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In bigness to furpafs earth's giant fons,

Now lefs than smallest dwarfs in fmalleft room
Throng numberless, like that Pygmean race
Beyond the Indian mount, or fairy elves,
Whose midnight revels by a forest side,
Or fountain, fome belated peasant sees,
Or dreams he fees, while over head the moon
Sits arbitrefs, and nearer to the earth

Wheels her pale courfe; they, on their mirth and dance
Intent, with jocund music charm his ear;

At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds f.

§ 9. We fhall conclude with fome directions concerning the right use and management of the Parabole.

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And,

1. We should take heed that our similies are clear and confpicuous. "In Comparisons, fays QUINTILIAN, we fhould be particularly care"ful that what we adopt into our discourses, for "the fake of similitude, be not obfcure or un"known, as the thing which we employ for the

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illuftrating another, ought to be clearer than "the thing we design to illuftrate ‡."

2. Let our Comparisons be just and exact; that is, let there be a real resemblance between the thing that we compare, and the thing to which Gg 3

+ Paradife Loft, book i. line 775.

it

Quo in genere id eft præcipue cuftodiendum, ne id quod fimilitudinis gratia aicivimus, aut obfcurum fit, aut ignotum. Debet enim, quod illuftrandæ alterius rei gratia affumitur, ipfum effe clarius eo quod illuminat. QUINTIL. lib. viii. cap. 3. $5.

it is compared, for otherwife we shall only pour out an empty torrent of words, when we fhould be promoting the inftruction, elevation, or entertainment of the mind. I grant indeed, that some small disagreement in fome minuter circumstances may not destroy the beauty or strength of the Parabole; though by how much the greater the analogy, and the more exact the parallel in all and every particular, by fo much the more ftriking and powerful may be the Comparison. There is none that occurs to my prefent thoughts, that affords a finer inftance of exactness than the following simile in MILTON, which we have already cited, though for another purpose, The Poet,

fpeaking of the fallen angels, fays,

Yet faithful how they ftood,

Their glory wither'd: as when Heaven's fire
Hath fcath'd the foreft-oaks or mountain-pines,
With finged top their ftately growth, tho' bare,
Stands on the blafted heath *

"This is a very beautiful and clofe simile: "it represents the majestic stature and withered glory of the angels; and the laft with great "propriety, since their luftre was impaired by thunder, as well as that of the trees; and besides, the blafted heath gives us fome idea of that singed burning foil, on which the an"gels were standing. HOMER and VIRGIL frequently ufe Comparisons from trees, to ex« prefs

*Paradife Loft, book i. line 611.

prefs the ftature or falling of an hero; but "none of them are applied with fuch variety "and propriety of circumftances as this of. "MILTON *.”

But yet, at the fame time that we are pleading for a close analogy and resemblance in our Comparisons, it is allowed that our Comparisons may sometimes have an agreement only in one point of view, and not in another, and yet be good and juft Comparifons. If I fay, a Poet mounts as on a wing of fire, it is no bad simile; though the genius of the Poet, and the ardor of the fire, and not its deftructive nature, are only to be considered in the Parabole. And if our LORD fays, that he will come upon the church at Sardis as a thief †, it is not a faulty Comparifon, though the furprife of the thief, and not his intention is designed in the simile. "It is 66 not necefsary, fays CICERO, that there fhould "be a perfect resemblance of one thing in all refpects to another; but it is necessary that a thing fhould bear a likeness to that to which "it is compared ‡.”

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3. Though we fhould always take great care that our similies be clear and obvious, let us fometimes endeavour to derive our similies from fomething

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See an Effay upon MILTON's Imitations of the Ancients, page 24.

+ Rev. iii. 3.

Non enim res tota toti rei neceffe eft fimilis fit, fed ad ifum, ad quod conferetur, fimilitudinem habeat, oportet. CICER. ad HEREN. lib. iv. n. 48.

fomething uncommon †, or from fomething, which, though common, yet may not have been ufually applied to the purpose for which we employ it.

common.

Our fimilies may be taken from fomething un An inftance of this kind we may perhaps find in the following Comparison. An Orator, fpeaking of an Author, illuftrates the peculiar elegance which distinguishes his performances by the following Comparison. “What"ever was the fubject he undertook, and there "was none to which his ready genius could not "apply itself, he illuminated it with I know "not what light, peculiar to himself, not un"like that golden ray of TITIAN, which, shin"ing through his whole tablet, avouches it for his own 1.

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And again; our similies may be taken from fomething common, but which may not have been before applied to the purpose for which we employ it. As an example of this fort, we may view the Comparison at the conclusion of the following passage. "The meaneft mechanic, "who employs his love and gratitude, the best "of

Nam quo quæque (fc. fimilitudo) longius petita eft, hoc plus affert novitatis, atque inexpectata magis eft. QUINTIL. lib. viii. cap 3. § 5.

In quodcunque opus fe parabat (& per omnia fare verfatile illius fe duxit ingenium) nefcio qua luce fibi foli propria, id illuminavit; haud diffimili ei aureo Titiani radio, qui per totam tabulam glifcens eam vere fuam denunciat. MELMOTH'S Letters, vol. ii. p. 50.

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"of his affections upon GoD, the beft of beings; who has a particular regard and efteem "for the virtuous few, compassion for the dif"trefsed, and a fixed and extensive good-will "for all; who, inftead of triumphing over his "enemies, ftrives to fubdue his greatest ene66 my of all, his unruly passion; who promotes "a good understanding between neighbours, "composes and adjusts differences, does juftice to an injured character, and acts of charity to "distressed worth; who cherishes his friends, forgives his enemies, and even ferves them "in any prefsing exigency; who abhors vice,

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and pities the vicious perfon: fuch a man, "however low in ftation, has jufter pretensions "to the title of heroifm, as heroifm implies a "certain nobleness and elevation of foul, breaking forth into correfpondent actions, than he "who conquers armies, or makes the most.

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glaring figure in the eye of an injudicious "world. He is like one of the fixed stars, "which though, through the disadvantage of

its situation, it may be thought to be very

little, inconsiderable, and obscure by unskil"ful beholders, yet is as truly great and glo"rious in itself as thofe heavenly lights, which,

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by being placed more commodiously to our view, shine with more diftinguished lustre *” In the fame clafs of Comparifons let me alfo place the simile which clofes the following verfes.

SEED's Difcourfes, vol. i. p. 12.

Far

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