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LESSON XLV.

EXAMPLES OF METAPHOR.

[Observe the difference in the following extracts between metaphor and simile. See the preceding lesson, verse 1.]

I. THE ORATORY OF THE ANCIENTS.

[Oratory represented as A Flood.]

THE mighty flood of speech runs on in a channel ever full, but which never overflows. Whether it rushes in a torrent of allusions', or moves along in a majestic exposition of enlarged principles', descends hoarse and headlong in overwhelming invective', or glides melodious in narrative and description', or spreads itself out shining in illustration'2, its course is ever onward' and entire-never scattered', never stagnant', never sluggish'.-BROUGHAM.

II. POETRY IN A DARK AGE.

[This example commences with two formal similes, and afterward changes into a very happy metaphor, in which poetry is represented as being A Something that produces its best exhibitions in a dark age.]

Poetry produces an illusion on the eye of the mind, as a magic lantern produces an illusion on the eye of the body; and as a magic lantern acts best in a dark room, poetry effects its purpose best in a dark age. As the light of knowledge breaks in upon its exhibitions', as the outlines of certainty become more and more definite', and the shades of probability more and more distinct', the lines and lineaments of the phantoms which it calls up grow fainter and fainter. -Edinburgh Review.

III. THE SOUTH AMERICAN REPUBLICS.

[The South American Republics are represented as A New Creation rising out of the sea.]

When the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, the existence of South America was scarcely felt in the civilized world. Borne down by colonial subjugation, monopoly, and bigotry, those regions of the South were hardly visible above the horizon. But in our day there has been, as it were, a new creation. The southern hemisphere emerges from the sea.

Its lofty mountains begin to lift themselves into the light of heaven; its broad and fertile plains stretch out in beauty to the eye of civilized man, and at the mighty bidding of the voice of political liberty, the waters of darkness retire. -DANIEL WEBSTER.

IV. BUNKER HILL MONUMENT.

[The monument represented as A Speaker proclaiming liberty, etc.] That motionless shaft will be the most powerful of speakers. Its speech will be of civil and religious liberty. It will speak of patriotism and of courage. It will speak of the moral improvement and elevation of mankind. Decrepit age will lean against its base, and ingenuous youth gather round it, and speak to each other of the glorious events with which it is cemented, and exclaim, "Thank God, I also am an American."-DANIEL WEBSTER.

V. LIFE AN EMBLEM OF A DAY.

[Life represented as A Winter's Day.]

Our life is but a winter's day-
Some only breakfast, and away;
Others to dinner stay, and are well fed:
The oldest man but sups, and goes to bed.
Large is his debt who lingers out the day:
Who goes the soonest' has the least to pay'.

Anonymous.

VI. HUMAN LIFE A VOYAGE AT SEA.

[Life represented as A Sea-the present being flood tide.]
There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;

And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.

Brutus in Julius Cæsar, Act IV., Scene 3.

VII. THE SOUL.

.

[The Soul described under different Figures.]

The soul, on earth, is an immortal guest,
Compell'd to starve at an unreal feast:

A spark which upward tends by nature's force;
A stream diverted from its parent source;

A drop dissever'd from the boundless sea;
A moment parted from eternity;

A pilgrim panting for a rest to come;

An exile anxious for his native home.-H. MORE.

VIII. MALVINA'S GRIEF.

[Malvina, in her grief for the death of the son of Ossian, describes herself as A Withered Tree.]

Thou dwellest in the soul of Malvina, son of mighty Ossian. My sighs arise with the beam of the east: my tears descend with the drops of night. I was a lovely tree in thy presence, Oscar, with all my branches round me; but thy death came like a blast from the desert, and laid my green head low the spring returned with its showers, but no leaf of mine arose.-M'PHERSON.

LESSON XLVI.

METAPHORICAL PAPERS.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

[BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, an eminent philosopher, statesman, and patriot, was born in Boston, Mass., in 1706. He was for many years a printer in Philadelphia: he held various public offices, and, as embassador to France, he signed the treaty of alliance with that country in 1778. He died in 1790.

The following lesson, in which different classes of individuals are declared to be (not to be like) different kinds of papers, is a good illustration of the plain metaphor, and serves to show, very clearly, how this figure differs from simile.]

1. SOME wit of old-such wits of old there were

Whose hints showed meaning', whose allusions care',
By one brave stroke to mark all human kind',
Called clear blank paper every infant mind',
Where still, as opening sense her dictates wrote',
Fair Virtue' put a seal', or Vice ̄ a blot'.
The thought' was happy', pertinent', and true' !—
Methinks a genius might the plan pursue.

I-(can you pardon my presumption' ?)—I,
No wit', no genius', yet, for once', will try'.

2. Various the papers' various wants produce';
The wants of fashion', elegance', and use'.
Men are as various'; and, if right I scan',
Each sort of paper represents some man.

3. Pray note the fop-half powder, and half lace!
Nice as a bandbox is his dwelling-place;
He's the gilt paper which fools bargain for,
And lock from vulgar hands in the scrutoire".

4. Mechanics', merchants', farmers', and so forth', Are copy-paper of superior worth';

Most prized'; most useful'; for your desk decreed'; Free to all pens', and prompt at every need.

5. The miser next, who'll freeze, and pinch, and spare,
Starve, cheat, and pilfer, to enrich ạn heir,

Is coarse brown paper'; such as peddlers choose
To wrap up wares, which better men will use.

6. Take next the arrant spendthrift, who destroys
Health, fame, and fortune, in a round of joys.
Will any paper match him? Yes, throughout:
He's a true sinking paper past all doubt.

7. The retail politician's anxious thought

Deems this side always right', and that stark naught`:
He foams' with censure'; with applause' he raves';
A dupe to rumors', and a tool to knaves':

He'll want no type his weakness to proclaim,
While such a thing as fools-cape has a name.

8. The hasty gentleman, whose blood runs high;
Who picks a quarrel if you step awry;
Who can't a jest, a hint, or look endure !—
What is he'?-What'!-Touch-paperd, to be sure.

9. Newspaper rhymers'! (take them as they fallGood, bad, rich, poor, much read, not read at all)Them, and their works, in the same class you'll find: They are the mere waste paper of mankind.

10. Observe the maiden, innocently sweet!
She's fair white paper! an unsullied sheet,
On which the happy man, whom fate ordains,
May write his name, and take her for his pains.

11. One instance more, and only one, I'll bring! 'Tis the great man who scorns a little thing; Whose thought', whose deeds', whose maxims' are his Formed on the feelings of his heart alone. True, genuine, royal paper is his breast:Of all the kinds most precious, purest, best.

[own',

a Scru toir' (scroo twor'), a cabinet desk, with a lid opening downward, for the convenience of writing upon it.

b Sinking-paper, a financial paper used to sink or extinguish a debt. So the spendthrift sinks his fortune.

Fools-cap, so called from the water-mark of a fool's cap and bells used by the old paper-makers.

d Touch-paper, paper steeped in saltpetre, and used as a match for firing gunpowder.

LESSON XLVII.
WHAT IS LIFE?

J. MASON GOOD.

[J. MASON GOOD, a physician, poet, and philologist,—and a man of most diversified knowledge,-was born in England in 1764: died in 1827.

Life is here described under three distinct metaphors,—as, a sea; a wilderness; and a warfare.]

1. LIFE is a sea,-how fair its face'!

How smooth its dimpling waters' pace'!

Its canopy how pure'!

But rocks below, and tempests sleep

Insidious, o'er the glassy deep,

Nor leave an hour secure.

2. Life is a wilderness,-beset

With tangling thorns, and treach'rous net,

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