Nature its mother, Habit is its nurse:
Wit, spirit, faculties, but make it worse;
Reason itself but gives it edge and power;

As heav'n's bless'd beam turns vinegar more sour.-Ibid. l. 145.

Lord Bolingbroke speaking of historians :

Where their sincerity as to fact is doubtful, we strike out truth by the confrontation of different accounts; as we strike out sparks of fire by the collision of flints and steel.

Let us vary the phrase a very little, and there will not remain a shadow of resemblance. Thus:

We discover truth by the confrontation of different accounts; as we strike out sparks of fire by the collision of flints and steel.

Racine make Pyrrhus say to Andromaque,

Vaincu, chargé de fers, de regrets consumé,
Brulé de plus de feux que je n'en allumai,
Helas! fus-je jamais si cruel que vous l'êtes?

And Orestes in the same strain :

Que les Scythes sont moins cruel qu' Hermione.

Similies of this kind put one in mind of a ludicrous French song:

Je croyois Janneton

Aussi douce que belle :
Je croyois Janneton

Plus douce qu'un mouton;

Helas! belas !

Elle est cent fois mille fois, plus cruelle
Que n'est le tigre aux bois.

Again:

Helas! l'amour m'a pris,

Comme le chat fait la souris.

A vulgar Irish ballad begins thus:

I have as much love in store

As there's apples in Portmore.

Where the subject is burlesque or ludicrous, such similies are far from being improper. Horace says pleasantly,

Quanquam tu levior cortice.-L. 3. ode 9.

And Shakspeare,

In breaking oaths he's stronger than Hercules.

And this leads me to observe, that, beside the foregoing comparisons, which are all serious, there is a species, the end and purpose of which is to excite gaiety or mirth. Take the following examples:

Fallstaff speaking to his page:

I do here walk before thee, like a sow that hath overwhelmed all her litter but one. Second Part, Henry VI. act 1. sc. 4.

I think he is not a pick-purse, nor a horse-stealer; but for his verity in love, I do think him as concave as a covered goblet, or a worm-eaten nut.-As you Like it, act 3. sc. 10.

This sword a dagger had his page,
That was but little for his age;
And therefore waited on him so,

As dwarfs upon knights-errant do.-Hudibras, canto 1.

Description of Hudibras's horse:

He was well stay'd, and in his gait
Preserv'd a grave majestic state.
At spur or switch no more he skipt,
Or mended pace, than Spaniard whipt;
And yet so fiery, he would bound
As if he griev'd to touch the ground:
That Cæsar's horse, who, as fame goes,
Had corns upon his feet and toes,
Was not by half so tender hooft,
Nor trod upon the ground so soft.

And as that beast would kneel and stoop,
(Some write) to take his rider up;

So Hudibras his ('tis well known)

Would often do to set him down.-Canto 1.

Honour is like a widow won,

With brisk attempt and putting on,

With entering manfully, and urging;

Not slow approaches, like a virgin.- Canto 1.

The sun had long since, in the lap

Of Thetis, taken out his nap;

And like a lobster boil'd, the morn

From black to red began to turn.—Part 2. canto 2.

Books, like men their authors, have but one way of coming into the world; but there are ten thousand to go out of it, and return no more.-Tale of a Tub.

And in this the world may perceive the difference between the integrity of a generous author, and that of a common friend. The latter is observed to adhere close in prosperity, but on the decline of fortune, to drop suddenly off; whereas the generous author, just on the contrary, finds his hero on the dunghill, from thence, by gradual steps, raises him to a throne, and then immediately withdraws, expecting not so much as thanks for his pains.-Ibid.

The most accomplished way of using books at present, is to serve them as some do Lords,-learn their titles, and then brag of their acquaintance.—Ibid. Box'd in a chair the beau impatient sits,

While spouts run clatt'ring o'er the roof by fits;
And ever and anon with frightful din
The leather sounds; he trembles from within.
So when Troy's chairmen bore the wooden steed,
Pregnant with Greeks, impatient to be freed
(Those bully Greeks, who, as the moderns do,
Instead of paying chairmen, run them through),
Laocoon struck the outside with his spear,
And each imprison'd hero quak'd for fear,

Description of a City Shower. Swift.

Clubs, diamonds, hearts, in wild disorder seen,

With throngs promiscuous strow the level green.
Thus when dispers'd a routed army runs,
Of Asia's troops, and Afric's sable sons,
With like confusion different nations fly,
Of various habit, and of various dye,

The pierc'd battalions disunited, fall

In heaps on heaps; one fate o'erwhelms them all.

Rape of the Lock, canto 3.

He does not consider, that sincerity in love is as much out of fashion as sweet snuff; nobody takes it now.--Careless Husband.

Lady Easy. My dear, I am Sir Charles. O! Not at all. like a dish of tea.-Ibid.

afraid you have provok'd her a little too far. You shall see; I'll sweeten her, and she'll cool

CHAP. XX.

FIGURES.

THE endless variety of expressions brought under the head of tropes and figures by ancient critics and grainmarians, makes it evident that they had no precise criterion for distinguishing tropes and figures from plain language. It was accordingly my opinion, that little could be made of them in the way of rational criticism, till discovering, by a sort of accident, that many of them depend on principles formerly explained, I gladly embrace the opportunity to show the influence of these principles where it would be the least expected. Confining myself therefore to such figures, I am luckily freed from much trash, without dropping, as far as I remember, any trope or figure that merits a proper name. And I begin with Prosopopeia, or Personification, which is justly entitled to the first place.

SECT. 1.

PERSONIFICATION.

THE bestowing sensibility and voluntary motion upon things inanimate, is so bold a figure, as to require, one should imagine, very peculiar circumstances for operating the delusion: and yet, in the language of poetry, we find a variety of expressions, which, though commonly reduced to that figure, are used without ceremony, or any sort of preparation: as, for example, thirsty ground, hungry church-yard, furious dart, angry ocean. These epithets, in their proper meaning, are attributes of sensible beings. What is their meaning when applied to things inanimate? Do they make us conceive the ground, the church-yard, the dart, the ocean, to be endued with animal functions? This is a curious inquiry; and whether so or not, it cannot be declined in handling the present subject.

The mind, agitated by certain passions, is prone to bestow sensibility upon things inanimate.* This is an additional instance of the influence of passion upon our opinions and belief. I give examples: Antony, mourning over the body of Cæsar, murdered in the senatehouse, vents his passion in the following words:

Chap. 2. part 5.

Antony. O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,

That I am meek and gentle with these butchers.

Thou art the ruins of the noblest man

That ever lived in the tide of time.-Julius Casar, act 3. sc. 4.

Here Antony must have been impressed with a notion that the body of Cæsar was listening to him, without which the speech would be foolish and absurd. Nor will it appear strange, considering what is said in the chapter above cited, that passion would have such power over the mind of man. In another example of the same kind, the earth, as a common mother, is animated to give refuge against a father's unkindness:

Almeria. O Earth! behold I kneel upon thy bosom,
And bend my flowing eyes to stream upon
Thy face, imploring thee that thou wilt yield!
Open thy bowels of compassion; take

Into thy womb, the last and most forlorn

Of all thy race. Hear me, thou common parent!
-I have no parent else.- -Be thou a mother;
And step between me and the curse of him,
Who was who was, but is no more, a father;
But brands my innocence with horrid crimes;
And, for the tender names of child and daughter,

Now calls me murderer and parricide.—Mourning Bride, act 4. sc. 7.

Plaintive passions are extremely solicitous for vent; and a soliloquy commonly answers the purpose: but when such a passion becomes excessive, it cannot be gratified but by sympathy from others; and if denied that consolation in a natural way, it will convert even things inanimate into sympathizing beings. Thus, Philoctetes complains to the rocks and promontories of the isle of Lemnos ;* and Alcestes dying, invokes the sun, the light of day, the clouds, the earth, her husband's palace, &c.† Moschus, lamenting the death of Bion, conceives that the birds, the fountains, the trees, lament with him. The shepherd, who in Virgil bewails the death of Daphnis, expresses himself thus:

Again,

Again,

Daphni, tuum Ponos etiam ingemuisse leones

Interitum, montesque feri silvæque loquuntur.-Eclogue, v. 27.

Illum etiam lauri, illum etiam flevere myricæ.

Pinifer illum etiam sola sub rupe jacentem

Menalus, et gelidi fleverunt saxa Lycoi.-Eclogue, x. 13.

Ho vista al pianto mio

Responder per pietate i sassi e l'onde;

E sospirar le fronde

Ho visto al pianto mio.

Ma non ho visto mai,

Ne spero di vedere

Compassion ne la crudele, e bella.-Aminta di Tasso, act 1, sc. 2.

That such personification is derived from nature, will not admit the

* Philoctetes of Sophocles, act 4. sc. 2. t Alcestes of Euripides, act 2. sc. 1.

least remaining doubt, after finding it in poems of the darkest ages and remotest countries. No figure is more frequent in Ossian's works; for example:

The battle is over, said the King, and I behold the blood of my friends. Sad is the heath of Lena, and mournful the oaks of Cromla.

Again:

The sword of Gaul trembles at his side, and longs to glitter in his hand. King Richard, having got intelligence of Bolingbroke's invasion, says, upon landing in England from his Irish expedition, in a mixture of joy and resentment,

-I weep for joy

To stand upon my kingdom once again.

Dear earth, I do salute thee with my hand,

Though rebels wound thee with their horses' hoofs.

As a long parted mother with her child

Plays fondly with her tears, and smiles in meeting;
So weeping, smiling, greet I thee, my earth,
And do thee favour with my royal hands.
Feed not thy sov'reign's foe, my gentle earth,
Nor with thy sweets comfort his rav'nous sense :
But let thy spiders that suck up thy venom,
And heavy-gaited toads, lie in their way;
Doing annoyance to the treacherous feet,
Which with usurping steps do trample thee.
Yield stinging nettles to mine enemies;
And, when they from thy bosom pluck a flower,
Guard it, I pr'ythee, with a lurking adder;
Whose double tongue may with a mortal touch
Throw death upon thy sov'reign's enemies.
Mock not my senseless conjuration, Lords;

This earth shall have a feeling; and these stones
Prove armed soldiers, ere her native king

Shall faulter under foul rebellious arms. -Richard II. act 3. sc. 2.

After a long voyage, it was customary among the ancients to salute the natal soil. A long voyage being of old a greater enterprize than at present, a safe return to one's country, after much fatigue and danger, was a delightful circumstance; and it was natural to give the natal soil a temporary life, in order to sympathize with the traveller. See an example, Agamemnon of Eschylus, act 3, in the beginning. Regret for leaving a place one has been accustomed to, has the same effect.*

Terror produceth the same effect; it is communicated in thought to every thing around, even to things inanimate :

Speaking of Polyphemus,

Clamorem immensum tollit, quo pontus et omnes
Intremuere undæ, penitusque exterrita tellus

Italiæ.

As when old Ocean roars,

Eneid, iii. 672.

And heaves huge surges to the trembling shores.-Iliad. ii. 249.

Go, view the settling sea. The stormy wind is laid; but the billows still tremble on the deep, and seem to fear the blast.-Fingal.

* Philoctetes of Sophocles, at the close.