tion, ought to content himself with fuch figures of this kind as agree with the tone of mind infpired by the description. Nor is the loweft degree of perfonification to be admitted upon every occafion; for in plain narrative, the mind, ferious and fedate, rejects the figure altogether. III. If extraordinary marks of refpect to a perfon of low condition be ridiculous, not lefs fo is the perfonification ofa low fubject. This rule chiefly regards defcriptive perfonification; for a fubject can hardly be regarded as mean or low, that is the caufe of a violent paffion in that circumftance, at least, it must be of importance. No pofitive rules, however, can be affigned with regard to what objects fhould be felected, and what avoided the ultimate appeal muft always lye to the decifion of tafte. A poet of fuperior genius, poffeffing the power of inflaming the mind, may take liberties which would be dangerous in, others. does not appear extravagant in animating his darts and arrows; nor Thompson in animating the feafons, the winds, the rains, the dews. The latter of thefe poets even ventures to animate the diamond; and this he does with great propriety. But there are objects familiar and bafe, to which perfonification cannot defcend. In a compofed state of mind, to animate a lump of matter even in the most rapid flight of fancy, degenerates into burlesque : Homer How now? what noife? that fpirit's poffeffed with hafte, That wounds the unrefifting postern with these strokes. Shakespeare. This produces a very ridiculous effect. IV. Defcriptive, ftill more than paffionate perfonification, ought to be kept within the bounds of moderation. Upon certain occafions, a reader can even without paffion imagine the winds to be animated: but ftill the winds are the fubject; and any action afcribed to them contrary to their ufual operation, appearing unnatural, feldom fails to vanish the illufion altogether. The reader's imagination too far ftrained, refufes its aid; and the decription becomes obfcure, instead of being more lively and luminous. This figure requires to be used with greater moderation in profe than in poetry: for, in profe, the fame affiftances cannot be obtained for raifing paffion to its proper height by the force of numbers and the glow of ftyle. Yet from this fpecies of compofition, addreffes to objects inanimate, are by no means excluded: they have their place in the loftier kind of oratory. A public fpeaker, may on fome occafions very properly addrefs religion or virtue; or his country; or fome city or province, which has fuffered, perhaps, great calamities, or been the fcene of fome memorable event. But it ought to be remembered, that, as fuch addreffes are among the highest efforts of eloquence, they fhould never be attempted, unlefs by perfons of more than ordinary genius. Of all frigid things, the moft frigid are the aukward and unfeafonable attempts fometimes made towards fuch kinds of perfonification, especially if they be long continued. We perceive the writer labouring to imi tate the language of fome paffion which he neither feels himfelf, nor is capable of exciting in others. CHAP. XIII. OF APOSTROPHE. APOSTROPHE is a figure nearly allied to perfonifica tion. It confifts in beftowing an ideal prefence upon We addrefs them as if they ftood before us listening to the overflowing of our pasfion : real perfons either dead or absent. Strike the harp in praife of Bragela, whom I left in the ifle of mift, the fpoufe of my love. Doft thou raise thy fair face from the rock to find the fails of Cuchullin? The fea is rolling far diftant, and its white foam fhall deceive thee for my fails. Retire, for it is night, my love, and the dark winds figh in thy hair. Retire to the hall of my feafts, and think of the times that are past; for I will not return "till the ftorm of war is gone. Ossian. Weep on the rocks of roaring winds, O maid of Iniftore; bend thy fair head over the waves, thou fairer than the ghoft of the hills, when it moves in a fun-beam at noon, over the filence of Morven! He is fallen! Thy youth is low; pale beneath the fword of Cuchullin ! Ossian In thefe examples, an address is made to perfons that are abfent: but addreffes are alfo made to the dead : Farewell, too little, and too lately known, Dryden Once on thy friends look down, lamented fhade, With wit, and ftrength, that only yield to thine. Smith. O thou! with whom my heart was wont to share, Art thou, my Gregory, forever fled ? When fortune's ftorms affail this weary head, Rogers No more thy foothing voice my anguish cheers; Phillips whole touch harmonious could remove Find here that calm thou gav't fo oft before; Beatties Johnson. In all the foregoing examples, the perfons addreffed are. fuppofed to be either prefent, or at least to liften to the fpeakers. This It requires a lefs violent effort of imagination to fuppofe perfons prefent, who are abfent or dead, than to animate infenfible beings and direct our difcourfe to them. figure may therefore be introduced where perfonification in its highest degree would be improper. It muft not however be employed except when the mind is in fome measure under the dominion of paffion. THE CHAP. XIV. OF HYPERBOLE. HE Hyperbole confifts in magnifying or diminishing an object beyond reality. This figure is in common ufe both among the learned and unlearned. The human mind does not reft fatisfied with the fimple truth, but has a ftrong propenfity to add or diminish.* An object either very little or very great in its kind, ftrikes us with furprise; and this emotion forces upon the mind a momentary conviction that the object is greater or lefs than it is actually found to be. Hence the Hyperbole, which expreffes that momentary conviction. A writer taking advantage of this natural delufion, enriches his defcription by the ufe of hyperboles and the reader, even in his coolest moments, relifhes that figure he is fenfible, that it is the operation of nature upon a warm fancy. Even in common converfation, hyperbolical expreffions very frequently occur; as swift as the wind, as white as snow, and the like: and our ordinary forms of compliment are almost all of them extravagant hyperboles. Yet these exaggerated expreffions fcarcely ftrike us as hyperbolical. In an inftant we make the proper abatement, and know how to form a juft eftimate. But when there is fomething ftriking and unufual in the form of an hyperbolical expref * Quinctilian, de Inftitut, Orator, lib. viii. chap. vi. fion, it is exalted into a figure of fpeech which draws our attention. It cannot have efcaped obfervation, that a writer is generally more fuccefsful in magnifying by a hyperbole than in diminishing. A minute object contracts the mind, and fetters its powers; whereas a grand object dilates and inflames it. The following quotations will examplify the manner in which this figure is ufed: For all the land which thou feeft, to thee will I give it, and to thy feed forever. And I will make thy feed as the duft of the earth: fo that if a man can number the duit of the earth, then shall by feed alfo be numbered. Me miferable! which way fhall I fly Still threat'ning to devour me opens wide, To which the Hell I fuffer feems a Heaven. Genesis. Milton. Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and fkims along the main. Pope Longinus quotes from fome comic poet, the following ludicrous inftance of diminishing hyperbole : "He was owner of a piece of ground not larger than a Lacedemonian letter.** I. A hyperbole fhould never be introduced in the defcription of any thing ordinary or familiar. In fuch a cafe, it is altogether unnatural: I faw him beat the furges under him, And ride upon their backs; he trode the water; The furge moft fwoln that met him: his bold head *Longini de Sublimitate, & xxxviii. |