Besides the River Rhyme, which I have described as issuing from the foot of the mountains, there is another called the River of Reason. These two rivers are at a great distance from one another, and, as they have a very different course, they could not be made to communicate, except by canals, which would cost a great deal of labor. For these canals of communication could not be formed at all places, because there is only one part of the River Rhyme which is in the neighborhood of the River Reason, and hence many cities situated on the Rhyme, such as Roundelay and Ballad, could have no commerce with the Reason, whatever pains might be taken for that purpose. Further, it would be necessary that these canals should cross the Deserts of Common Sense, as you will see by the map; and that it is almost an unknown country. The Rhyme is a large river, whose course is crooked and unequal, and, on account of its numerous falls, it is extremely difficult to navigate. On the contrary, the Reason is very straight and regular, but it does not carry vessels of every burthen.

There is, in the Land of Poetry, a very obscure forest, where the rays of the sun never enter. It is the forest of Bombast. The trees are close, spreading, and twined into each other. The forest is so ancient, that it has become a sort of sacrilege to prune its trees, and there is no probability that the ground will ever be cleared. A few steps into this forest and we lose our road without dreaming that we have gone astray. It is full of im perceptible labyrinths, from which no one ever returns. The Reason is lost in this forest.

The extensive province of Imitation is very sterile. It produces nothing. The inhabitants are extremely poor, and are obliged to glean in the richer fields of the neighboring provinces; and some even make fortunes by this beggarly occupation. The Empire of Poetry is very cold towards the north, and, consequently, this quarter is the most populous. There are the cities of Anagram and Acrostic, with several others of a similar description Finally, in that sea which bounds the States of Poetry, there is the Island of Satire, surrounded with bitter waves. The salt from the water is very strong and dark colored. The greater part of the brooks of this Island resemble the Nile in this, that their sources are unknown; but it is particularly remarkable, that there is not one of them whose waters are fresh. part of the same sea is called the Archipelago of Trifles. The French term it L'Archipel des Bagatelles, and their voyagers are well acquainted with those islands. Nature seems to have thrown them up in sport, as she did those of the Egean Sea. The principal islands are the Madrigal, the Song, and the Impromptu. No lands can be lighter than those islands, for they float upon the waters.

Example 3d.

A

A humming bird once met a butterfly, and being pleased with the beauty of its person and the glory of its wings, made an offer of perpetual friend ship.

I cannot think of it, was the reply, as you once spurned me, and called me a drawling dolt.

Impossible, cried the humming bird; I always entertained the highest respect for such beautiful creatures as you. Perhaps you do now, said the other; but, when you insulted me, I was a caterpillar. So let me give you this piece of advice: Never insult the humble, as they may one day become your superiors.

Exercises.

What subject can be illustrated by an allegory with the following hints or aids?

Aids. A hill with multitudes ascending.

The temptations assailing those who are endeavoring to ascend it
The temple on the top of the hill.

The failure of many who attempt to reach it.

The labors of those who do finally succeed-their success and hap piness.

What subject, by an allegory with the following?

Aids. A wide sea or ocean.

Vessels of various kinds variously decked.

Their similar destination for the same port.

The various objects of their several pursuits on the voyage.
The straight and direct course kept by one single vessel.
The wreck or capture, or distress of the other vessels.

The safe arrival of the vessel which kept the direct course.

What subject by an allegory with the following?

Aid.-A foot race.

The preparations of the competitors.

The rewards offered to the victors.

The influence of those rewards on their exertions.

The course of the unsuccessful competitors.

The success of the victorious one, and the modes in which it was obtained.

XLIV.

APOLOGUE AND FABLE.

An apologue is a sort of allegorical fiction, from which a separate meaning or moral lesson may be drawn. It is, in fact, but another name for a fable, in which animals, vegetables, stocks and stones, speak and act as monitors to mankind.

An apologue, or fable, differs from a tale, in being written expressly for the sake of the moral. If there be no moral, there is no fable ✩

A parable is a fable, but is more generally used to denominate those allegorical tales in Scripture, which were introduced for the purpose of illustrating some truth to which they have a similitude. Such is that of "The Prodigal Son," "The Sower," "The Ten Virgins."

The word fable is used here in a confined sense, for, generally speaking all literary fabrications are fables. There are few modern fables that are sufficiently concise. Those of Gay often lengthen into tales, or lose them selves in allegory.

An apologue differs from a parable in this: the parable is drawn from events which pass among mankind, and is therefore supported by probability; an apologue may be founded on supposed actions of brutes, or inanimate things, and therefore does not require to be supported by probability. Æsop's “Fables" are good examples of apologues. ́

Example.

APOLOGUE.

Sicily addressed Neptune praying to be rejoined to Italy: "You are foolish," answered the god, "if you do not know how much better it is to be a small head, than a great foot." *

Example.

FABLE.

The Belly and the Members.

In former days, when the Belly and the other parts of the body enjoyed the faculty of speech, and had separate views and designs of their own each part, it seems, in particular for himself and in the name of the whole, took exceptions at the conduct of the Belly, and were resolved to grant him supplies no longer. They said they thought it very hard, that he should lead an idle, good-for-nothing life, spending and squandering away upon his ungodly self all the fruits of their labor; and that, in short, they were resolved for the future to strike off his allowance and let him shift for himself as well as he could. The Hands protested that they would not lift up a Finger to keep him from starving; and the Mouth wished he might never speak again, if he took the least bit of nourishment for him as long as he lived; "and," said the Teeth, "may we be rotted, if ever we chew a morsel for him for the future." This solemn league and covenant was kept as long as any thing of that kind can be kept; which was until each of the rebel members pined away to skin and bone, and could hold out no longer. Then they found there was no doing without the Belly, and that, as idle and insignificant as he seemed, he contributed as much to the maintenance and welfare of the other parts, as they did to his.

Application, or Moral.

This fable was related by Menenius Agrippa to the Romans, when they revolted against their rulers. It is easy to see how the fable was applied, for, if the branches and members of a community refuse the government that aid which its necessities require, the whole must perish together. Every man's enjoyment of the products of his own daily labor depends upon the government's being maintained in a condition

*Italy, in its shape, resembles a boot. The point in this apologue con sists in the allusion to the form of the country.

to defend and secure him in it. The fable will apply with equal force to the murmurs of the poor against the rich. If there were no rich to consume the products of the labors of the poor, none by whom public charity might "keep her channels full," the poor would derive but little fruit from their labor.

XLV.

RIDDLE, OR ENIGMA

An enigma, or riddle, is an obscure speech, or saying, in kind of allegorical form, and written either in prose or verse, designed to exercise the mind in discovering a hidden meaning; or, it is a dark saying, in which some known thing is concealed under obscure language which is proposed to be guessed.

Example.

"T was whispered in heaven, 't was muttered in hell,
And Echo caught faintly the sound as it fell :
On the confines of earth 't was permitted to rest,
And the depths of the ocean its presence confessed,
'T will be found in the sphere, when 't is riven asunder,
Be seen in the lightning, and heard in the thunder.
'T was allotted to man with his earliest breath,
Attends at his birth, and awaits him in death;
It presides o'er his happiness, honor, and health,
Is the prop of his house, and the end of his wealth.
Without it the soldier, the seaman, may roam,
But woe to the wretch who expels it from home.
In the whispers of conscience its voice will be found.
Nor e'en in the whirlwind of passion be drowned.
'T will not soften the heart, and though deaf to the ear,
"T will make it acutely and instantly hear.

But in. shade let it rest, like a delicate flower,
Or breathe on it softly, it dies in an hour. *

The thing described or hidden in this enigma, and which is proposed

Comparisons, proverbial speeches, parables, and fables, may be easily converted the one into the other. Thus, "The miser is like the dog in the manger, who would neither eat the hay himself, nor suffer the hungry ox to eat it." This comparison may be converted into a fable as follows: "A dog was lying upon a manger full of hay. An ox, being hungry, came near, and offered to eat of the hay; but the envious, illnatured cur, getting up and snarling at him, would not suffer him to touch it. Upon which, the ox in the bitterness of his heart, exclaimed, A curse light on thee, for a malicious wretch, who will neither eat the hay thyself, nor suffer others who are hungry to do it." A proverb may be extracted from this fable: "The envious man distresses himself in the consideration of the prosperity of others."

XLVI.

CHARADE.*

A charade is a syllabic enigma; that is, an enigma, the subject of which is a name or word, that is proposed for

to be guessed, is the letter H. The letter M is concealed in the following Latin enigma by an unknown author of very ancient date:

"Ego sum principium mundi et finis seculorum;
Ego sum trinus et unus, et tamen non sum Deus."

The letter E is thus enigmatically described:

"The beginning of eternity,
The end of time and space,
The beginning of every end,
And the end of every place."

The celebrated riddle of the Sphinx, in classic story, was this: "What animal walks on four legs in the morning, on two at noon, and on three in the evening?"

The answer is Man, who, in infancy or the morning of life, walks or creeps on his hands and feet, at the noon of life he walks erect, and in the evening of his days, or in old age, supports his infirmities on a staff.

* Nearly allied to the enigma and charade are the rebus, the paronomasia or pun, and the "low conundrum." [See Catachresis.] They are mere plays upon words, and are scarcely worthy of consideration among the departments of grave composition. The Rebus approaches, or rather is, in fact, picture writing, or a representation of words by things It is an enig matical representation of some name, by using figures or pictures instead of words. The word is from the Latin language, and literally signifies, by things. Thus a gallant in love with a woman named Rose Hill, painted on the border of his gown a rose, a hill, an eye, Cupid or Love, and a well, which reads "Rose Hill I love well." On a monumental tablet in this