But then Lucretian wits abfurdly frame, To fink thofe inbred fears, their impious fcheme; Their fierce rėmorfe, and dream a while at ease; Immediately the Poet lanches into this fine Apo- Thy force alone, Religion, Death disarms, That guides us thro' the safe, tho' gloomy way Where ravish'd minds enjoy, what here they own'd, a God *. Mr THOMSON, in his poem, intitled, Summer, gives us these lines : How then shall I attempt to fing of Him, • Creation, book iv. But But should he hide his face, th' aftonish'd fun, Next follows an Apoftrophe to Deity: And yet was ev'ry fault'ring tongue of men, By human foot untrod, proclaim thy pow'r, They are charming lines in Dr WATTS's Elegy on the Death of the Rev. Mr THOMAS GOUGE: Howe* is a great, but fingle name; Amidst the crowd he ftands alone: The next verses are an addrefs to Deity, and nobly close the poem : Eternal GOD, command his stay, Stretch the dear months of his delay: O we could with his age were one immortal day! But when the flaming chariot 's come, And fhining guards t'attend thy prophet home, Amidst a thousand weeping eyes, Send an ELISHA down, a foul of equal fize, Or burn this worthless globe, and take us to the fkiest. The very great Mr JOHN HOWE, then living. MILTON MILTON introduces ADAM, after his fall, as faying, Why comes not Death, Said he, with one thrice acceptable stroke, To end me? Shall Truth fail to keep her word? But Death comes not at call; Juftice divine He then breaks out in an Apostrophe; O woods, O fountains, hillocks, dales, and bow'rs, § 3. The Scripture will afford us many examples of the Apostrophe in various forms. Apostrophes are addrefsed to GOD himself: Gen. xlix. 17, 18. "DAN fhall be a ferpent by the way; an adder in the path that bites the shorfe's heels, fo that his rider fhall fall back"ward. I have waited for thy falvation, O " LORD." So Nehemiah vi. 9. " For they all made us afraid, faying, Their hands fhall be 5 weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, ftrengthen my hands." Thefe Apostrophes are nothing else than the devout afpirations of the mind to Heaven. (2) We find Apostrophes in the facred Writings directed to perfons both living and dead: 2 Sam. i. 24. "Ye daughters of Ifrael, weep over SAUL :" Paradife Loft, book x. line 854 and and verse 26. I am distressed for thee, my brosther JONATHAN." (3) Apoftrophes are fometimes in Scripture addrefsed to brute creatures that are deftitute of reafon; Pfalm cxlviii. 7---10. " Praise the LORD " from the earth, ye dragons, beafts, and all " cattle, and creeping things, and flying fowl." So Joel ii. 22. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness do fpring," &c. (4) We meet with Apostrophes in facred Writ to inanimate and material beings: Jer. xxii. 29. "O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the SS LORD! So Micah vi. 7. " Hear, O ye moun tains, the LORD's controverfy, and ye ftrong s foundations of the earth." So Ifa. i. 2. " Hear, SSO heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled "against me." Upon which passage St JEROM obferves, that" as GoD had called heaven and "earth as his witnesses, when he gave his laws by MOSES to the Ifraelites, Deut. xxxii. 1. fo, "after they had broken those laws, he fummons "them again to be his witnesses, that all the "elements might know that GOD was justly provoked to anger in taking vengeance for "the violation of his commands *." The fenfe of * Quia per Moyfen teftes vocaverat Dominus cœlum & terram dans populo Ifrael legem fuam, Deut. xxxii. poft prævaricationem populi eofdem rurfum in teftimonium vocat, ut cuncta of the passage may be, " that if the heaven and "earth had intelligence and reafon, they would "certainly accufe the Ifraelites of their impiety, "since they and all things in them punctually "anfwer the ends of their creation; while men, "for whom they were made, dare to be delin"quents and apoftates from their GOD." § 4. This Figure is of admirable service to diversify our discourses, as we direct ourselves to different objects from those we first addressed. By this Figure, says Dr WARD *, the speaker "has an opportunity of faying many things with δε greater freedom than perhaps would be con"siftent with decency, if immediately directed "to perfons, themfelves he can admonish, "chide, and cenfure without giving offence." Mr BLACKWALL alfo obferves, that when the "pafsion is violent, it must break out and dis 66 charge itself. By this Figure, the perfon “moved, says he, desires to interest universal nature in his caufe; and appeals to all the "creation for the juftness of his transport †. I fhall conclude with an excellent passage from LONGINUS, in which he defcants on what he takes to be an Apostrophe. "DEMOSTHENES, fays cuncta elementa cognofcant juftè Dominum in ultionem mandatorum fuorum ad iracundiam concitatum. HIERONYM. in Comment. Efa. i. 2. *WARD's Oratory, vol. ii. page 102. + BLACK ALL'S Introduction to the Claffics, page 198. |