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This sword a dagger had his page,
That was but little for his age;
And therefore waited on him so,
As dwarfs upon knights-errant do.

HUDIBRAS, CANTO I.

Description of Hudibras's horse:

He was well stay'd, and in his gait
Preserv'd a grave majestic state.
At spur or switch no more he skipt,"
Or mended pace, than Spaniard whipt:
And yet so fiery, he would bound
As if he griev'd to touch the ground:
That Cæsar's horse, who as fame goes,
Had corns upon his feet and toes,
Was not by half so tender hooft,
Nor trod upon the ground so soft.
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 2.

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.

Box'd in a chair the beau impatient sits,

While spouts run clatt'ring o'er the roof by fits;
And ever and anon with frightful din

The leather sounds; he trembles from within.
So when Troy's chairmen bore the wooden steed,
Pregnant with Greeks, impatient to be freed
(Those bully Greeks, who, as the moderns do,
Instead of paying chairmen, run them through,)
Laocoon struck the outside with his spear,
And each imprison'd hero quak'd for fear.

IBID.

DESCRIPTION OF A CITY SHOWER. SWIFT.

REVIEW.

What are the purposes of comparisons?

What objects cannot be compared?

What occurs in the early poems of every nation?

What are proper subjects for a simile?

What are the two kinds of comparisons?

Give an example of the latter kind.

Give examples of comparisons which suggest some unusual resemblance or contrast.

Give examples of comparisons which place the object in a strong point of view.

How does a poet convey the idea of vast numbers.

What is the third end of comparison?

Who excels in it?

Give an example.

When are comparisons improper?

When are the boldest similies and metaphors relished?

When are we disposed to figurative expression?

Give examples of similies improperly introduced.

What passions are enemies to the pomp and solemnity of comparison?

Give an example of a disregard of this principle.

How is the improper introduction of similies ridiculed in the Rehearsal?

What is the effect of a faint resemblance in a comparison?
Why should not a simile be raised on a low image?

What is the fault opposite to this?

What is the strongest objection that can lie against a comparison ?

Give specimens of these similies.

Give examples of humorous comparisons.

CHAPTER XX.

Figures.

THE endless variety of expression 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. Confining myself therefore to such figures, I am luckily freed from much trash, without dropping, as far as I remember, any trope or figure that merits a proper name. And I begin with Prosopopoia, or Personification, which is justly entitled to the first place.

SECTION I.-Personification.

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 a 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. 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 times.

JULIUS CESAR.-ACT III. Sc. 1.

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.

Plaintive passions are extremely solicitous for vent; and a soliloquy commonly answers the purpose: but when such a 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;* and Alcestes, dying, invokes the sun, the light of day, the clouds, the earth, her husband's palace, &c.† Moschus, lamenting the death of Bion, conceives that the birds, the fountains, the trees, lament with him.

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 in Ossian'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— I weep for joy

To stand upon my kingdom once again.
Dear earth, I do salute thee with my hand,
Though rebels wound thee with their horses' hoofs.
As a long-parted mother with her child

Plays fondly with her tears, and smiles in meeting;
So weeping, smiling, greet I thee, my earth,
And do thee favor with my royal hands.
Feed not thy sov'reign's foe, my gentle earth,
Nor with thy sweets comfort his rav'nous sense :
But let thy spiders that suck up thy venom,
And heavy-gaited toads, lie in their way;
Doing annoyance to the treacherous feet,
Which with usurping steps do trample thee.
Yield stinging nettles to mine enemies;

And, when they from thy bosom pluck a flower,
Guard it, I pr'ythee, with a lurking adder;
Whose double tongue may with a mortal touch
Throw death upon thy sov'reign's enemies.
Mock not my senseless conjuration, lords:
This earth shall have a feeling; and these stones

*Philoctetes of Sophocles, Act 4. Sc. 2.
+ Alcestes of Euripides, Act 2. Sc. 1.

Prove armed soldiers, ere her native king
Shall falter under foul rebellious arms.

RICHARD II.-Acr 3. 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 3, in the beginning. Regret for leaving a place one has been accustomed to, has the same effect.*

1

Terror produces the same effect; it is communicated in thought to every thing around, even to things inanimate:

As when old Ocean roars,

And heaves huge surges to the trembling shores.

ILIAD, ii. 249. Go, view the settling sea. The stormy wind is laid; but the billows still tremble on the deep, and seem to fear the blast.

FINGAL.

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
Mozambic, off at sea north-east winds blow
Sabean odor from the spicy shore

Of Araby the Blest; with such delay

Well pleas'd, they slack their course, and many a league,
Cheer'd with the grateful smell, old Ócean smiles.

PARADISE LOST.-BOOK IV.

I have been profuse of examples, to show what power many passions have to animate their objects. In all the foregoing examples, the personification, if I mistake not, is so complete as to afford conviction, momentary indeed, of life and intelligence. But it is evident, from numberless instances, that personification is not always so complete: it is a common figure in descrip

* Philoctetes of Sophocles, at the close.

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