the same country who procure their subsistence merely by fishing *.

From what is related of the partriarch Jacob, it would seem that those families or tribes of shepherds which were anciently scattered over the country of Arabia, had attained some degree of improvement in their manners.

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"And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger "daughter.

"And Laban said, It is better that I give her to " thee than that I should give her to another man: "abide with me.

"And Jacob served seven years for Rachel: and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the "love he had to her f."

In the compositions of Ossian, which describe the manners of a people acquainted with pasturage, there is often a degree of tenderness and delicacy of sentiment which can hardly be equalled in the most refined productions of a civilized age. Some allowance no doubt must be made for the heightening of a poet possessed of uncommon genius and sensibility; but, at the same time, it is probable, that the real history of his countrymen was the groundwork of those events which he has related,

* History of Kamtschatka.

Genesis, chap. xxix. ver. 18, 19, 20.

and of those tragical effects which he frequently ascribes to the passion between the sexes *.

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"Lorma sat in Aldo's hall, at the light of a flaming oak: the night came, but he did not re

turn, and the soul of Lorma is sad.-What de"tains thee, Hunter of Cona? for thou didst pro"mise to return. Has the deer been distant far, " and do the dark winds sigh round thee on the

*As this poet was chiefly employed in describing grand and sublime objects, he has seldom had occasion to introduce any images taken from the pastoral life. From the following passages, however, there can be no doubt that, in his time, the people in the West-Highlands of Scotland, as well as upon the neighbouring coast of Ireland, were acquainted with pasturage. "The deer descend from the hill. No hunter

"at a distance is seen. No whistling cow-herd is nigh." Carric-thura.

"Let Cuchullin," said Cairbar, "divide the herd on the "hill. His breast is the seat of justice. Depart, thou light

"of beauty. I went and divided the herd. One bull of snow "remained. I gave that bull to Cairbar. The wrath of "Deugala rose." Fingal, B. II.

I am informed that, in the Erse language, the word used to denote a man who has nothing, signifies properly one who has no bead of cattle; which affords a presumption that, in the countries where this language was spoken, pasturage was nearly coeval with property. It is, at the same time, difficult to imagine, that people should possess the art of managing a chariot drawn by horses, without having previously learnt something of the management of herds and flocks: Not to mention, that, in those parts of Britain which were known to the Romans, the pasturing of cattle was understood for ages before the time when Ossian is supposed to have lived.

"heath? I am in the land of strangers, where is my friend, but Aldo? Come from thy echoing hills, O my best beloved!

"Her eyes are turned towards the gate, and she "listens to the rustling blast. She thinks it is Aldo's tread, and joy rises in her face:—but sorrow re"turns again, like a thin cloud on the moon.—And "thou wilt not return, my love? Let me behold the

face of the hill. The moon is in the east. Calm "and bright is the breast of the lake! When shall I "behold his dogs returning from the chace? When

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shall I hear his voice loud and distant on the "wind? Come from thy echoing hills, Hunter of Woody Cona!

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"His thin ghost appeared on a rock, like the watery beam of the moon, when it rushes from between two clouds, and the midnight shower is "on the field.-She followed the empty form over "the heath, for she knew that her hero fell.—I "heard her approaching cries on the wind, like the mournful voice of the breeze, when it sighs on "the. grass of the cave.

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"She came, she found her hero: her voice was heard no more: silent she rolled her sad eyes; she was pale as a watery cloud, that rises from "the lake to the beam of the moon.

Few were her days on Cona: she sunk into "the tomb: Fingal commanded his bards, and they

" of Morven mourned her for one day in the year, "when the dark winds of autumn returned *."

In the agreeable pictures of the golden age, handed down from remote antiquity, we may discover the opinion that was generally entertained of the situation and manners of shepherds. Hence that particular species of poetry, which is now appropriated by fashion, to describe the pleasures of rural retirement, accompanied with innocence and simplicity, and with the indulgence of all the tender passions. There is good reason to believe, that these representations of the pastoral life were not inconsistent with the real condition of shepherds, and that the poets, who were the first historians, have only embellished the traditions of early times. In Arcadia, in Sicily, and in some parts of Italy, where the climate was favourable to the rearing of cattle, or where the inhabitants were but little exposed to the depredations of their neighbours, it is probable that the refinement natural to the pastoral state was carried to a great height. This refinement was the more likely to become the subject of exaggeration and poetical embellishment; as, from a view of the progressive improvements in society, it was contrasted, on the one hand, with the barbarous manners of mere savages; and, on the other, with the opposite style of behaviour in polished nations, who, being con

*The battle of Lora.

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stantly engaged in the pursuit of gain, and immersed in the cares of business, have contracted habits of industry, avarice, and selfishness.

“Nondum caesa suis, peregrinum ut viseret orbem, "Montibus, in liquidas pinus descenderat undas: "Nullaque mortales, praeter sua littora norant. "Nondum praecipites cingebant oppida fossae: "Non tuba directi, non aeris cornua flexi, "Non galeae, non ensis erant. Sine militis usu "Mollia securae peragebant otia gentes : "Ipsa quoque immunis, rastroque intacta, nec ullis "Saucia vomeribus, per se dabat omnia tellus ; "Contentique cibis, nullo cogente, creatis, "Arbuteos foetus, montanaque fraga legebant; "Cornaque, et in duris haerentia mora rubetis; "Et quae deciderant patula Jovis arbore glandes; * Ver erat eternum, placidique tepentibus auris "Mulcebant Zephyri, natos sine semine flores."