As another instance of this kind, we may consider the following line of VIRGIL,

Ah! may I not with wond'ring eyes review,
After fome beards, my fmall but dear domains *?

Where by the beards, that is, of corn, we may understand the ears of corn; by the ears of corn, corn itself; by corn, the fummer that produces it; and by the fummer, the whole year: so that the

T

fenfe is the fame as if it had been said,

Ah! may I not with wond'ring eyes review,
After fome years, my fmall but dear domains?

This Trope is fomething like an echo in fome fpacious winding dome, which returns again and again upon us before it ceases its found; or may be resembled to the kernels of fome fruits involved in manifold rinds, which must be all ftripped off before we can come at the substance.

§ 4. Though a Metonymy may not be fo necefsary as the Metaphor, nor take fuch a wide compass, yet it is a Trope of very great use and extent. It gives a vast scope and liberty to the fancy: it both adorns and invigorates our stile; or, as Dr WARD defcribes it, "enriches a dif "courfe with an agreeable variety, and gives "both force and beauty to an exprefsion t."

Poft aliquot mea regna videns mirabor ariftas?

+ WARD's Oratory, vol. i. page 414.

Eclog. i. ver. 70.

CHAPTER

§ 1. The definition of a Synecdoche. § 2. (1) A Synecdoche puts the whole for a part; (2) A part for the whole; (3) Ufes a general name for a particular of the fame kind; (4) Ufes a particular name for a general. § 3. That a certain number is put for an uncertain, is to be ascribed to the Synecdoche. § 4. That the plural number shall stand for the fingular, and the fingular for the plural, is owing to the Synecdoche. § 5. The definition of an Antonomasia. § 6. An Antonomafia, (1) Puts a proper for a common name; (2) Puts a common name for a proper. $7. Rule to be observed as to the Antonomafia. §8. The value and ufe of the Synecdoche.

*

CHAPTER V.

The SYNECDOCHE Confidered.

§ 1. A Synecdoche is a Trope, which puts

the name of the whole for a part, or the name of a part for the whole; a general name for a particular under that general, or a particular for the general.

ther.

$2.

F 4

From ouvexdexomar, I comprehend, or receive toge

The bird," ungrafping his fierce talons, drops
His prey into the flood — *

Our LORD commands his Apofties. Mark xvi. 15. to go into all the world, and preach *the gofpel to every creature, that is, to all mankind.

(4) The Synecdache puts a particular name for a general. Thus the Cretan fea signifies in HoACE the fea in general:

Ps

§ 2. (1) The Synecdoche puts the whole for a part. Thus VIRGIL fays,

Parthia fhall drink the Gallic Arar first,
And Tigris fooner quench Germania's thirst *.

*

So the fea may be put for the waves of the fea. In like manner man fhall fometimes, mean the foul of a man, as LAZARUS, Luke xvi. 23. is faid to be in ABRAHAM'S bofom :" and at other times man fhall signify the body, Gen. iii. 19. "Till thou return to the ground," that is, till thy body return to the ground. Thus we fay, fometimes intending only the body, and fometimes only the foul, that man is mortal, or that he is immortal.

(2) A Synecdoche puts a part for the whole. The bead fhall signify the man, the pole the hea vens, the point the fword, the winter the whole year, and the general fhall include both himself and his army. We have inftances of this kind in Scripture; Ifa.vii. 2. " the tribe of ÉPHRAIM" is put for the whole people of Ifrael: and Matt. viii. 8. the Centurion tells our LORD, that he was not worthy that he should come " under his roof," that is, into his house.

(3) The Synecdoche ufes the general name for a particular of the fame kind. Put up your wea pon, that is, your fword. So a bird is used by VIRGIL for an eagle:

The

Aut Ararim Parthus bibet, aut Germania Tigrim.
Eclog. i. ver. 63.