9. It may be afked: What pause is proper after an ironical expreffion? In answer to this enquiry, it must be observed, that there are two forts of irony, the grave and the exclamatory. The former may be terminated by a period; the latter, by a note of exclamation. EXAMPLES. FLORIO was a delicate youth, fomething like Milo, who carried a bull on his fhoulders, knocked him down with his fift, and then eat him for his breakfast *. O excellent guardian of the sheep!-a wolf! -Fair patrimony That I must leave you, fons †! * De quo [Milone] hoc proditur, quòd ictu nudæ manûs taurum fecit victimam; eumque folidum, quâ mactaverat die abfumpfit folus, non gravatus. Super hoc NIHIL DUBIUM: Solin. c. 4. Athen. Deipnof. 1. x. † Par. Loft, x. 818.- Some Some writers have afferted *, but, I believe, without foundation, that the Germans mark an ironical expreffion by inverting the note of exclamation thus: WHAT an admirable poet ¡ What an exquifite musician ¡ We have no fuch mark of diftinction; because perhaps it may be fuppofed, that the character of the perfon commended, the air of contempt, which appears in the writer, and the extravagance of the compliment, will fufficiently discover the irony, without any particular notation +. However, what the celebrated Le Clerc has fuggefted upon this subject deferves confideration. It is his opinion, that, unless a more proper mark could be invented, an ironical expreffion ought to be distinguished by a note of exclamation. He accordingly recommends this point in feveral paffages in the Æneid. The claffical reader fhall have the sentiments of this learned writer in his own words : * GREENWOOD's Eng. Gram. part iii. c. 5. MANSON'S Grammar. Ironia, fays Quintilian, aut pronunciatione intelligitur, aut perfonâ, aut rei naturâ, Lib. viii. c. 6. "In "In Ironiâ idem fignum (nifi quis mallet novum inveniri, quod in ceteris etiam adfectibus exprimendis fieri poffet) rectiùs adpone-. retur, quàm omitteretur. Sic Æneid. i. 39. ubiJunonis, irâ æftuantis, animus defcribitur: -Méne in pto defiftere victam? Nec poffe Italiâ Teucrorum avertere regem ? "Malim poft fatis fignum Ironiæ addere, quàm lectori rem intelligendam relinquere, cùm multi non intelligant, quâ de re dixi, p. ii. fect. i. c. 16. § 24. Similiter paullò pòft, verfu 49. -Et quifquam numen Junonis adoret "Præftat fignum Ironicæ exclamationis, ejúfque indignatione mistæ, addere, quàm interrogationis, quæ hîc nulla eft. Idem factum velim, poft verfum 95, Æneidos iv. Egregiam verò laudem, et spólia ampla refertis "Non fum nefcius ex re ipfâ fatis liquere, effe hîc ironiam; fed nihil vetat figno hoc quoque quoque indicari ; et funt loca, ut diximus, ubi omnes figuram non viḍent *.” With refpect to thefe and other fimilar paffages, which may be occafionally introduced, the obfervations of this excellent author are certainly juft. But as it would be abfurd to ufe a note of exclamation, inftead of a period, at the end of every fentence, throughout a long ironical difcourfe, this point should not always accompany an irony, as its diftinguishing characteristic. On this occafion, it may not be improper to caution the young and unexperienced writer against the immoderate ufe of exclamations. Whenever we see a page in profe, profufely interspersed with points of admiration, we generally find it full of unnatural reveries, rants, and bombaft. The facred writings, and particularly the Pfalms, abound with expreffions of the warmest piety, and the most elevated descriptions of the divine nature. On thefe fublime fubjects, fa * CLER. Art. Crit. p. iii. fect. 1. c. 11. § 19. natics and enthufiafts would have ufed many rapturous exclamations. But our tranflators, in conformity to the fober majefty of the original, have feldom introduced the note of admiration. And in this particular they deferve applaufe; because the rational and manly genius of true religion does not consist in exclamations, flights, and ecftafies; but in calmnefs and compofure, in energy of thought, and the plain, unaffected language of fincerity and truth. CHAP. |