Will make him fly an ordinary pitch, Julius Casar, Act I. Sc. 1. Rebus angustis animosus atque When times are hardest, then a face Hor. The following is a miserable jumble of expressions, arising from an unsteady view of the subject, between its figurative and natural appearance: But now from gath'ring clouds destruction pours, Dispensary, canto 3. Pope's Imitation of Horace, b. ii. Oui, sa pudeur n'est que franche grimace, Molière, l'Etourdi, Act III. Sc. 2. Et son feu, depourvu de sens et de lecture, Boileau, l'Art Poetique, Chant 3. 1. 319. Dryden, in his dedication of the translation of Juvenal, says, When thus, as I may say, before the use of the load-stone, or knowledge of the compass, I was sailing in a vast ocean, without other help than the pole-star of the ancients, and the rules of the French stage among the moderns, &c. There is a time when factions, by the vehemence of their own fermentation, stun and disable one another. Bolingbroke. This fault of jumbling the figure and plain expression into one confused mass, is not less common in allegory than in metaphor. Take the following examples: Heu! quoties fidem, Mutatosque Deos flebit, et aspera Emirabitur insolens, Qui nunc te fruitur credulus aureâ, Qui semper vacuam, semper amabilem Sperat, nescius auræ Fallacis. Horat. Carm. 1. 1. ode 5. Alas! how oft shall he protest Against his confidence misplaced, And love's inconstant powers deplore, And wondrous winds, which, as they roa:, Throw black upon the altered scene Who now so well himself deceives, And thee all sunshine, all serene For want of better skill believes. Pour moi sur cette mer, qu'ici bas nous courons, Et sauver, s'il se peut, ma Raison du naufrage. Boileau, Epitre 5. Lord Halifax, speaking of the ancient fabulists: "They (says he, wrote in signs, and spoke in parables: all their fables carry a double meaning; the story is one and entire; the characters the same throughout; not broken or changed, and always conformable to the nature of the creature they introduce. They never tell you, that the dog which snapp'd at a shadow, lost his troop of horse; that would be unintelligible. This is his (Dryden's) new way of telling a story, and confounding the moral and the fable together." After instancing from the hind and panther, he goes on thus: What relation has the hind to our Saviour; or what notion have we of a panther's Bible? If you say he means the church, how does the church feed on lawns, or range in the forest? Let it be always a church, or always a cloven-footed beast, for we cannot bear his shifting the scene every line." A few words more upon allegory. Nothing gives greater pleasure than this figure, when the representative subject bears a strong analogy, in all its circumstances, to that which is represented: but the choice is seldom so lucky; the analogy being generally so faint and obscure, as to puzzle and not please. An allegory is still more difficult in painting than in poetry: the former can show no resemblance but what appears to the eye; the latter has many other resources for showing the resemblance. And therefore, with respect to what the Abbe du Bos terms mixt allegorical compositions, these may do in poetry; because, in writing, the allegory can easily be distinguished from the historical part: no person, for example, mistakes Virgil's Fame for a real being. But such a mixture in a picture is intolerable; because in a picture the objects must appear all of the same kind, wholly real or wholly emblematical. For this reason, the history of Mary de Medicis, in the palace of Luxembourg, painted by Rubens, is unpleasant by a perpetual jumble of real ana allegorical personages, which produce a discordance of parts, and an obscurity upon the whole: witness, in particular, the tablature representing the arrival of Mary de Medicis at Marseilles; where, together with the real personages, the Nereids and Tritons appear sounding their shells: such a mixture of fiction and reality in the same group, is strangely absurd. The picture of Alexander and Roxana, described by Lucian, is gay and fanciful; but it suffers by the allegorical figures. It is not in the wit of man to invent an allegorical representation deviating farther from any shadow of resemblance, than one exhibited by Lewis XIV. anno 1664; in which an enormous chariot, intended to represent that of the sun, is dragg'd along, surrounded with men and women, representing the four ages of the world, the celestial signs, the seasons, the hours, &c.; a monstrous composition, suggested probably by Guido's tablature of Aurora, and still more absurd. * Reflections sur la Poesie, vol. I. sect. 24. In an allegory as well as in a metaphor, terms ought to be chosen that properly and literally are applicable to the representative subject: nor ought any circumstance to be added that is not proper to the representative subject, however justly it may be applicable properly or figuratively to the principal. The following allegory is therefore faulty: Ferus et Cupido, Semper ardentes acuens sagittas Horat. 1. II. ode 8. And love, still whetting on a stone For though blood may suggest the cruelty of love, it is an improper or immaterial circumstance in the representative subject: water, not blood, is proper for a whetstone. We proceed to the next head, which is, to examine in what circumstance these figures are proper, in what improper. This inquiry is not altogether superseded by what is said upon the same subject in the chapter of Comparisons; because upon trial it will be found, that a short metaphor or allegory may be proper, where a simile, drawn out to a greater length, and in its nature more solemn, would scarcely be relished. And, first, a metaphor, like a simile, is excluded from common conversation, and from the description of ordinary incidents. Second, in expressing any severe passion that wholly occupies the mind, metaphor is improper. For which reason, the following speech of Macbeth is faulty. Methought I heard a voice cry, Sleep no more! Act II. Sc. 2. The following example, of deep despair, beside the highly figurative style, has more the air of raving than of sense: Calista. Is it the voice of thunder, or my father? Fair Penitent, Act IV. The metaphor I next introduce, is sweet and lively, but it suits not a fiery temper inflamed with passion: parables are not the language of wrath venting itself without restraint: Chamont. You took her up a little tender flower, Where the sun always shines: there long she flourish'd, Till at the last a cruel spoiler came, Cropt this fair rose, and rifled all its sweetness, Then cast it like a loathsome weed away. Orphan, Act IV. The following speech, full of imagery, is not natural in grief and dejection of mind: Gonsalez. O my son! from the blind dotage Of a father's fondness these ills arose. For thee I've been ambitious, base and bloody: Mourning Bride, Act V. Sc. 6. There is an enchanting picture of deep distress in Macbeth, where Macduff is represented lamenting his wife and children, inhumanly murdered by the tyrant. Stung to the heart with the news, he questions the messenger over and over: not that he doubted the fact, but that his heart revolted against so cruel a misfortune. After struggling some time with his grief, he turns from his wife and children to their savage butcher; and then gives vent to his resentment, but still with manliness and dignity: O, I could play the woman with mine eyes, And braggart with my tongue. But, gentle Heav'n ! Cut short all intermission; front to front Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself; Within my sword's length set him—If he 'scape, The whole scene is a delicious picture of human nature. One expression only seems doubtful: in examining the messenger, Mac duff expresses himself thus: He hath no children-all my pretty ones! Did you say, all? what, all? Oh, hell-kite! all? What, all my pretty little chickens and their dam, Metaphorical expression, I am sensible, may sometimes be used with grace, where a regular simile would be intolerable: but there are situations so severe and dispiriting, as not to admit even the slightest metaphor. It requires great delicacy of taste to determine with firmness, whether the present case be of that kind: I incline to think it is; and yet I would not willingly alter a single word of this admirable scene. But metaphorical language is proper when a man struggles to bear with dignity or decency a misfortune however great: the strug gle agitates and animates the mind: Wolscy. Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness ! The tender leaves of hope; to-morrow blossoms, And bears his blushing honours thick upon him; Act IV. Sc. 3. Henry VIII. Act III. Sc. 2 SECTION VII. FIGURE OF SPEECH. The using of a word in a sense which is not proper to it-Two objects presented, the principal and the accessory-Aggrandizes its object-Prevents the familiarity of proper names-Enriches and renders language more copious. In the section immediately foregoing, a figure of speech is defined, "The using of a word in a sense different from what is proper to it ;" and the new or uncommon sense of the word is termed the figurative sense. The figurative sense must have a relation to that which is proper; and the more intimate the relation is, the figure is the more happy. How ornamental this figure is to language, will not be readily imagined by any one who has not given peculiar attention; and therefore I shall endeavor to unfold its capital beauties and advantages. In the first place, a word used figuratively or in a new sense, suggests at the same time the sense it commonly bears: and thus it has the effect to present two objects; one signified by the figurative sense, which may be termed the principal object; and one signified by the proper sense which may be termed accessory: the principal makes a part of the thought; the accessory is merely ornamental. In this respect, a figure of speech is precisely similar to concordant scunds in music, which without contributing to the melody, makes it harmonious. I explain myself by examples. Youth, by a figure of speech, is termed the morning of life. This expression signifies youth, the principal object, which enters into the thought: it suggests, at the same time, the proper sense of morning; and this accessory object, being in itself beautiful, and connected by resemblance to the principal object, is not a little ornamental. Imperious ocean is an example of a different kind, where an attribute is expressed figuratively together with stormy, the figurative meaning of the epithet imperious, there is suggested its proper meaning, viz. the stern authority of a despotic prince; and these two are strongly connected by resemblance. Upon this figurative power of words, Vida des cants with elegance: Nonne vides, verbis ut veris sæpe relictis Accersant simulata, aliundeque nomina porro Mutatoque habitu, nec jam sua nomina malent? Permutantque, juvantque vicissim; et mutua sese |