SECTION XXXII.

;

AS to a proper number of Metaphors, Cecilius has gone into their Opinion, who have fettled it at two or three at moft, in expreffing the fame Object. But in this also, let Demofthenes be observed as our Model and Guide and by him we shall find, that the proper Time to apply them, is, when the Paffions are fo much worked up, as to hurry on like a Torrent, and unavoidably carry along with them a whole crowd of Metaphors. !" Thofe "prostituted Souls, thofe cringing Traitors, "thofe Furies of the Commonwealth, who "have combined to wound and mangle their "Country, who have drank up its Liberty in "Healths, to Philip once, and fince to Ale"xander, meafuring their Happiness by their "Belly and their Luft. As for those gene

rous Principles of Honour, and that Maxim, "Never to endure a Mafter, which, to our "brave Fore-fathers, were the high Ambition " of Life, and the Standard of Felicity, these "they have quite fubverted." Here, by means of this Multitude of Tropes, the Orator burfts out upon the Traitors in the warmest Indignation. It is however the Precept of Ariftotle and Theophraftus, that bold Meta

phors

74

.

phors ought to be introduced with some small Alleviations; fuch as, if it may be fo express'd, and as it were, and if I may speak with so much Boldness. For this Excufe, say they, very much palliates the Hardness of the Figures.

Such a Rule has a general Ufe, and therefore. I admit it; yet ftill I maintain what I advanced before in regard to Figures, that bold 2 Metaphors, and those too in good plenty, are very seasonable in a noble Compofition, where they are always mitigated and foften'd, by the vehement Pathetic and generous Sublime difperfed through the whole. For as it is the nature of the Pathetic and Sublime, to run rapidly along, and carry all before them, fo they require the Figures, they are work'd up in, to be ftrong and forcible, and do not fo much as give leisure to a Hearer, to cavil at their Number, because they imme diately ftrike his Imagination, and inflame him with all the Warmth and Fire of the Speaker.

But further, in Illuftrations and Defcriptions, there is nothing fo expreffive and figni ficant, as a Chain of continued Tropes. By these has Xenophon * described, in so

.

pompous

and

* Απομνημον, 1. 1. c. 45. ed. Oxon.

and magnificent Terms, the Anatomy of the human Body. By these has Plato + described the fame Thing, in fo unparallel'd, fo divine a "The Head of Man he calls a Ci"tadel. The Neck is an Ifthmus placed be

manner.

tween the Head and the Breaft. The Ver"tebra or Joints, on which it turns, are fo “ many Hinges. Pleasure is the Bait, which "allures Men to Evil, and the Tongue is the "Informer of Taftes. The Heart, being the "Knot of the Veins, and the Fountain from "whence the Blood arifes, and briskly circu"lates through all the Members, is a Watch"tower completely fortified. The Pores he "calls narrow Streets. And because the Heart ❝is fubject to violent Palpitations, either when "difturbed with Fear of fome impending "Evil, or when inflamed with Wrath, the "Gods, fays he, have provided against any "ill Effect that might hence arise, by giving

a Place in the Body to the Lungs, a foft "and bloodlefs Subftance, furnished with in

ward Vacuities, like a Sponge, that when"ever Choler inflames the Heart, the Lungs "fhould eafily yield, fhould gradually break

its violent Strokes, and preferve it from "Harm. The Seat of the concupifcible Paf

Plato in Timeo paffim.

❝fions,

"fions, he has named the Apartment of the "Women; the Seat of the Irafcible, the "Apartment of the Men. The Spleen is "the Sponge of the Entrails, from whence "when filled with Excrements, it is fwell'd "and bloated. Afterwards, proceeds he, the "Gods covered all thofe Parts with Flesh, "their Rampart and Defence against the Ex"tremities of Heat and Cold, foft through

out like a Cushion, and gently giving way "to outward Impreffions. The Blood he calls "the Pafture of the Flefh, and adds, that "for the fake of nourishing the remotest "Parts, they opened the Body into a num"ber of Rivulets, like a Garden well stock'd "with plenty of Canals, that the Veins might "by this means receive their supply of the "vital Moisture from the Heart, as the com“ mon Source, and convey it thro' all the "Sluices of the Body. And at the Approach " of Death, the Soul, he fays, is loofed, like “ a Ship from her Cables, and left at the Li"berty of driving at Pleasure." Many other Turns of the fame Nature in the Sequel might be adjoined, but these already abundantly fhew, that Tropes are naturally endued with an Air of Grandeur, that Metaphors contribute very much to Sublimity, and are of very

important

important Service, in descriptive and pathetic Compofitions.

That the Ufe of Tropes, as well as of all other Things, which are ornamental in Difcourse, may be carried to excefs, is obvious enough, tho' I should not mention it. Hence it comes to pass, that many feverely cenfure Plato, because oftentimes, as if he was mad to utter his Words, he fuffers himself to be hurried into raw undigefted Metaphors, and a vain Pomp of Allegory. "For is it not (fays "he) * eafy to conceive, that a City ought to " resemble a Goblet replenished with a well"tempered Mixture? where, when the foam"( ing Deity of Wine is poured in, it sparkles "and fumes; but when chaftised by another

more fober Divinity, it joins in firm Al"liance, and compofes a pleasant and pala" table Liquor." For (fay they) to call Water a fober Divinity, and the Mixture Chaftifement, is a fhrewd Argument, that the Author was not very fober himself.

Cecilius had certainly thefe trifling Flourifhes in view, when he had the Rafhnefs in his Effay on Lyfias, to declare him much

4

preferable to Plato; biafs'd to it by two Paffions equally indiscreet. For tho' he loved Lyfias

*Plato, 1. 6. De legibus, p. 773. ed Par.