter will admit.
The Pieces that have been writ in this Way, are known to all; and Poetry seems never to have employ'd her Time better, than upon herself. The Ancients have left us only one Specimen of this Kind, but such as may compensate for all the rest, Horace's Epistle to the Piso's; a Work that ought to be got by Heart by all true Lovers of Poetry, in which 'tis hard to say, whether we should admire the Wit or Judgment most, both in the Choice of the Precepts, and the Manner of delivering them. Among the Moderns, the celebrated French Poet[277], and several of our Countrymen[278], have succeeded, each in his native Tongue, very happily.
These are the several Kinds of Didactic Poetry, with which the Writers of the past or present Age have furnish'd us. In this Number I might reckon Ovid of the Art of Love; but I pass it by, on account of its Levity, not to say its Indecency. Much less excusable are Claudius Quilletus, and Hieronymus Fracastorius, among the Moderns; who, it were to be wish'd, had chosen Subjects less obnoxious to Censure.