It is something worth living for, to write or even read such poetry as this is, or to know that it has been written, or that there have been subjects on which to write it!-This, of all Beaumont and Fletcher's plays, comes the nearest in style and manner to Shakespear, not excepting the first act of the Two Noble Kinsmen, which has been sometimes attributed to him. The FAITHFUL SHEPHERDESS by Fletcher alone, is " a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets, where no crude surfeit reigns." The author has in it given a loose to his fancy, and his fancy was his most delightful and genial quality, where, to use his own words, "He takes most ease, and grows ambitious Thro' his own wanton fire and pride delicious." The songs and lyrical descriptions throughout, are luxuriant and delicate in a high degree. He came near to Spenser in a certain tender and voluptuous sense of natural beauty; he came near to Shakespear in the playful and fantastic expression of it. The whole composition is an exquisite union of dramatic and pastoral poetry; where the local descriptions receive a tincture from the sentiments and purposes of the speaker, and each character, cradled in the lap of nature, paints "her virgin fancies wild" with romantic grace and classic elegance. The place and its employments are thus described by Chloe to Thenot: "Here be woods as green As any, air likewise as fresh and sweet His temples bound with poppy, to the steep There are few things that can surpass in truth and beauty of allegorical description, the invocation of Amaryllis to the God of Shepherds, Pan, to save her from the violence of the Sullen Shepherd, for Syrinx' sake: "For her dear sake, That loves the rivers' brinks, and still doth shake Or again, the friendly Satyr promises Clorin Brightest, if there be remaining Any service, without feigning To catch the nimble wind, or get Shadows gliding on the green." It would be a task no less difficult than this, to follow the flight of the poet's Muse, or catch her fleeting graces, fluttering her golden wings, and singing in notes angelical of youth, of love, and joy! There is only one affected and ridiculous character in this drama, that of Thenot in love with Clorin. He is attached to her for her inviolable fidelity to her buried husband, and wishes her not to grant his suit, lest it should put an end to his passion. Thus he pleads to her against himself: -"If you yield, I die To all affection; 'tis that loyalty You tie unto this grave I so admire; And yet there's something else I would desire, If you would hear me, but withal deny. This is paltry quibbling. It is spurious logic, not genuine feeling. A pedant may hang his affections on the point of a dilemma in this manner; but nature does not sophisticate; or when she does, it is to gain her ends, not to defeat them. The Sullen Shepherd turns out too dark a character in the end, and gives a shock to the gentle and pleasing sentiments inspired through out. is The resemblance of Comus to this poem not so great as has been sometimes contended, nor are the particular allusions important or frequent. Whatever Milton copied, he made his own. In reading the Faithful Shepherdess, we find ourselves breathing the moonlight air under the cope of heaven, and wander by forest side or fountain, among fresh dews and flowers, following our vagrant fancies, or smit with the love of nature's works. In reading Milton's Comus, and most of his other works, we seem to be entering a lofty dome raised over our heads and ascending to the skies, and as if nature and every thing in it were but a temple and an image consecrated by the poet's art to the worship of virtue and pure religion. The speech of Clorin, after she has been alarmed by the Satyr, is the only one of which Milton has made a free use. "And all my fears go with thee. What greatness or what private hidden power Is there in me to draw submission From this rude man and beast? Sure I am mortal: The daughter of a shepherd; he was mortal, And she that bore me mortal: prick my hand, And it will bleed; a fever shakes me, and The self-same wind that makes the young lambs shrink, Yet I have heard, (my mother told it me, My virgin flow'r uncropt, pure, chaste, and fair, Satyr, or other power that haunts the groves, To make me follow, and so tole me on That break their confines: then, strong Chastity, Ben Jonson's Sad Shepherd comes nearer it in style and spirit, but still with essential differences, like the two men, and without any appearance of obligation. Ben's is more homely |