Nor could the Greeks repel the Lycian pow'rs, ; Another, from Milton, lies open to the fame objection. Of ploneers with fpade and pick-ax arm'd, Or caft a rampart. The next fhall be of things contrafted that are of different kinds. Queen. What, is my Richard both in fhape and mind paw, Richard II. at 5. fc. i. 1. : This comparison has fcarce any force a man and a lion are of different species, and therefore are proper fubjects for a fimile; but there is no fuch refemblance between them in general, as to produce any strong effect by contrafting particular attributes or circumftances. A third general obfervation is, That abftract terms can never be the fubject of comparison, otherwife than by being perfonified. Shakefpear compares adverfity to a toad, and flander to the bite of a crocodile; but in fuch comparisons these abstract terms must be imagined fenfible beings. To have a just notion of comparifons, they must be distinguished into two kinds; one contmon and familiar, as where a man is compared to a lion in courage, or to a horfe in fpeed; the other more diftant and refined, where where two things that have in themselves no refemblance or oppofition, are compared with respect to their effects• This fort of comparifon is occafionally explained above*; and for further explanation take what follows. There is no resemblance between a flower-plot and a chearful fong; and yet they may be compared with respect to their effects, the emotions they produce in the mind being extremely fimilar. There is as little refemblance between fraternal concord and precious ointment; and yet obferve how fuccessfully they are compared with refpect to the impreffions they make. Behold, how good and how pleafant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon Aaron's beard, and defcended to the skirts of his garment. Pfalm 133. For illuftrating this fort of comparifon, I add fome more examples: Delightful is thy prefence, O Fingal! it is like the fun on Cromla, when the hunter mourns his abfence for a feason, and fees him between the clouds. Did not Oilian hear a voice? or is it the found of days that are no more? Often, like the evening-fun, comes the memory of former times on my foul. His countenance is fettled from war; and is calm as the evening beam, that from the cloud of the weft looks on Cona's filent vale. Sorrow, like a cloud on the fun, fhades the foul of Cleffammor. The mufic was like the memory of joys that are paft, pleafant and mournful to the foul. Pleasant are the words of the fong, faid Cuchullin, and lovely are the tales of other times. They are like the calm dew of the morning on the hill of roes, when the fun is faint on its fide, and the lake is fettled and blue in the vale. These quotations are from the poems of Offian, who abounds with comparifons of this delicate kind, and appears fingularly happy in them †. *P. 86. I The nature and merit of Offian's comparifons is fully illuftrated, in a differtation on the poems of that author, by Dr Blair, profeffor of rhetoric in the college of Edinburgh; a delicious morfel of criticisin, I proceed to illuftrate by particular inftances the different means by which comparisons, whether of the one fort or the other, can afford pleafure; and, in the order above established, I begin with fuch inftances as are agreeable, by fuggefting fome unusual resemblance or contraft: Sweet are the ufes of Adverfity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venemous, As you like it, at 2. Gardiner. Bolingbroke hath feiz'd the wafteful King. What pity is't that he had not fo trimm'd And drefs'd his land, as we this garden dress, Had he done fo, himfelf had borne the crown, See, how the Morning opes her golden gates, Second part, Henry VI. act 2. fc. 1. Brutus. O Caffius, you are yoked with a lamb, That carries anger as the flint bears fire: Who, much inforced, fhows a hafty spark, And ftraight is cold again. [Julius Cæfar, all 4. fc. 3. As when from mountain tops, the dusky clouds Scowls o'er the darken'd landscape, fnow, and fhower; Atteft their joy, that hill and valley rings. Paradife loft, book 2. As the bright ftars, and milky way, Waller. The laft exertion of courage compared to the blaze of a lamp before extinguishing, Taffo Gierufalemme, canto 19. ft. 22. None of the foregoing fimiles, as they appear to me, tend to illuftrate the principal fubject: and therefore the pleasure they afford muft arife from fuggefting re-femblances that are not obvious: I mean the chief pleafure; for undoubtedly a beautiful fubje& introduced to form the fimile affords a feparate pleasure, which is felt in the fimiles mentioned, particularly in that cited from Milton. The next effect of a comparison in the order mentioned, is to place an object in a strong point of view; which effect is remarkable in the following fimiles. As when two scales are charg'd with doubtful loads, From fide to fide the trembling balance nods, (While fome laborious matron, just and poor, With nice exactnefs weighs her woolly store,) Till pois'd aloft, the refting beam fufpends Each equal weight; nor this nor that defcends: So ftood the war, till Hector's matchlefs might, With fates prevailing, turn'd the fcale of fight. Fierce as a whirlwind up the wall he flies, And fires his hoft with loud repeated cries. Iliad, b. xii. 521. Ut flos in feptis fecretis nafcitur hortis, Nec Nec pueris jucunda manet, nec cara puellis. [Catullus. The imitation of this beautiful fimile by Ariosto, canto 1. At 42 falls fhort of the original. It is alfo in part imitated by Pope *. Lucetta. I do not feek to quench your love's hot fire, But qualify the fire's extreme rage, Left it should burn above the bounds of reafon. burns: up, the more The current, that with gentle murmur glides, Thou know't, being ftopp'd, impatiently doth rage; He makes fweet mufic with th'enamel'd ftones, it Two Gentlemen of Verona, act 2 fc. 10. But let concealment, like a worm i' th' bud, She fat like Patience on a monument, Smiling at Grief. [Twelfth Night, att 2 fc. 6. York. Then, as I faid, the Duke, great Bolingbroke, Mounted upon a hot and fiery fteed, Which his afpiring rider feem'd to know, With flow but ftately pace, kept on his courfe: While all tongues cry'd, God fave thee, Bolingbroke. Duchefs. Alas! poor Richard, where rides he the while! York. As in a theatre, the eyes of men, After a well grac'd actor leaves the stage, * Dunciad, b. 4. l. 405. Are |