That ftruts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. O thou Goddefs, Macbeth, act 5. Sc. 5. Thou divine Nature! how thyfelf thou blazon'ft Not wagging his fweet head; and yet as rough, Cymbeline, at 4. Sc. 4. Why did not I pafs away in fecret, like the flower of the rock that lifts its fair head unfeen, and ftrows its withered leaves on the blait ? Fingal. There is a joy in grief when peace dwells with the forrowful. But they are wafted with mourning, O daughter of Tofcar, and their days are few. They fall away like the flower on which the fun looks in his ftrength, after the mildew has paffed over it, and its head is heavy with the drops of night. Fingal. The fight obtained of the city of Jerufalem by the Christian army, compared to that of land difcovered after a long voyage, Taffo's Gierufalem, canto 3. ft. 4. The fury of Rinaldo fubfiding when not oppofed, to that of wind or water when it has a free paffage, canto 20. fl. 58. As words convey but a faint and obfcure notion of great numbers, a poet, to give a lively notion of the object he describes with regard to number, does well to compare it to what is familiar and commonly known. Thus Homer compares the Grecian ar *Book 2. 1. #41. my my in point of number to a fwarm of bees: in another paffage he compares it to that profufion of leaves and flowers which appear in the fpring, or of infects in a fummer's evening; and Milton, As when the potent rod Of Amram's fon, in Egypt's evil day, Wav'd round the coaft, up call'd a pitchy cloud Paradife Left, b. 1. Such comparisons have, by fome writers,† been con demned for the lownefs of the images introduced: but furely without reafon; for, with regard to numbers, they put the principal subject in a strong light, The foregoing comparisons operate by refem plance; others have the fame effect by contraft. York. I am the laft of Noble Edward's fons, Richard II. at 2. fc. 3. Book 2. l. 551. + See Vida Poctic. lib. 2. 1. 282. Milton has a peculiar talent in embellishing the principal fubject by affociating it with others that are agreeable; which is the third end of a comparison. Similes of this kind have, befide, a feparate effect: they diverfify the narration by new images that are not ftrictly neceffary to the comparison: they are fhort epifodes, which, without drawing us from the principal fubject, afford great delight by their beauty and variety: He scarce had ceas'd when the fuperior fiend Was moving toward the fhore; his pond'rous fhield, Behind him caft; the broad circumference Thus far thefe, beyond Milton, b. 1. Compare of mortal prowefs, yet obferv'd Milton, b. 1. As when a vulture on Imaus bred, On On hills where flocks are fed, flies toward the fprings But in his way lights on the barren plains With fails and wind their cany waggons light: Yet higher than their tops Well-pleas'd they flack their courfe, and many a league With regard to fimiles of this kind, it will readily occur to the reader, that when a refembling fubject is once properly introduced in a fimile, the mind is tranfitorily amufed with the new object, and is not diffatisfied with the flight interruption. Thus, in fine weather, the momentary excurfions of a traveller for agreeable agreeable profpects or elegant buildings, cheer his mind, relieve him from the languor of uniformity, and without much lengthening his journey, in reality, fhorten it greatly in appearance. Next of comparisons that aggrandize or elevate. These affect us more than any other fort: the reason of which may be gathered from the chapter of Grandeur and Sublimity; and, without reasoning, will be evident from the following inftances: As when a flame the winding valley fills, Through blood, through death, Achilles ftill proceeds, Methinks, King Richard and my felf fhould meet As rufheth a foamy stream from the dark fhady fteep of Cromla, when thunder is rolling above, and dark brown night refts on the hill: fo fierce, To vaft, fo terrible, rush forward the fons of Erin. The chief, like a whale of Ocean |