THE

MIGHT AND MIRTH

OF

LITERATURE.

A TREATISE ON FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE.

IN WHICH UPWARDS OF SIX HUNDRED WRITERS ARE
REFERRED TO, AND TWO HUNDRED AND

TWENTY FIGURES ILLUSTRATED.

EMBRACING A COMPLETE SURVEY, ON AN ENTIRELY NEW PLAN, OF ENGLISH AND
AMERICAN LITERATURE, INTERSPERSED WITH HISTORICAL NOTICES of the
PROGRESS OF THE LANGUAGE, WITH ANECDOTES OF MANY OF THE
AUTHORS, AND WITH DISCUSSIONS OF THE FUNDAMENTAL
PRINCIPLES OF CRITICISM AND of the

WEAPONS OF ORATORY.

BY JOHN WALKER VILANT MACBETH,

professor of RHETORIC, HISTORY, AND POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF
WEST VIRGINIA.

NEW YORK:

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,

FRANKLIN SQUARE.

1876.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by

HARPER & BROTHERS,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

Wedicated by the Author

TO THE

REV. GEORGE S. MOTT, D.D.,

PASTOR OF Tthe presbytERIAN CHURCH, FLEMINGTON, N. J.,

IN SINCERE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF WISE ADVICE AND THE MOST FRIENDLY OFFICES AS TO THE PUBLICATION OF THIS VOLUME.