LECTURE XV. LECT. A METAPHOR. FTER the preliminary obfervations I have made, relating to Figurative Language in general, I come now to treat separately of fuch Figures of Speech, as occur most frequently; and require particular attention and I begin with Metaphor. This is a Figure founded entirely on the resemblance which one object bears to another. Hence, it is much allied to Simile, or Comparison; and is indeed no other than a comparison, expreffed in an abridged form. When I fay of fome great minifter, "that he upholds the "state, like a Pillar which fupports the weight " of a whole edifice," I fairly make a comparifon; but when I fay of fuch a minifter, "that he is the Pillar of the ftate," it is now become a Metaphor. The comparison betwixt the Minifter and a Pillar, is made in the mind; but is expreffed without any of the words that denote comparison. The com parison XV. parison is only infinuated, not expreffed: LECT. the one object is fuppofed to be fo like the other, that, without formally drawing the comparison, the name of the one may be put in the place of the name of the other. "The "minifter is the Pillar of the ftate." This, therefore, is a more lively and animated manner of expreffing the refemblances which imagination traces among objects. There is nothing which delights the fancy more, than this act of comparing things together, difcovering resemblances between them, and defcribing them by their likeness. The mind, thus employed, is exercised without being fatigued; and is gratified with the confcioufnefs of its own ingenuity. We need not be furprised, therefore, at finding all Language tinctured ftrongly with Metaphor. It infinuates itself even into familiar converfation; and, unfought, rifes up of its own accord in the mind. The very words which I have cafually employed in defcribing this, are a proof of what I fay; tinctured, infinuates, rifes up, are all of them metaphorical expreffions, borrowed from fome refemblance which fancy forms between fenfible objects, and the internal operations of the mind; and yet the terms are no lefs clear, and, perhaps, more expreffive, than if words had been used, which were to be taken in the ftrict and literal fenfe. LECT. XV. THOUGH all Metaphor imports comparison, and, therefore, is, in that refpect, a Figure of thought; yet, as the words in a Metaphor are not taken literally, but changed from their proper to a Figurative fenfe, the Metaphor is commonly ranked among Tropes or Figures of words. But, provided the nature of it be well understood, it fignifies very little whether we call it a Figure or a Trope. I have confined it to the expreffion of refemblance between two objects. I must remark, however, that the word Metaphor is fometimes used in a loofer and more extended fenfe; for the application of a term in any figurative fig nification, whether the Figure be founded on resemblance, or on fome other relation, which two objects bear to one another. For inftance; when grey hairs are put for old age, as, "to "bring one's grey hairs with forrow to the grey grave;" fome writers would call this a Metaphor, though it is not properly one, but what rhetoricians call a Metonymy; that is, the effect put for the caufe; “ hairs" being the effect of old age, but not bearing any fort of resemblance to it. Ariftotle, in his Poetics, uses Metaphor in this extended fenfe, for any figurative meaning impofed upon a word; as a whole put for the part, or a part for the whole; a fpecies for the genus, or a genus for the fpecies. But it would be unjuft to tax this moft acute writer with any inaccuracy XV. inaccuracy on this account; the minute fub- LECT. divisions, and various names of Tropes, being unknown in his days, and the invention of later rhetoricians. Now, however, when these divifions are established, it is inaccurate to call every figurative ufe of terms, promifcuously, a Metaphor. Of all the Figures of Speech, none comes fo near to painting as Metaphor. Its peculiar effect is to give light and ftrength to defcription; to make intellectual ideas, in fome fort, visible to the eye, by giving them colour, and substance, and fenfible qualities. In order to produce this effect, however, a delicate hand is required; for, by a very little inaccuracy, we are in hazard of introducing confusion, in place of promoting Perfpicuity. Several rules, therefore, are neceffary to be given for the proper management of Metaphors. But, before entering on these, I shall give one inftance of a very beautiful Metaphor, that I may show the Figure to full advantage. I fhall take my inftance from Lord Bolingbroke's Remarks on the Hiftory of England. Juft at the conclufion of his work, he is speaking of the behaviour of Charles I. to his laft parliament: "In a word," fays he, "about a "month after their meeting, he diffolved them; "and, as foon as he had diffolved them, he "repented; but he repented too late of his rafh LECT. "nefs. Well might he repent; for the vessel "was now full, and this last drop made the "waters of bitterness overflow." "Here," he adds, "we draw the curtain, and put an end "to our remarks," Nothing could be more happily thrown off. The Metaphor, we see, is continued through feveral expreffions. The veffel is put for the ftate or temper of the nation already full, that is, provoked to the highest by former oppreffions and wrongs; this last drop, ftands for the provocation recently received by the abrupt diffolution of the parliament; and the overflowing of the waters of bitterness, beautifully expreffes all the effects of refentment let loose by an exafperated people. On this paffage, we may make two remarks in paffing. The one, that nothing forms a more fpirited and dignified conclufion of a fubject, than a Figure of this kind happily placed at the clofe. We fee the effect of it, in this inftance. The author goes off with a good grace; and leaves a strong and full impreffion of his fubject on the reader's mind. My other remark is, the advantage which a Metaphor frequently has above a formal comparison. How much would the fentiment here have been enfeebled, if it had been expreffed in the ftyle of a regular fimile, thus: Well might he repent; for the state of the nation, |