Neque audit currus habenas.

Georg. i. 514,

O Prince! (Lycaon's valiant fon reply'd,)
As thine the iteeds, be thine the talk to guide.
The horfes practis'd to their lord's command,
Shall bear the rein, and anfwer to thy hand.

Iliad, v. 288.

The following figures of fpeech feem altogether wild and extravagant, the figurative and proper meaning having no connection whatever. Moving foftnefs, Freshness breathes, Breathing profpect, Flowing fpring, Dewy light, Lucid coolnefs, and many others. of this falfe coin, may be found in Thompson's Seafons.

Secondly, The proper fenfe of the word ought to bear fome proportion to the figurative fenfe, and not foar much above it, nor fink much below it. This rule, as well as the foregoing, is finely illuf trated by Vida ;

Hæc adeo cum fint, cum fas audere poetis

Multa modis multis; tamen obfervare memento
Si quando haud propriis rem mavis dicere verbis,
Tranflatifque aliunde notis, longeque petitis,
Ne nimiam oftendas, quærendo tali, curam.
Namque aliqui exercent vim duram, et rebus inique
Nativam cripiunt formam, indignantibus ipfis,
Invitafque jubent alienos fumere vultus

Haud magis imprudens mihi erit, et luminis expers,
Qui puero ingentes habitus det ferre gigantis,
Quam fiquis flabula alta lares appellet equinos,
Aut crines magnæ genitricis gramina dicat.

Poet. iii. 148.

Thirdly, In a figure of speech, every circumftance ought to be avoided that agrees with the proper fenfe

only,

only, not the figurative fenfe; for it is the latter that expreffes the thought, and the former ferves for no other purpose but to make harmony :

Zacynthus green with ever-fhady groves,
And Ithaca, prefumptuous boaft their loves
Obtruding on my choice a fecond lord,
They prefs the Hymenean rite abhorr'd.

Odyssey, xix. 152.

Zacynthus here standing figuratively for the inhabitants, the defcription of the island is quite out of place it puzzles the reader, by making him doubt whether the word ought to be taken in its proper or figurative fenfe.

Write, my Queen,

And with mine eyes I'll drink the words you fend,
Though ink be made of gall.

Cymbeline, act 1. fc. 2.

The difguft one has to drink ink in reality, is not to the purpose where the fubject is drinking ink figuratively.

In the fourth place, To draw confequences from a figure of fpeech, as if the word were to be underftood literally, is a grofs abfurdity, for it is confounding truth with fiction.

Be Moubray's fins fo heavy in his bofom,
That they may break his foaming courfer's back,
And throw the rider headlong in the lifts,
A caitiff recreant to my coufin Hereford.
Richard II. at 1. fc. 3.

Sin may be imagined heavy in a figurative fenfe : but weight in a proper fenfe belongs to the acceffory only; and therefore to defcribe the effects of weight, is

to

to defert the principal fubject, and to convert the ac ceffory into a principal:

Cromwell. How does your Grace?
Wolfey. Why, well;

Never fo truly happy, my good Cromwell.
I know myself now, and I feel within me
A peace above all earthly dignities,

A till and quiet confcience. The King has cur'd me,
I humbly thank his Grace; and from thefe fhoulders,
Thefe ruin'd pillars, out of pity, taken

A load would sink a navy, too much honour.

Ulyffes fpeaking of Hector;

Henry VIII. at 3. fc. 6,

I wonder now how yonder city ftands,

When we have here the bafe and pillar by us.

Troilus and Creffida, act 4. fc. 9.

Othello. No; my heart is turn'd to ftone: I ftrike it and

it hurts my hand.

Othello, act 4. fc. 5.

Not lefs, even in this defpicable now,

Than when my name fill'd Afric with affrights,
And froze your hearts beneath your torrid zone.
Don Sebaftian, King of Portugal, acts.

How long a fpace, fince first I lov'd, it is !
To look into a glass I fear,

And am furpris'd with wonder, when I miss
Grey hairs and wrinkles there.

Cowley, vol. 1. p. 86.

I chose the flourishing'ft tree in all the park,
With fresheft boughs and fairest head;

I cut my love into his gentle bark,

And in three days behold 'tis dead;
My very written flames fo violent be,
They've burnt and wither'd up the tree.

Cowley, vol. 1. p. 135.

Ah, mighty Love, that it were inward heat
Which made this precious limbeck sweat !

But what, alas! ah what does it avail,
That the weeps tears fo wond'rous cold,
As fcarce the afs's hoof can hold,

So cold, that I admire they fall not hail.

Cowley, vol. 1. p. 132.

Such a play of words is pleasant in a ludicrous poem

Almeria. O Alphonfo, Alphonfo!
Devouring feas have wafh'd thee from my fight,
No time thall rafe thee from my memory;
No, I will live to be thy monument:
The cruel ocean is no more thy tomb;
But in my heart thou art interr'd.

Mourning Bride, act 1. fc. 1.

This would be very right, if there were any inconfiftence, in being interred in one place really, and in another place figuratively,

Je crains que cette faifon
Ne nous amene la pefte;
La gueule du chien celefte
Vomit feu fur l'horifon.
Afin que je m'en delivre,
Je veux lire ton gros livre
Jufques an dernier feüillet :
Tout ce que ta plume trace,
Robinct, a de la glace
A taire trembler juillet.

In me tota ruens Venus
Cyprum deferuit.

Maynard,

Horat. Carm. 1. 1. ode 19.

From confidering that a word ufed in a figurative fenfe fuggefts at the fame time its proper meaning, we difcover a fifth rule, That we ought not to employ a word in a figurative fenfe, the proper fenfe of

which is inconfiftent or incongruous with the fubject: for every inconfiftency, and even.incongruity, though in the expreffion only and not real, is unpleafant.

Interea genitor Tyberini ad fluminis undam
Vulnera ficcabat lymphis-

Eneid, x. 833.

Tres adeo incertos cæca caligine foles
Erramus pelago, totidem fine fidere noctes.

Eneid, iii. 203.

The foregoing rule may be extended to form a fixth, That no epithet ought to be given to the figurative sense of a word that agrees not alfo with its proper fenfe :

Dicat Opuntia

Horat. Carm. lib. 1. ode 27.

Frater Megillæ, quo beatus

Vulnere.

Parcus deorum cultor, et infrequens,
Infanientis dum fapientiæ

Confultus erro. Horat. Carm. lib. 1.ode 34.

Seventhly, The crowding into one period or thought different figures of fpeech, is not lefs faulty than crowding metaphors in that manner: the mind is diftracted in the quick tranfition from one image to another, and is puzzled instead of being pleased:

I am of ladies moft deject and wretched,
That fuck'd the honey of his mufic-vows.