Page:The Works of Alexander Pope (1717).djvu/39

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

3

A

DISCOURSE

ON

PASTORAL POETRY.

here are not, I believe, a greater number of any sort of verses than of those which are called Pastorals; nor a smaller, than of those which are truly so. It therefore seems necessary to give some account of this kind of Poem, and it is my design to comprize in this short paper the substance of those numerous dissertations the Critics have made on the subject, without omitting any of their rules in my own favour. You will also find some points reconciled, about which they seem to differ, and a few remarks, which, I think, have escaped their observation.

B 2

The