{65} Concerning _Descriptions_ I cannot tell what to lay down, for in this matter our Guides, _Virgil_, and _Theocritus_, do not very well agree. For he in his first _Idyllium_ makes such a long immoderate description of his _Cup_, that _Criticks_ find fault with him, but no such description appears in all _Virgil_; for how sparing is he in his description of _Meliboeus's_ Beechen Pot, the work of Divine _Alcimedon_? He doth it in _five_ verses, _Theocritus_ runs out into _thirty_, which certainly is an argument of a wit that is very much at leisure, and unable to moderate his force. That _shortness_ which _Virgil_ hath prudently made choice of, is in my opinion much better; for a Shepherd, who is naturally incurious, and unobserving, cannot think that tis his duty to be exact in particulars, and describe every thing with an accurate niceness: yet _Roncardus_ hath done it, a man of most correct judgment, and, in imitation of _Theocritus_, hath, considering the then poverty of our language, admirably and largely describ'd _his_ Cup; and _Marinus_ in his Idylliums hath follow'd the same example. He never keeps within compass in his Descriptions, for which he is deservedly blam'd; let those who would be thought accurate, and men of judgment, follow _Virgil's_ prudent moderation. Nor can the Others gain any advantage from _Moschus's_ _Europa_, in which the description of the _Basket_ is very long, for that Idyllium is not _Pastoral_; yet I confess, that some {66} descriptions of such trivial things, if not minutely accurate, may, if seldom us'd, be decently allow'd a place in the discourses of _Shepherds_. But tho you must be sparing in your _Descriptions_, yet your _Comparisons_ must be frequent, and the more often you use them, the better and more graceful will be the Composure; especially if taken from such things, as the Shepherds must be familiarly acquainted with: They are frequent in _Theocritus_ but so proper to the Country, that none but a _Shepherd_ dare use them. Thus _Menalcas_ in the eighth Idyllium: Rough Storms to Trees, to Birds the treacherous Snare, Are frightful Evils; Springes to the Hare, Soft Virgins Love to Man, &c. And _Damoetas_ in _Virgil's_ _Palæmon_, Woolves sheep destroy, Winds Trees when newly blown, Storms Corn, and me my _Amaryllis_ frown. And that in the eighth _Eclogue_, As Clay grows hard, Wax soft in the same fire, So _Daphnis_ does in one extream desire. And such _Comparisons_ are very frequent in him, and very suitable to the Genius of a Shepherd; as likewise often _repetitions_, and doublings of some words: which, if they are luckily plac'd have an unexpressible quaintness, and make the Numbers extream sweet, and the turns ravishing and delightful. An instance of this we have in _Virgil's_ _Meliboeus_, _Phyllis_ the Hazel loves; whilst _Phyllis_ loves that Tree, {67} Myrtles than Hazels of less fame shall be.