The rising of the fun, or the morning, is thus magnificently defcribed by STATIUS: Aurora, rifing from her eastern bed, Glanc'd on the fkies, and night before her fled; VIRGIL, instead of faying it is near fun-fet, thus describes that feafon of the day, See from the villas tops the fmoke afcend, PINDAR thus represents the moon at full: The full-grown moon upon her throne of gold * Et jam Mygdoniis elata cubilibus alto And STATII Thebaid. lib. ii. ver. 134. + Et jam fumma procul villarum culmina fumant, Majorefque cadunt altis de montibus umbræ. VIRGIL, Eclog.i. ver. 83, 84. i And pour'd her rays, that fhone ferenely bright, Full on the eye that guides the train of night t ‡. In the poem, intitled, Bishop Ridley's Ghost, printed in the year 1745, we have the following Periphrafis: Her court*, detefted fight! exulting swarm'd I fhall conclude the inftances of circumlocution, as used for the purposes of elegance and beauty, with fome lines that I have fomewhere met with, in which our country is thus described: This royal throne of kings, this fcepter'd isle, This fortress built by nature for herself, $4. † Δίχομηνις ολον χρυσαρματο Εσπέρας οφθαλμον ανεφλεξέ μηνα. Olymp. od. iii. ver. 35, 36. Mr BLACKWALL, by somepas oplaλμov, understands the evening-ftar, as is evident from his translation of the paffage, The night's bright emprefs, in her golden car, 4. Many are the examples of this Figure, that might be produced from Scripture, but the following fhall fuffice: Job iv. 19. "Our bodies "are ftiled houfes of clay;" and 2 Cor. v. 1. The earthly house of this tabernacle." The grave is described, Job xi. 21. as " the land of "darkness, and the fhadow of death; a land of "darkness, as darkness itself, and of the shadow ss of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness." DAVID's resolution not to go to his house, and go to rest, is expressed in a Periphrafis Pfalm cxxxii. 3, 4. " Surely, I SS SS will not come into the tabernacle of my house, ss nor go up into my bed: I will not give sleep " to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eye-lids, 35 until I find out a place for the LORD, an ha bitation for the mighty Gon of Jacob:" and Job. xxiii. 14. " Behold, this day, says JOSHUA, I " am going the way of all the earth;" that is, I am about to die. "The Disciple whom JESUS loved, and who leaned on his breast at fupper," is a Periphrafis of the Apoftle JOHN, John xxi. 20. And Job xviii. 13. " the plague," or fome very deadly disease, is ftiled " the firft-born of death;" and verfe 14. Death is ftiled" the king of ter "Ssrors." § 5. LONGINUS has a fection upon the Periphrafis, which I fhall give my Readers. "None, in my opinion, can doubt whether the Periphrafis is not a fource of fublimity. For as in mufic, an important word is rendered more fweet Q3 by 66 "by the divifions which are run barmoniously upon "it; fo a Periphrasis fweetens a difcourfe, car"ried on in propriety of language, and contributes very much to the ornament of it, especially if "there be no jarring or difcord in it, but every "part be judiciously and mufically tempered. PLATO "is fufficient to confirm this obfervation, from "a passage in the beginning of his Funeral Ora tion. They truly receive from us the honours they deferve; and, after they have received "them, they go the way that fate ordains; "being led out publickly by the city, and pri❝vately by their friends. He calls Death, the "way that fate ordains; and funeral rites, he ftiles a public conducting from our country. Does not PLATO greatly heighten the sense by these "means? he takes a common low thought, and enriches it with melody and fweetness. In "like manner XENOPHON fays, You think labour "the guide to a pleafant life: your fouls are en dowed with the best qualification, and what be"comes warriors. You prefer fame to every other "confideration. In the room of, you love to la"bour, he uses a Periphrafis, and says, you think labour the guide to a pleafant life; and, by a like circumlocution, he gives a fublimity to his "praise *" $ 6. * Και μενλοι, Περιφρασις ως εχ υψηλοποιον, εδεις αν, οι μαία δίσαειεν. Ως γαρ εν Μεσικη δια των Παραφωνών καλυμένον ο κυριῶ φθοίγει ηδίων αποτελείται, όπως η Περιφρασις πολλακις συμφθεγείας τη κυριολογίας και εις κόσμον επιπολυ συνηχει και § 6. The ufes of this Figure may be learnt from its definition. I will add, that the Periphrafis not only guards our difcourfes from offence, and beautifully embellifhes them, but that it alfo gives an agreeable variety to our compositions, and fometimes, as LONGINUS has ihewn, concluces much to elevate them. But let us beware of a cumbrous circumlocution of words, without any of the abovementioned uses anfwered by them, fome inftances of which we have in Mr POPE's Art of Sinking in Poetry. Who would think that the following lines, fhould mean no more than light the fire? Bring forth fome remnant of Promothean theft σ 66 And 22; μαλιςα αν μη εχη φυσωδές τι και αμεσον, αλλ' ηδεως και κράμενον. ΙκανΘ- δε τε1ο τεκμηρίωσαι και Πλαίων κατα την εισβολην τε Επιταφίς, “ε Εργω μεν ημιν οι δ' έχεσι τα προσησε κονία σφισιν αυτοίς, αν τυχονίες πορευονία, την ειμαρμένην σε πορείαν προπεμφθενίες κοινη μεν απο της πόλεως. ίδια δε εκας Θ' από των προσηκούλων.” Ουκ εν τον θανατον είπεν, ειμαρμενήν πορείαν, το δε τελυχηκεναι των νομιζόμενων, προπομπην τινα δημοσιαν υπο της πατρίδα.” Αρα δη τέλοις μετριὼς ωγόσε τὴν νοησιν, η ψιλην λαβων την λέξιν εμελοποίησε, καθαπερ αρμονίαν τινα τή τήν εκ της Περιφράσεως περιχεαμέν ευμελίαν. Και Ξενοφων, * Πονον δε τε ζην ηδεως ηγεμονα νομι 166 66 ** W ζελες καλλιτὸν δὲ πανίων και πολεμικώταίον κλημα εις τας και ψυχας συγκεκομίσθε" επαινέμενοι γαρ μαλλον, η τοις άλλοις και άπασι χαιρέτες” Αντί τ8, πούειν θελετε,” πανον ἡγεμονα τε ζην ηδέως ποιειθε,” ειπών, και τ' αλλ' ομοίως επέκλεινα μεγαλήν τινα έννοιαν τω επαινώ προσπεριωρίσαίο. LONGINUS de Sublimitate, § 28. 39 |