These growing feathers, pluck'd from Caesar's wing, Who else would soar above the view of men, And keep us all in servile fearfulness. JULIUS CESAR.-ACT I. Sc. 1. The following is a miserable jumble of expressions, arising from an unsteady view of the subject, between its figurative and natural appearance: But now from gath'ring clouds destruction pours, DISPENSARY.-CANTO III. To thee the world its present homage pays, POPE'S IMITATION OF HORACE, B. 2. Dryden, in his dedication of the translation of Juvenal, says― When thus, as I may say, before the use of the loadstone, or knowledge of the compass, I was sailing in a vast ocean, without other help than the pole-star of the ancients, and the rules of the French stage among the moderns, &c. There is a time when factions, by the vehemence of their own fermentation, stun and disable one another. BOLINGBROKE. This fault of jumbling the figure and plain expression into one confused mass, is not less common in allegory than in metaphor. A few words more upon allegory. Nothing gives greater pleasure than this figure, when the representative subject bears a strong analogy, in all its circumstances, to that which is represented: but the choice is seldom so lucky; the analogy being generally so faint and obscure, as to puzzle and not please. An allegory is still more difficult in painting than in poetry: the former can show no resemblance but what appears to the eye; the latter has many other resources for showing the resemblance; and, therefore, with respect to what the Abbé du Bos terms mixed allegorical compositions, these may do in poetry; because, in writing, the allegory can easily be distinguished from the historical part; no person, for example, mistakes Virgil's Fame for a real being. But such a mixture in a picture is intolerable; because, in a picture, the objects must appear all of the same kind, wholly real, or wholly emblematical. For this reason, the history of Mary de Medicis, in the palace of Luxembourg, painted by Rubens, is unpleasant by a perpetual jumble of real and allegorical personages, which produce a discordance of parts, and an obscurity upon the whole; witness, in particular, the tablature represent ing the arrival of Mary de Medicis at Marseilles, where, together with the real personages, the Nereids and Tritons appear sounding their shells; such a mixture. of fiction and reality in the same group is strangely absurd. The picture of Alexander and Roxana, described by Lucian, is gay and fanciful; but it suffers by the allegorical figures. It is not in the wit of man to invent an allegorical representation deviating farther from any shadow of resemblance, than one exhibited by Lewis XIV. anno 1664; in which an enormous chariot, intended to represent that of the sun, is dragged along, surrounded with men and women, representing the four ages of the world, the celestial signs, the seasons, the hours, &c.; a monstrous composition, suggested, probably, by Guido's tablature of Aurora, and still more absurd. In an allegory, as well as in a metaphor, terms ought to be chosen that properly and literally are applicable to the representative subject; nor ought any circumstance to be added that is not proper to the representative subject, however justly it may be applicable, properly or figuratively, to the principal. We proceed to the next head, which is, To examine in what circumstances these figures are proper, and in what improper. This inquiry is not altogether superseded by what is said upon the same subject in the chapter of Comparisons; because, upon trial, it will be found, that a short metaphor, or allegory, may be proper, where a simile, drawn out to a greater length, and in its nature more solemn, would scarce be relished. And first, A metaphor, like a simile, is excluded from common conversation, and from the description of cr dinary incidents. Second, In expressing any severe passion that wholly occupies the mind, metaphor is improper. For which reason, the following speech of Macbeth is faulty: Methought I heard a voice cry, Sleep no more! The following example of deep despair, beside the highly figurative style, hath more the air of raving than of sense: Calista. Is it the voice of thunder, or my father? FAIR PENITENT.-ACT IV. The metaphor I next introduce is sweet and lively; but it suits not a fiery temper inflamed with passion. Parables are not the language of wrath, venting itself without restraint: Chamont. You took her up a little tender flower, Where the sun always shines: there long she flourish'd, Till at the last a cruel spoiler came, Cropt this fair rose, and rifled all its sweetness, ORPHAN. ACT IV. The following speech, full of imagery, is not natural in grief and dejection of mind: Gonsalez. O my son! from the blind dotage For thee I've been ambitious, base, and bloody; While t'other bore the crown (to wreath thy brow,) There is an enchanting picture of deep distress in Macbeth,* where Macduff is represented lamenting his wife and children, inhumanly murdered by the tyrant. Stung to the heart with the news, he questions the messenger over and over; not that he doubted the fact, but that his heart revolted against so cruel a misfortune. After struggling some time with his grief, he turns from his wife and children to their savage butcher, and then gives vent to his resentment, but still with manliness and dignity. Oh! I could play the woman with mine eyes, And braggart with my tongue. But, gentle Heav'n! Cut short all intermission; front to front Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself: Then Heav'n forgive him too. The whole scene is a delicious picture of human nature. One expression only seems doubtful; in examining the messenger, Macduff expresses himself thus: He hath no children. All my pretty ones! Did you say, all? what, all? Oh, hell-kite! all? What! All my pretty little chickens and their dam, Metaphorical expression, I am sensible, may sometimes be used with grace, where a regular simile would be intolerable; but there are situations so severe and dispiriting, as not to admit even the slightest metaphor. It requires great delicacy of taste to determine with firmness, whether the present case be of that kind; I incline to think it is; and yet I would not willingly alter a single word of this admirable scene. But metaphorical language is proper when a man struggles to bear with dignity or decency a misfortune * Act IV. Sc. 6 T however great: the struggle agitates and animates the mind: Wolsey. Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness! HENRY VIII.-Act III. Sc. 6. SECTION VII.—Figure of Speech. In the section immediately foregoing, a figure of speech is defined, "The using a word in a sense different from what is proper to it ;" and the new or uncommon sense of the word is termed the figurative sense. The figurative sense must have a relation to that which is proper; and the more intimate the relation is, the figure is the more happy. How ornamental this figure is to language, will not be readily imagined by any one who hath not given peculiar attention; and therefore I shall endeavor to unfold its capital beauties and advantages. In the first place, a word used figuratively, or in a new sense, suggests, at the same time, the sense it commonly bears: and thus it has the effect to present two objects; one signified by the figurative sense, which may be termed the principal object; and one signified by the proper sense, which may be termed accessory; the principal makes a part of the thought; the accessory is merely ornamental. In this respect, a figure of speech is precisely similar to concordant sounds in music, which, without contributing to the melody, makes it harmonious. I explain myself by examples. Youth, by a figure of speech, is termed the morning of life. This expression signifies youth, the principal object, which enters into the thought: it suggests, at the same time, the proper sense of morn ing; and this accessory object, being in itself beautiful, and connected by resemblance to the principal object, |