And in this concise, close way of Expression lies the chiefest Grace of Pastorals: for in my opinion there’s nothing in the whole Composition that can delight more than those frequent stops, and breakings off. Yet lest in these too it become dull and sluggish, it must be quickned by frequent lively touches of Concernment: such as that of the Goatherd in the third Idyllium,
—I see that I must die:
Or Daphnis’s despair, which Thyrsis sings in the first Idyllium,
Ye Wolves, and Pards, and Mountain Bores adieu,
The Herdsmen now must walk no more with You.
How tender are the lines, and yet what passion they contain! And most of Virgil’s are of this nature, but there are likewise in him some touches of despairing Love, such as is this of Alphesibœus,
Nor have I any mind to be reliev’d:
Or that of Damon,
I’le dy, yet tell my Love e’en whilst I dy:
Or that of Corydon,
He lov’d, but could not hope for Love again.