am haufit; quafi non vecturam amplius Cæfarem, Cæfarifque tortunam. Dec. 1. l. 1.

Neither do I approve, in Shakespear, the fpeech of King John, gravely exhorting the citizens of Angiers to a furrender; though a tragic writer has much greater latitude than a hiftorian. Take the following fpecimen :

The cannons have their bowels full of wrath ;
And ready mounted are they to fpit forth
Their iron-indignation 'gainst your walls.

Act 2. fc. 3.

Secondly, If extraordinary marks of respect to a perfon of low rank be ridiculous, no lefs fo is the perfonification of a low fubject. This rule chiefly regards defcriptive perfonification; for a fubject can hardly be low that is the cause of a violent paffion; in that circumftance, at leaft, it must be of importance. But to affign any rule other than tafte merely, for avoiding things below even defcriptive perfonification, will, I am afraid, be a hard task. A poet of fuperior genius, poffeffing the power of inflaming the mind, may take liberties that would be too bold in others. Homer appears not extravagant in animating his darts and arrows: nor Thompson in animating the feafons, the winds, the rains, the dews; he even ventures to animate the diamond, and doth it with propriety:

That polish'd bright

And all its native luftre let abroad,

Dares, as it fparkles on the fair-one's breaft,
With vain ambition emulate her eyes.

But there are things familiar and bafe, to which perfonification cannot defcend. In a compofed ftate of

mind, to animate a lump of matter even in the most
rapid flight of fancy, degenerates into burlesque :

How now! What noife! what fpirits poffeffed with hafte,
That wounds th' unrefifting poftern with thefe ftrokes.
Shakespear, Meafure for Measure, act 4. Sc. 6.

Or from the shore

The plovers when to scatter o'er the heath,
And ling their wild notes to the lift'ning wafte.
Thompson, Spring, 1. 23.

Speaking of a man's hand cut off in battle:

Te decifa fuum, Laride, dextera quærit :
Semianimefque micant digiti: ferrumque retractant.
Eneid, x. 395.

The perfonification here of a hand is infufferable, efpecially in a plain narration: not to mention that fuch a trivial incident is too minutely described.

The fame obfervation is applicable to abftra&t terms, which ought not to be animated unless they have fome natural dignity. Thompson, in this article, is licentious; witnefs the following inftances out of many :

O vale of bliss! O foftly fwelling hills!
On which the power of cultivation lies,
And joys to fee the wonders of his toil.

Summer, l. 1435.

Then fated Hunger bids his brother Thirst
Produce the mighty bowl:

Nor wanting is the brown October, drawn
Mature and perfect, from his dark retreat
Of thirty years; and now his honeft front
Flames in the light refulgent.

N 2

Autumn, l. 516.

Thirdly,

Thirdly, It is not fufficient to avoid improper fubjects: fome preparation is neceffary, in order to roufe the mind; for the imagination refufes its aid, till it be warmed at least, if not inflamed. Yet Thompfon, without the least ceremony or preparation, introduceth each season as a fenfible being:

From brightening fields of æther fair difclos'd,
Child of the fun, refulgent Summer comes,

In pride of youth, and felt through Nature's depth.
He comes attended by the fultry hours,

And ever fanning breezes, on his way;

While from his ardent look, the turning Spring
Averts her blufhful face, and earth, and fkies,
All fmiling to his hot dominion leaves.

Summer, 1. 1.

See Winter comes, to rule the vary'd year,
Sullen and fad with all his rifing train,
Vapours and clouds and forms.

Winter, l. 1.

This has violently the air of writing mechanically without taste. It is not natural that the imagination of a writer fhould be fo much heated at the very commencement; and, at any rate, he cannot expect fuch ductility in his readers. But if this practice can be juflified by authority, Thompfon has one of no mean note: Vida begins his firft eclogue in the following words:

Dicite, vos Mufæ, et juvenum memorate querelas;
Dicite; nam motas ipfas ad carmina cautes

Et requieffe fuos perhibent vaga fiumina cursus.

Even Shakespear is not always careful to prepare the mind for this bold figure. Take the following inflance.

Upon thefe taxations,

The

The clothiers all, not able to maintain

The many to them 'longing, have put off
The fpinfters, carders, fullers, weavers; who,
Unfit for other life, compell'd by hunger,
And lack of other means, in defp'rate manner
Daring th' event to th' teeth, are all in uproar,
And Danger ferves among them.

Henry VIII. act 1. fc. 4.

Fourthly, Defcriptive perfonification, ftill more than what is paffionate, ought to be kept within the bounds of moderation. A reader warmed with a beautiful fubject, can imagine, even without paffion, the winds for example, to be animated: but still the winds are the fubject; and any action afcribed to them beyond or contrary to their ufual operation, appearing unnatural, feldom fails to banish the illufion altogether the reader's imagination too far ftrained, refuses its aid; and the defcription becomes obfcure, instead of being more lively and ftriking. In this view, the following paffage, defcribing Cleopatra on fhipboard appears to me exceptionable.

The barge the fat in, like a burnish'd throne,
Burnt on the water: the poop was beaten gold,
Purple the fails, and fo perfum'd, that

The winds were love-fick with 'em.

Antony and Cleopatra, act 2. Sc. 3.

The winds in their impetuous courfe have fo much the appearance of fury, that it is eafy to figure them wreaking their refentment against their enemies, by deftroying houses, fhips, &c. but to figure them lovefick has no refemblance to them in any circumftance. In another paffage, where Cleopatra is alfo the fubject, the perfonification of the air is carried beyond all bounds:

-The city caft

Its people out upon her; and Antony

N3

Inthron'd

Inthron'd i' th' market-place did fit alone,
Whistling to th' air, which but for vacancy,
Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too,

And made a gap in nature.

Antony and Cleopatra, að 2. fc. 3.

The following perfonification of the earth or foil is not lefs wild:

She fhall be dignifi'd with this high honour,
To bear my Lady's train; left the bafe earth
Should from her vefture chance to steal a kiss;
And of fo great a favour growing proud,
Difdain to root the fummer-fwelling flower,
And make rough winter everlaftingly.

Two Gentlemen of Verona, act 2. Sc. 7.

Shakespear, far from approving fuch intemperance of imagination, puts this fpeech in the mouth of a ranting lover. Neither can I relish what follows.

Omnia quæ, Phoebo quondam meditante, beatus
Audit Eurotas, juffitque edifcere lauros,

Ille canit.

Virgil. Buc. vi. 82.

The cheerfulness fingly of a paftoral fong, will scarce fupport perfonification in the loweft degree. But admitting, that a river gently flowing may be imagined a fenfible being listening to a fong, I cannot enter into the conceit of the river's ordering his laurels to learn the fong here all refemblance to any thing real is quite loft. This however is copied literally by one of our greatest poets; early indeed, before maturity of tafte or judgment:

Thames heard the numbers as he flow'd along,
And bade his willows learn the moving fong.
Pope's Paflorals, paft. 4. 1. 13.