Hotfpur.

-Would to heav'n

Thy name in arms were now as great as mine!

Pr. Henry. I'll make it greater, ere I part from
thee;

And all the budding honours on thy creft
I'll crop, to make a garland for my head.

First Part of Henry IV. act 5. fc. 9

Figuring a man who hath acquired great reputa-
tion and honour to be a tree full of fruit :

Oh, boys, this story
The world may read in me: my body's mark'd
With Roman Swords; and my report was once
First with the best of note. Cymbeline lov'd me;
And when a foldier was the Theme, my name
Was not far off then was I as a tree,
Whole boughs did bend. with fruit. But in one
night,

A ftorm or robbery, call it what you will,

Shook down my mellow hangings, nay my leaves;
And left me bare to weather.

Cymbeline act 3, for 30

I am aware that the term metaphor has been ufed in a more extensive sense than I give it; but I thought it of confequence, in matters of fome intricacy, to feparate things that differ from each other, and to confine words within their moft proper fenfe. An Allegory differs from a metaphor; and what I would chufe to call a figure of speech, differs from both. Ifhall proceed to explain these differences. A metaphor is defined above to be an operation of the imagination, figuring one thing to be another. An allegory requires no operation of the imagination, nor is one thing figured to be another: it confifts in chufing a fubject having properties or circumftances refembling those of the principal fubject; and the former is defcribed in fuch a manner as to reprefent the latter. The fubject

;

fubject thus reprefented is kept out of view; we are left to discover it by reflection and we are pleased with the discovery, because it is our own work. Quintilian gives the following inftance of an allegory,

*

O navis, referent in mare te novi
Fluctus. O quid agis? fortiter occupa portum.
Horat. lib. 1. ode 14.

and explains it elegantly in the following words: "Totufque ille Horatii locus, quo navim pro re"publica, fluctuum tempeftates pro bellis civili"bus, portum pro pace atque concordia, dicit." There cannot be a finer or more correct allegory than the following, in which a vineyard is put for God's own people the Jews.

Thou haft brought a vine out of Egypt: thou haft caft out the heathen, and planted it. Thou didft cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with its fhadow, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. Why haft thou then broken down her hedges, fo that all which pafs do pluck her? The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beaft doth devour it. Return we beseech thee, O God of hofts look down from heaven, and behold and vifit this vine, and the vineyard thy right hand hath planted, and the branch thou madeft ftrong for thyself.

:

Pfalm 80

In a word, an allegory is in every respect fimilar to an hieroglyphical painting, excepting only, that words are used inftead of colours. Their effects are precisely the fame. An hieroglyphic raises two images in the mind; one feen, which reprefents one not seen. An allegory does the fame.

* L. 8. cap. 6. sect. 2.)

The

The reprefentative fubject is defcribed; and it is by resemblance that we are enabled to apply the defcription to the fubject represented,

In a figure of fpeech, neither is there any fictiat on of the imagination employ'd, nor a reprefentative fubject introduced. A figure of fpeech, as imply'd from its name, regards the expreffion only, not the thought; and it may be defined, the employing a word in a fenfe different from what is proper to it. Thus youth or the beginning of life, is expreffed figuratively by morning of life. Morning is the beginning of the day; and it is transferred fweetly and eafily to fignify the beginning of any other feries, life especially, the progrefs of which is reckoned by days.

ין

Figures of fpeech are referved for a separate section; but a metaphor and allegory are fo much connected, that it is neceffary to handle them together, the rules for diftinguishing the good from the bad, are common to both. We fhall therefore proceed to these rules, after adding fome examples to illuftrate the nature of an allegory. Horace speaking of his love to Pyrrha, which was now extinguished, expreffes himself thus.

Me tabulâ facer

G Votivâ paries indicat uvida

Sufpendiffe potenti

Veftimenta maris Deo.

Again,

Carm. I. I. ode

5.

Phoebus volentem prælia me loqui,

Victas et urbes, increpuit lyrâ:

Ne parva Tyrrhenum per æquor

Vela darem.

Carm. 1. 4.

ode 15.

Queen. Great Lords, wife men ne'er fit and wail

their lofs,

But chearly feek how to redrefs their harms.

What

What though the mast be now blown overboard,
The cable broke, the holding-anchor loft,
And half our failors swallow'd in the flood?
Yet lives our Pilot ftill. Is't meet that he
Should leave the helm, and, like a fearful lad,
With tearful eyes add water to the fea;
And give more ftrength to that which hath too
much?

While in his moan the ship splits on the rock,
Which Industry and courage might have fav'd?
Ah, what a fhame! ah, what a fault were this!
Third Part Henry VI. act 5. fc. 5.

Oroonoko. Ha Thou haft rous'd

The lion in his den, he ftalks abroad

And the wide foreft trembles at his roar.

I find the danger now. Oroonoko, act 3. Sc. 2.

The rules that govern metaphors and Allegories, are of two kinds: thofe of the firft kind concern the conftruction of a metaphor or allegory, and af certain what are perfect and what are faulty: thofe of the other kind concern the propriety or impropriety of Introduction, in what circumftances these figures may be admitted, and in what circumftances they are out of place. I begin with rules of the first kind; fome of which coincide with thofe already given with respect to fimiles; fome are peculiar to metaphors and allegories.

And in the first place, it has been obferved, that a fimile cannot be agreeable, where the refemblance is either too ftrong or too faint. This holds equally in a metaphor and allegory; and the reafon is the fame in all. In the following inftances, the resemblance is too faint to be agreeable.

Malcolm-But there's no bottom, none, In my voluptuoufnefs: your wives, your daughters, Your matrons, and your maids, could not fill up The ciftern of my luft.

Macbeth, act 4. Sc. 4.

The

The beft way to judge of this metaphor, is to con-
vert it into a fimile; which would be bad, because
there is fcarce any resemblance betwixt luft and a
ciftern, or betwixt enormous luft and a large ciftern.
Again,

He cannot buckle his diftemper'd cause
Within the belt of rule.

Macbeth, act. 5. Sc. 2.

There is no refemblance betwixt a diftempered cause and any body that can be confined within a belt.

Again,

Steep me in poverty to the very lips.

Othello, act. 4. Sc. 9.

Poverty here must be conceived a fluid, which it resembles not in any manner.

Speaking to Bolingbroke banish'd for fix

The fullen paffage of thy weary steps
Efteem a foil, wherein thou art to fet

years.

Here is a letter, lady,

And every word in it a gaping wound
Iffuing life-blood.

Merchant of Venice, act 3. fc. 3. The following metaphor is ftrained beyond all endurance. Timur-bec, known to us by the name of Tamerlane the Great, writes to Bajazet Emperor of the Ottomans in the following terms.

Where