"Such indeed are the merits of this Work, that in true _pastoral_ imagery and simplicity I do not think any production can be put in competition with it since the days of Theocritus." [Footnote: I have heard that the opinion of no less a Judge than Dr. WATSON, Bishop of LLANDAFF, is by no means short of the encomium implied in this comparison, high and ample as it is. L.] "To that charming simplicity which particularizes the Grecian, are added the individuality, [Footnote: Much of these qualities indeed is certainly in _Theocritus_ also. L.] fidelity, and boldness of description, which render Thomson so interesting to the lovers of Nature." "GESNER possesses the most engaging sentiment, and the most refin'd simplicity of manners; but he wants that rustic wildness and naïveté in delineation characteristic of the Sicilian, and of the composition before us." "WARNER and DRAYTON have much to recommend them: but they are very unequal; and are devoid of the _sweet and pensive morality_ which pervade almost every page of _the Farmers Boy_; nor can they establish any pretensions to that fecundity in painting the oeconomy of rural life, which this Poem, drawn from actual experience, so richly displays." "It is astonishing indeed what various and striking circumstances, peculiar to the occupation of the _British Farmer_, and which are adapted to all the purposes of the _pastoral_ Muse, had escaped our Poets, previous to the publication of Mr. _Bloomfield's_ Work." "Those who are partial to the _Country_;--and where is the man of Genius who feels not a delight approaching to ecstasy from the contemplation of its scenery, and the happiness which its cultivation diffuses?--those who have paid attention to the process of husbandry, and who view its occurrences with interest; who are at the same time alive to all the minutiae of the animal and vegetable creation; who mark '_How Nature paints for colours, how the Bee Sits on the bloom, extracting liquid sweet_,' will derive from the study of this Poem a gratification the most permanent and pure." Though I have thus largely extracted I cannot omit transferring hither the ANALYSIS of the Poem, as given by Dr. Drake. "The _first_ Book, intitled _Spring_, opens with an appropriate invocation. A transition is then made to the artless character of _Giles_, the _Farmer's Boy_; after which the scene near _Euston_ in Suffolk is describ'd, and an amiable portrait of Mr. _Austin_, immediately follows. "Seed-time, harrowing, the devastation of the rooks,[Footnote: I will not say much: but I was glad to see since the second Edition of this Poem the cause of the Rooks had again been advocated, in the _Newcastle Chronicle_. L.] wood-scenery, the melody of birds, cows milking, and the operations of the dairy, occupy the chief part of this Season: which is clos'd by a beautiful Personification of the Spring and her attendants, and an admirable delineation of the sportive pleasures of the young Lambs."