The fertility of Shakespear's vein betrays him frequently into this error. There is the fame impropriety in another fimile of his : Hers. Good Margaret, run thee into the parlour; Much ado about Nathing, at 3. fc. 1. Rooted grief, deep anguifh, terror, remorfe, def pair, and all the fevere difpiriting paffions, are declared enemies, perhaps not to figurative language in general, but undoubtedly to the pomp and folemnity of comparifon. Upon that account, the fimile pronounced by young Rutland, under terror of death from an inveterate enemy, and praying mercy, is unnatural: So looks the pent-up lion o'er the wretch Third part, Henry VI. a&t 1. fc. 5. Nothing appears more out of place, nor more awkwardly introduced, than the following fimile: Lucia. Farewell, my Portius, Farewell, though death is in the word, for-ever! Portius. Stay, Lucia, ftay; what doft thou fay? for ever? Lucia. Have I not fworn? If, Portius, thy fuccefs Must throw thy brother on his fate, farewell, Oh, how thall I repeat the word, for-ever ! Portius. Thus, o'er the dying lamp th' unfteady flame' Hangs quivering on a point, leaps off by fits, And falls again, as loath to quit its hold.* Thou must not go, my foul ftill hovers o'er thec, And can't get loofe. Cato, at 3. fc. 2. Nor doth the fimile which clofes the first act of the fame tragedy make a better appearance; the fituation there reprefented being too difpiriting for a fimile. A fimile is improper for one who dreads the difcovery of a fecret machination; Zara. The mute not yet return'd! Ha 'twas the King, The King that parted hence! frowning he went; His eyes like meteors roll'd, then darted down Their red and angry beams; as it his fight Would, like the raging Dog-ftar, fcorch the earth, And kindle ruin in its courfe. Mourning Bride, act 5. fc. 3. A man spent and difpirited after lofing a battle, is not disposed to heighten or illuftrate his difcourfe by fimiles: York. With this we charg'd again; but out, alas! We bodg'd again; as I have feen a fwan With bootlefs labour fwim againt the tide, And fpend her ftrength with over-matching waves. Third part, Henry VI. aết 1. fc. 6. Far * This fimile would have a fine effect pronounced by the chorus in a Greek tragedy. Far lefs is a man difpofed to fimiles who is not only defeated in a pitch'd battle, but lies at the point of death mortally wounded: Warwick. My mangled body shows, My blood, my want of ftrength, my fick heart fhows, That I muft yield my body to the earth, Whofe arms gave fhelter to the princely eagle; Whofe top-branch over-peer'd Jove's fpreading tree, Third part, Henry VI. at 5. fc. 3. Queen Katherine, deferted by the King, and in the deepeft affliction on her divorce, could not be difpofed to any fallies of imagination: and for that reafon, the following fimile, however beautiful in the mouth of a fpectator, is fcarce proper in her own; I am the most unhappy woman living, King Henry VIII. a&t 3. Sc. x. Similes thus unfeasonably introduced, are finely ridiculed in the Rehcarfal. Bayes. Now here she must make a fimile. Smith. Where's the neceffity of that, Mr. Bayes? Bayer. Becaufe fhe's furprifed; that's a general rule; you must ever make a fimile when you are furprised; 'tis a new way of writing. A comparison is not always faultlefs even where it is properly introduced. I have endeavoured above to to give a general view of the different ends to which a comparison may contribute: a comparison, like other human productions, may fall short of its aim; of which defect inftances are not rare even among good writers; and to complete the prefent fubject, it will be neceffary to make fome obfervations upon fuch faulty comparisons. I begin with obferving, that nothing can be more erroneous than to inftitute a comparison too faint; a diftant refemblance or contraft fatigues the mind with its obfcurity, instead of amusing it and tends not to fulfil any one end of a comparifon. The following fimiles feem to labour under this defect. : Albus ut obfcuro deterget nubila cœlo Molli, Plance, mero. Horat. Carm. 1. 1. ode -Medio dux agmine Turnus 7. Vertitur ar ma tenens, et toto vertice fupra eft. Talibus orabat, talefque miferrima fletus Fata obftant: placidafque viri Deus obftruit aures. L4 Eneid. iv. 437. K. Rich. K. Rich. Give me the crown.-Here coufin, feize the crown, Here, on this fide, my hand; on that fide, thine. The other down, unfeen and full of water: Drinking my griefs, whilft you mount up on high. King John. Oh! Coufin, thou art come to fet mine eye; The tackle of my heart is crack'd and burnt ; And all the throwds wherewith my life fhould fail, King John, act 5. fc. 10. Tork. My uncles both are flain in refcuing me ; Turn back, and fly like thips before the wind, Third part, Henry VI. act 1. fc. 6. The latter of the two fimiles is good: the former, by its faintnefs of refemblance, has no effect but to load the narration with an useless image. The next error I fhall mention is a capital one. In an epic poem, or in a poem upon any elevated fubject, a writer ought to avoid raifing a fimile on a low image, which never fails to bring down the principal fubject. In general, it is a rule, That a grand object ought never to be refembled to one that is diminutive, however delicate the refemblance may be; for it is the peculiar character of a grand object to fix the attention, and fwell the mind; in which state, to contract it to a minute object, is unpleafant. The refembling an object to one that is greater, has, on the |
