9. I never tempted her with word too large; Bashful sincerity and comely love. 10. Curses, like chickens, always come home to roost. 11. As no roads are so rough as those which have just been mended, so no sinners are so intolerant as those that have just turned saints. 12. True friendship is like sound health, the value of it is seldom known until it is lost. Exercises. Let the student compare a man of integrity with a rock; and show the circumstances of resemblance. Compare Life, with the Ocean. 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 Adversity, with a storm. Affluence, with a fountain. the life of man with the leaves on the tree. Death with the falling of the leaf. Youth, with Spring. Manhood, with Summer. Old age, with Autumn. Death, with Winter. The reflection of light from the water, with the sparkling of the diamond. Wit and Humor with a volatile essence. The minds of the aged, with the tombs which they are approaching. The style of two writers; one with a convex mirror, scattering the light, the other with the concave speculum, concentrating the rays to a focus. Departing blessings to the flight of birds. XLI. ANTITHESIS. Antithesis is the counterpart of comparison, and is founded on the contrast or opposition of two objects. By contrast, objects opposed to each other appear in a stronger light, and their peculiar beauties or defects appear in bold relief. Antitheses, like comparisons, must be subjected to some rules. They must take place between things of the same species. Substantives, attri butes, qualities, faculties of the same kind, must be set in opposition. To constitute an antithesis between a man and a lion, virtue and hunger, figure and color, would be to form a contrast where there is no opposition. But to contrast one man with another, virtues with virtues, figures with figures, is pertinent and proper, because in these cases there must be striking opposition. Antithesis makes the most brilliant appearance in the delineation of characters, particularly in history. The historian, in the performance of this delicate part of his task has a good opportunity for displaying his discernment and knowledge of human nature; and of distinguishing those nice shades by which virtues and vices run into one another. It is by such colors only that a character can be strongly painted, and antithesis is necessary to denote those distinctions. Antithesis, also, by placing subjects in contrast, prompts the judge ment; and is therefore a very common figure in argumentative writing. Antithesis is also used with great advantage in descriptions or representations of the power and extent of a quality, as follows. "I can command the lightnings, —and am dust." Again. In the description of the power of the steam-engine, a late writer says: "The trunk of an elephant, that can pick up a pin or rend an oak, is as nothing to it. It can engrave a seal and crush masses of obdurate metal before it,- draw out, without breaking, a thread as fine as gossamer, and lift up a ship of war like a bauble in the air. It can embroider muslin and forge anchors, - -cut steel into ribands, and impel loaded vessels against the fury of the winds and waves."* Examples. 1. Behold my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty; behold my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed. 2. Religion and Superstition, contrasted. Religion is the offspring of Truth and Love, and the parent of Benevolence, Hope and Joy. Superstition is the child of * The author of Lacon very justly remarks: "To extirpate antithesis from literature altogether, would be to destroy at one stroke about eight tenths of all the wit, ancient and modern, now existing in the world. It is a figure capable not only of the greatest wit, but sometimes of the greatest beauty, and sometimes of the greatest sublimity." wontent, and her children are Fear and Sorrow. The former invites us to the moderate enjoyment of the world, and ali its tranquil and rational pleasures. The latter teaches us only that man was born to mourn and to be wretched. The former invites us to the contemplation of the various beauties of the globe, which heaven has destined for the seat of the human race; and proves to us that a world so exquisitely framed could not be meant for the abode of misery and pain. The latter exhorts us to retire from the world, to fly from the enchantments of social delight, and to consecrate the hours to solitary lamentation. The former teaches us that to enjoy the blessings sent by our benevolent Creator is virtue and obedience. The latter informs us that every enjoyment is an offence to the Deity, who is to be worshipped only by the mortification of every sense of pleasure, and the everlasting exercise of sighs and tears. 8. Though deep, yet clear, though gentle, yet not dull. 4. Knowledge and Wisdom, far from being one, The mere materials with which Wisdom builds, 5. An upright minister asks what recommends a man ; a corrupt minister asks who recommends him. 6. When the million applaud, you ask what harm you have done; when they censure you, what good. 7. Contemporaries appreciate the man rather than the merit; but posterity will regard the merit rather than the man. 8. Contrasted faults through all his manners reign, Though poor, luxurious; though submissive, vain, The student may now write a list of subjects in pair which can be presented in antithesis, and present one or more of them accordingly. XLII. PARALLEL. A parallel, considered as a composition, is a kind of compaiison made to exhibit the resemblance between two characters or writings, to show their conformity as it is continued through many particulars, or in essential points. The parallel is sometimes diversified by antitheses, to show in a strong light the points of individual distinction. Example 1st. PARALLEL BETWEEN POPE AND DRYDEN. Pope professed to have learned his poetry from Dryden, whom, whenever an opportunity was presented, he praised through his whole life with unvaried liberality; and perhaps his character may receive some illustration if he be compared with his master. Integrity of understanding, and nicety of discernment, were not allotted in a less proportion to Dryden than to Pope. The rectitude of Dryden's mind was sufficiently shown by the dismission of his poetical prejudices, and the rejection of unnatural thoughts and rugged numbers. But Dryden never desired to apply all the judgment that he had. He wrote, and professed to write, merely for the people; and when he pleased others he contented himself. He spent no time in struggles to rouse latent powers; he never attempted to make that better which was already good, nor often to mend what he must have known to be faulty. He wrote, as he tells us, with very little consideration; when occasion or necessity called upon him, he poured out what the present moment happened to supply and when once it had passed the press, ejected it from his mind; for when he had no pecuniary interest, he had no further solicitude. Pope was not content to satisfy; he desired to excel, and therefore always endeavored to do his best; he did not court the candor, but dared the judgment of his reader, and, expecting no indulgence from others, he showed none to himself. He examined lines and words with minute and punctilious observation, and retouched every part with indefatigable diligence, till he had left nothing to be forgiven. For this reason he kept his pieces very long in his hands, while he considered and reconsidered 66 them. The only poems which can be supposed to have been written with such regard to the times as might hasten their publication, were the two satires of Thirty-eight; of which Dodsley told me, that they were brought to him by the author, that they might be fairly copied. Every line,' said he, "was then written twice over; I gave him a clean transcript which he sent some time afterwards to me for the press, with every line written twice over a second time." His declaration, that his care for his works ceased at their publication, was not strictly true. His parental attention never abandoned them, what he found amiss in the first edition, he silently corrected in those that followed. He appears to have revised the Iliad, and freed it from some of its imperfections; and the Essay on Criticism received many improvements after its first appearance. It will seldom be found that he altered without adding clearness, elegance, or vigor. Pope had perhaps the judgment of Dryden; but Dryden certainly wanted the diligence of Pope. In acquired knowledge, the superiority must be allowed to Dryden, whose education was more scholastic, and who, before he became an author, had been allowed more time for study, with better means of information. His mind has a larger range, and he collects his images and illustrations from a more extensive circumferer.ce of science. Dryden knew more of man in his general nature, and Pope in his local manners. The notions of Dryden were formed by comprehensive speculation, and shose of Pope by minute attention. There is more dignity in the knowledge of Dryden, and more certainty in that of Pope. Poetry was not the sole praise of either, for both excelled likewise in prose; but Pope did not borrow his prose from his predecessor. The style of Dryden is capricious and varied; that of Pope is cautious and uniform. Dryden obeys the motions of his own mind, Pope constrains his mind to his own rules of composition. Dryden is sometimes vehement and rapid, Pope is always smooth, uniform, and gentle. Dryden's page is a natural field, rising into inequalities, and diversified by the varied exuberance of abundant vegetation; Pope's is a velvet lawn, shaven by the scythe, and levelled by the roller. Of genius, that power which constitutes a poet; that quality without which judgment is cold, and knowledge is inert; that energy which collects, combines, amplifies, and animates; the superiority must, with some hesitation, be allowed to Dryden. It is not to be inferred, that of this poetical vigor Pope had only a little, because Dryden had more; for every other writer, since Milton, must give place to Pope; and even of Dryden it must be said, that if he has brighter paragraphs, he has not better poems. Dryden's performances were always hasty, either excited by some external occasion, or extorted by domestie necessity; he com posed without consideration, and published without correction. What his mind could supply at call, or gather in one excursion, was all that he sought, and all that he gave. The dilatory caution of Pope enabled him to condense his sentiments, to multiply his images, and to accumulate all that study might produce, or chance might supply. If the flights of Dryden, therefore, are higher, Pope continues longer on the wing. If of Dryden's fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope's the heat is more regular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expectation, and Pope never falls be low it. Dryden is read with frequent astonishment, and Pope with perpetual delight. |