have a propriety in it, when used to express an affected, not a real passion, which was the Queen's case. Pope has several similes of the same stamp. I shall transcribe one or two from the Essay on Man, the greatest and most instructive of all his performances: And hence one master passion in the breast, Epist. ii. 1. 181. And again, talking of this same ruling or master passion: Nature its mother, Habit is its nurse; As heaven's bless'd beam turns vinegar more sour.-Ibid. 1. 45. Lord Bolingbroke, speaking of historians: Where their sincerity as to fact is doubtful, we strike out truth by the confrontation of different accounts; as we strike out sparks of fire by the collision of flints and steel. Let us vary the phrase a very little, and there will not remain a shadow of resemblance. Thus: We discover truth by the confrontation of different accounts; as we strike out sparks of fire by the collision of flints and steel. Racine makes Orestes say to Hermoine : Que les Scythes sont moins cruel qu' Hermoine. Similes of this kind put one in mind of a ludicrous French song: Again: Je croyois Janneton Aussi douce que belle: Je croyois Janneton Plus douce qu'un mouton; Hélas! Hélas! Elle est cent fois, mille fois, plus cruelle Que n'est le tigre aux bois. Hélas! l'amour m'a pris, Comme le chat fait la souris. Where the subject is burlesque or ludicrous, such similes are far from being improper. Horace says pleasantly, And Shakspeare, Quanquam tu levior cortice.-L. iii. ode 9. In breaking oaths he's stronger than Hercules. species, the end and Take the following 509. And this leads me to observe, that besides the foregoing comparisons, which are all serious, there is a purpose of which is to excite gayety or mirth. examples: 508. Comparison in words only. Examples. Falstaff, speaking to his page: I do here walk before thee like a sow that hath overwhelmed all her litter but one.-Second Part Henry VI. Act I. Sc. 4. I think he is not a pick-purse, nor a horse-stealer; but for his verity in love, I do think him as concave as a covered goblet, or a worm-eaten nut. As You Like It, Act III. Sc. 10. This sword a dagger had his page, That was but little for his age; As dwarfs upon knights-errant do.-Hudibras, canto i. Description of Hubibras's horse: He was well stay'd, and in his gait And as that beast would kneel and stoop, (Some write) to take his rider up; So Hudibras his ('tis well known) Would often do to set him down.-Canto i. The sun had long since in the lap Of Thetis taken out his nap; And, like a lobster boil'd, the morn From black to red began to turn.-Part II. canto ii. Books, like men their authors, have but one way of coming into the world, but there are ten thousand to go out of it, and return no more. Tale of a Tub. And in this the world may perceive the difference between the integrity of a generous author, and that of a common friend. The latter is observed to adhere close in prosperity; but, on the decline of fortune, to drop suddenly off: whereas the generous author, just on the contrary, finds his hero on the dunghill, from thence by gradual steps raises him to a throne, and then immediately withdraws, expecting not so much as thanks for his pains. Tale of a Tub. The most accomplished way of using books at present is, to serve them as some do lords, learn their titles, and then brag of their acquaintance. Clubs, diamonds, hearts, in wild disorder seen, Tale of a Tub. In heaps on heaps; one fate o'erwhelms them all. Rape of the Lock, canto iii. He does not consider that sincerity in love is as much out of fashion as sweet snuff; nobody takes it now.-Careless Husband. 509. Mirthful comparisons. CHAPTER XX. FIGURES. THE endless variety of expressions brought under the head of tropes and figures by ancient critics and grammarians, makes it evident that they had no precise criterion for distinguishing tropes and figures from plain language. It was accordingly my opinion that little could be made of them in the way of rational criticism; till discovering, by a sort of accident, that many of them depend on principles formerly explained, I gladly embrace the opportunity to show the influence of these principles where it would be the least expected. SECTION I. Personification. 510. THE bestowing sensibility and voluntary motion upon things inanimate, is so bold a figure as to require, one should imagine, very peculiar circumstances for operating the delusion; and yet, in the language of poetry, we find variety of expressions, which, though commonly reduced to that figure, are used without ceremony, or any sort of preparation; as, for example, thirsty ground, hungry church-yard, furious dart, angry ocean. These epithets, in their proper meaning, are attributes of sensible beings: what is their meaning when applied to things inanimate? do they make us conceive the ground, the church-yard, the dart, the ocean, to be endued with animal functions? This is a curious inquiry; and whether so or not, it cannot be declined in handling the present subject. The mind, agitated by certain passions, is prone to bestow sensibility upon things inanimate. This is an additional instance of the influence of passion upon our opinions and belief. (Chapter ii. part v.) I give examples. Antony, mourning over the body of Cæsar murdered in the senate-house, vents his passion in the following words: Antony. O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers. Thou art the ruins of the noblest man That ever lived in the tide of time.-Julius Cæsar, Act III. Sc. 4. Here Antony must have been impressed with a notion that the body of Cæsar was listening to him, without which the speech would be foolish and absurd. Nor will it appear strange, considering what is said in the chapter above cited, that passion should have such power over the mind of man. In another example of the same kind, the earth, as a common mother, is animated to give refuge against a father's unkindness: Almeria. O Earth, behold, I kneel upon thy bosom, And bend my flowing eyes to stream upon Thy face, imploring thee that thou wilt yield! Into thy womb the last and most forlorn Mourning Bride, Act IV. Sc. 7. Plaintive passions are extremely solicitous for vent; and a solilo quy commonly answers the purpose; but when such passion becomes excessive, it cannot be gratified but by sympathy from others; and if denied that consolation in a natural way, it will convert even things inanimate into sympathizing beings. Thus Philoctetes complains to the rocks and promontories of the isle of Lemnos (Philoctetes of Sophocles, Act iv. Sc. 2); and Alcestes dying, invokes the sun, the light of day, the clouds, the earth, her husband's palace, &c. (Alcestes of Euripides, Act ii. Sc. 1.) Moschus, lamenting the death of Bion, conceives that the birds, the fountains, the trees, lament with him. The shepherd, who in Virgil bewails the death of Daphnis, expresseth himself thus: Again: Daphni, tuum Poenos etiam ingemuisse leones Interitum, montesque feri sylvæque loquuntur.-Eclogue v. 27. Illum etiam lauri, illum etiam flevere myricæ. Mænalus, et gelidi fleverunt saxa Lycæi.-Eclogue x. 13. 511. That such personification is derived from nature, will not admit the least remaining doubt, after finding it in poems of the darkest ages and remotest countries. No figure is more frequent inOssian's works; for example: The battle is over, said the king, and I behold the blood of my friends. Sad is the heath of Lena, and mournful the oaks of Cromla. Again: The sword of Gaul trembles at his side, and longs to glitter in his hand. King Richard having got intelligence of Bolingbroke's invasion, says, upon landing in England from his Irish expedition, in a mixture of joy and resentment, 510. Boldness of the figure of personification. Expressions implying that figure, in com When we are disposed to use this figure. Antony over the body of Cesar. Earth addressed as a mother.-Plaintive passions, how expressed. Illustrations, mon use. -I weep for joy To stand upon my kingdom once again. Plays fondly with her tears, and smiles in meeting; And, when they from thy bosom pluck a flower, Richard II. Act III. Sc. 2. After a long voyage it was customary among the ancients to salute the natal soil. A long voyage being of old a greater enterprise than at present, the safe return to one's country after much fatigue and danger, was a delightful circumstance; and it was natural to give the natal soil a temporary life, in order to sympathize with the traveller. See an example, Agamemnon of Eschylus, Act III. in the beginning. Regret for leaving a place one has been accustomed to, has the same effect (Philoctetes of Sophocles, at the close). Terror produceth the same effect; it is communicated in thought to every thing around, even to things inanimate. Speaking of Polyphemus: Clamorem immensum tollit, quo pontus et omnes Italiæ. As when old Ocean roars, Eneid, iii. 672. And heaves huge surges to the trembling shores. Iliad, ii. 249. Fingal. Go, view the settling sea. The stormy wind is laid; but the billows still tremble on the deep, and seem to fear the blast. Racine, in the tragedy of Phedra, describing the sea-monster that destroyed Hippolytus, conceives the sea itself to be struck with terror as well as the spectators: Le flot qui l'apporta recule épouvanté. A man also naturally communicates his joy to all objects around, animate or inanimate: -As when to them who sail Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past Sabean odor from the spicy shore Of Araby the blest; with such delay |