directly opposite to what is intended. To ascertain any precise boundary, would be difficult, if not impracticable. Mine shall be an humbler task, which is, to give a specimen of what I reckon overstrained hyperbole; and I shall be brief upon them, because examples are to be found every where; no fault is more common among writers of inferior rank; and instances are found even among classical writers; witness the following hyperbole, too bold even for an Hotspur.

Hotspur talking of Mortimer:

In single opposition.hand to hand,

He did confound the best part of an hour

In changing hardiment with great Glendower.

Three times they breath'd, and three times did they drink,
Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood,

Who then affrighted with their bloody looks,
Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds,
And hid his crisp'd head in the hollow bank,
Blood-stained with these valiant combatants.

Speaking of Henry V.,

First Part Henry IV. Act I. Sc. 3.

England ne'er had a king until his time:
Virtue he had, deserving to command:

His brandish'd sword did blind men with its beams:
His arms spread wider than a dragon's wings:
His sparkling eyes, replete with awful fire,
More dazzled, and drove back his enemies,
Than mid-day sun fierce bent against their faces.
What should I say? his deeds exceed all speech:
He never lifted up his hand, but conquer'd.

First Part Henry VI. Act I. Sc. I.

Lastly, an hyperbole, after it is introduced with all advantages, ought to be comprehended within the fewest words possible: as it cannot be relished but in the hurry and swelling of the mind, a leisurely view dissolves the charm, and discovers the description to be extravagant at least, and perhaps also ridiculous. This fault is palpable in a sonnet which passes for one of the most complete in the French language. Phillis, in a long and florid description, is made as far to outshine the sun as he outshines the stars.

Le silence régnoit sur la terre et sur l'onde,
L'air devenoit serein et l'Olympe vermeil,
Et l'amoureux Zéphir affranchi du sommeil,
Ressuscitoit les fleurs d'une haleine féconde.
L'Aurore déployoit l'or de sa tresse blonde,
Et semoit de rubis le chemin du soleil;
Enfin ce Dieu venoit au plus grand appareil
Qu'il soit jamais venu pour éclairer le monde.
Quand la jeune Phillis au visage riant,
Sortant de son palais plus clair que l'orient,
Fit voir une lumière et plus vive et plus belle.
Sacré flambeau du jour, n'en soyez point jaloux.
Vous parûtes alors aussi peu devant elle,

Que les feux de la nuit avoient fait devant vous.

Malleville.

There is in Chaucer a thought expressed in a single line, which gives more lustre to a young beauty, than the whole of this muchlabored poem:

Up rose the sun, and up rose Emelie.

SECTION IV.

The means or instrument, conceived to be the agent-Examples.

WHEN We survey a number of connected objects, that which makes the greatest figure employs chiefly our attention; and the emotion it raises, if lively, prompts us even to exceed nature in the conception we form of it. Take the following examples:

For Neleus' son Alcides' rage had slain.

A broken rock the force of Pirus threw.

In these instances, the rage of Hercules and the force of Pirus, being the capital circumstances, are so far exalted as to be conceived the agents that produce the effects.

In the following instances, hunger being the chief circumstance in the description, is itself imagined to be the patient.

Whose hunger has not tasted food these three days. Jane Shore.

A figure which, among related objects, extends the properties of one to anotherWithout a name-The foundation of this figure-Not warrantable, except among things intimately connected-An attribute of a cause for an attribute of an effect-An effect as of a cause-An effect expressed as an attribute of a cause-An attribute of a subject bestowed on one of its parts-A quality of an agent ascribed to an instrument-The object on which it operates-Quality one subject gives another-Circumstances expressed as a quality of a subject-The property of one object transferred to another.

THIS figure is not dignified with a proper name, because it has been overlooked by writers. It merits, however, a place in this work; and must be distinguished from those formerly handled, as depending on a different principle. Giddy brink, jovial wine, daring wound, are examples of this figure. Here are adjectives that cannot be made to signify any quality of the substantives to which they are joined: a brink, for example, cannot be termed giddy in a sense, either proper or figurative, that can signify any of its qualities or attributes. When we examine attentively the expression, we discover, that a brink is termed giddy from producing that effect in those who stand on it. In the same manner a wound is said to be daring, not with respect to itself, but with respect to the boldness of the person who inflicts it: and wine is said to be jovial, as inspiring mirth and jollity. Thus the attributes of one subject are extended to another with which it is connected; and the expression of such a thought must be considered as a figure, because the attribute is not applicable to the subject in any proper sense.

How are we to account for this figure, which we see lies in the thought, and to what principle shall we refer it? Have poets a privi.. lege to alter the nature of things, and at pleasure to bestow attributes upon a subject to which they do not belong? We have had often occasion to inculcate, that the mind passes easily and sweetly along a train of connected objects; and, where the objects are intimately connected, that it is disposed to carry along the good or bad properties of one to another; especially when it is in any degree inflamed with these properties. From this principle is derived the figure under consideration. Language, invented for the communication of thought, would be imperfect, if it were not expressive even of the slighter propensities and more delicate feelings: but language cannot remain so imperfect among a people who have received any polish; because language is regulated by internal feeling, and is gradually improved to express whatever passes in the mind. Thus, for example, when a sword in the hand of a coward, is termed a coward sword, the expression is significative of an internal operation; for the mind, in passing from the agent to its instrument, is disposed to extend to the latter the properties of the former. Governed by the same principle, we say listening fear, by extending the attribute listening of the man who listens, to the passion with which he is moved. In the expression, bold deed, or audax facinus, we extend to the effect what properly belongs to the cause. But not to waste time by making a commentary upon every expression of this kind, the best way to give a complete view of the subject, is to exhibit a table of the different relations that may give occasion to this figure. And in viewing the table, it will be observed, that the figure can never have any grace but where the relations are of the most intimate kind.

1. An attribute of the cause expressed as an attribute of the effect.

Audax facinus.t

Of yonder fleet a bold discovery make.

An impious mortal gave the daring, wound.

To my advent'rous song,

That with no middle flight intends to soar.

Paradise Lost.

2. An attribute of the effect expressed as an attribute of the cause.

Quos periisse ambos misera censebam in mari.‡
No wonder, fallen such a pernicious height.

3. An effect expressed as an attribute of the cause.

Plautus.

Paradise Lost.

Jovial wine, Giddy brink, Drowsy night, Musing midnight, Panting height, Astonish'd thought, Mournful gloom.

Casting a dim religious light.

And the merry bells ring round,

And the jocund rebecks sound.

Milton, Comus.

Milton, Allegro.

4. An attribute of a subject bestowed upon one of its parts or

members.

*See Chap. 2. Part 1. Sect. 5.

† A bold deed.

Both of whom perished in the miserable ocean.

5. A quality of the agent given to the instrument with which it operates.

Why peep your coward swords half out their shells!

6. An attribute of the agent given to the subject upon which it operates.

8. A circumstance connected with a subject, expressed as a quality

of the subject.

Breezy summit.

'Tis ours the chance of fighting fields to try.

Oh! had I dy'd before that well-fought wall.

Iliad, I. 301. Odyssey, V. 395.

From this table it appears, that the adorning of a cause with an attribute of the effect, is not so agreeable as the opposite expression. The progress from cause to effect is natural and easy: the opposite progress resembles retrograde motion;t and therefore panting height, astonish'd thought, are strained and uncouth expressions, which a writer of taste will avoid.

It is not less strained to apply to a subject in its present state, an epithet that may belong to it in some future state:

Submersasque obrue puppes.‡

And mighty ruins fall.

Impious sons their mangled fathers wound.

Eneid. I. 73.

Iliad, V. 411.

Another rule regards this figure, that the property of one subject ought not to be bestowed upon another with which that property is incongruous:

* Iccus, you now envy the happy treasures of the Arabians.
+ See Chap. 1.
Overwhelm this sunken ship.

King Rich.

-How dare thy joints forget

To pay their awful duty to our presence?

Richard II. Act III. Sc. 3.

The connection between an awful superior and his submissive dependent is so intimate, that an attribute may readily be transferred from the one to the other; but awfulness cannot be so transferred, because it is inconsistent with submission.

X

SECTION VI.

METAPHOR AND ALLEGORY.

The difference between a metaphor and a simile-The meaning of metaphorThe meaning of allegory-The two rules that govern metaphor and allegoryOf construction-Not agreeable where the resemblance is too faint or too strong-not agreeable if not proportionable-Not to be crowded with minute circumstances-Words literally applicable to the imagined nature of the subject to be used-Different metaphors not to be jumbled-Plain language and metaphor not to be jumbled-Metaphors excluded from common conversation-Improper in severe passions that wholly occupy the mind-Proper when a man struggles to bear up against misfortunes.

A METAPHOR differs from a simile, in form only, not in substance: in a simile, the two subjects are kept distinct in the expression, as well as in the thought; in a metaphor, the two subjects are kept distinct in the thought only, not in the expression. A hero resembles a lion, and, upon that resemblance, many similes have been raised by Homer and other poets. But instead of resembling a lion, let us take the aid of the imagination, and feign or figure the hero to be a lion: by that variation the simile is converted into a metaphor; which is carried on by describing all the qualities of a lion that resemble those of the hero. The fundamental pleasure here, that of resemblance, belongs to the thought. An additional pleasure arises from the expression: the poet, by figuring his hero to be a lion, goes on to describe the lion in appearance, but in reality the hero; and his description is peculiarly beautiful, by expressing the virtues and qualities of the hero in new terms, which, properly speaking, belong not to him, but to the lion. This will better be understood by examples. A family connected with a common parent, resembles a tree, the trunk and branches of which are connected with a common root: but let us suppose, that a family is figured, not barely to be like a tree, but to be a tree; and then the simile will be converted into a metaphor, in the following manner : Edward's seven sons, whereof thyself art one, Were sev'n fair branches, springing from one root: Some of these branches by the dest❜nies cut: But Thomas, my dear lord, my life, my Glo'ster, One flourishing branch of his most royal root, Is hack'd down, and his summer-leaves all faded, By Envy's hand and Murder's bloody axe.

Figuring human life to be a voyage at sea:

There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Richard II. Act I. Sc. 2.

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;