9. CLIMAX. Exercise 84. Rudiments, p. 131. 1. Nothing can be more worthy of us, than to contribute to the happiness of those who have been once useful, and are still willing to be so; to allow them not to feel the want of such enjoyments as they are now unable to procure; to be a staff to their declining days; to smooth the furrows in the faded cheek; and to make the winter of old age wear the aspect of spring. 2. The history of every succeeding generation is this. New actors come forth on the stage of the world; new objects attract the attention; new intrigues engage the passions of men; new members occupy the seats of justice; new ministers fill the temples of religion; a new world, in short, in the course of a few years, has gradually and insensibly risen around us. 3. It is pleasant to be virtuous and good, because that is to excel many others; it is pleasant to grow better, because that is to excel ourselves; it is pleasant to mortify and subdue our lusts, because that is victory; it is pleasant to command our appetites and passions, and to keep them in due order, within the bounds of reason and religion, because that is empire. 10. ERRORS IN THE USE OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE. Exercise 85. Rudiments, p. 132. 1. No human happiness is so pure as not to contain any alloy. 2. Hope, the star of life, darts a ray of light through the thickest gloom. 3. There is a time when factions, by their mutual attacks, stun and disable one another. 4. Let us be careful to suit our sails to the wind and weather, and to steer our vessel aright, that we may avoid the rocks and shoals which lie everywhere around us. 5. I can never enough admire the sagacity of this country for the encouragement given to the professors of physic. With what indulgence does she rear those of her own growth, and receive those that come from abroad! Like a skilful gardener, she transplants them from every foreign soil to her own. 6. In this our day of proof, our land of hope, The good man has his clouds that intervene ; Of human peace on carth. 7. The bill underwent a great number of alterations and amendments, which were not effected without violent contest. At length, however, it passed both houses by a great majority, and received the royal approbation. 8. Since the time that reason began to exert her powers, thought, during our waking hours, has been active in every breast, without a moment's suspension or pause. The current of ideas has been always flowing. The wheels of the spiritual engine have revolved with perpetual motion. 9. The man who has no rule over his own spirit, possesses no defence against dangers of any sort. He lies open to every insurrection of ill humour, and every invasion of distress. Whereas he who is employed in regulating his mind, is making provision against all the accidents of life. He is erecting a fortress, into which, in the day of danger, he can retreat with safety. 10. A great Eastern conqueror wrote, in the following terms, to a prince whose dominions he was about to invade :"Where is the monarch who dares resist us? Where is the potentate who does not glory in being numbered among our attendants? As for thee, ignobly descended, since thy un bounded ambition has subverted all thy vain expectations, it would be proper that thou shouldst repress thy temerity, repent of thy perfidy, and become just and sincere in all thy transactions. This will secure to thee a safe and quiet retreat; and preserve thee from falling a victim to that vengeance which thou hast so highly provoked, and so justly deserved. 11. CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF PASSAGES. Exercise 86. Rudiments, p. 133. 1. "There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Is bound in shallows and in miseries." In this passage, the opportunities which men have of rising in the world are depicted by a flowing tide, which bears away a vessel through the ocean; while the neglect of these is represented as being as unfavourable to future success, as that of the mariner is to his voyage, when he sets out on it after the tide has subsided. The resemblance betwixt human life and a voyage at sea is thus clearly exhibited, and the coincidence between them is vividly marked by the metaphor tide, which is a more definite object of thought than opportunities of rising in the world, although these are to be literally understood in the description. 2. "The chief in silence strode before, And reached that torrent's sounding shore, Which, daughter of three mighty lakes, From Vennachar in silver breaks, Sweeps through the plain, and ceaseless mines On Bochastle the mouldering lines, Where Rome, the empress of the world, Of yore her eagle wings unfurled." Too many heterogeneous objects are combined in this passage. The torrent is first spoken of as the daughter of three lakes, and is then described as breaking in silver, sweeping through plains, and mining the lines of a Roman encampment, where the empress of the world is represented as having unfurled her wings. By crowding so many incongruous materials into one sentence, an author destroys the effect of figurative language, the purpose of which is to give the reader a more vivid idea of the object described than could be done by using common expressions. 3. "There is a joy in grief, when peace dwells with the sorrowful. But they are wasted with mourning, O daughter of Toscar, and their days are few. They fall away like the flower on which the sun looks in his strength, after the mildew has passed over it, and its head is heavy with the drops of night." Nothing can be more expressive of the fatal effects of sorrow upon the mind, than this comparison of them to the blighting influence of mildew upon a flower, which droops its head and withers, as a person oppressed with grief languishes and dies. 4. "Men must acquire a very peculiar and strong habit of turning their eye inwards, in order to explore the interior regions and recesses of the mind, the hollow caverns of deep thought, the private seats of fancy, and the wastes and wildernesses, as well as the more fruitful and cultivated tracts of this obscure climate." Here the author, having determined to represent the human mind under the metaphor of a country, revolves in his thoughts the various objects which might be found in a country, but has never dreamt of considering whether there be any common points of resemblance between these subjects of his figure. Hence the strange parade he makes with regions, recesses, hollow caverns, private seats, wastes, wildernesses, fruitful and cultivated tracts; terms which, though they have an appropriate meaning as applied to a country, have no definite signification when applied to mind. 5. "As from some rocky cliff the shepherd sees Beneath their footsteps groans the trembling ground." The objects of comparison in this simile exactly correspond in the appearance which they present; as a swarm of bees obviously resembles a large army, and the flight of the former is well adapted to illustrate the movements of the latter, which are here described. 6. "A very shower Of beauty is thy earthly dower! Twice seven consenting years have shed And these gray rocks, this household lawn, These trees, a veil just half withdrawn, This little bay, a quiet road That holds in shelter thy abode; In truth, together you do seem Like something fashioned in a dream." In this passage, figurative language seems to be egregiously misapplied. It is difficult to conceive the idea of a shower of beauty, or how a shower of anything can be a dower. What does the author mean by consenting years? Do the trees form the veil which is half withdrawn? A bay in a lake or sea cannot be correctly said to hold in shelter a house on land: it is not the bay which affords shelter, but the surrounding heights. |