Califa. Is it the voice of thunder, or my father? Madness! Confufion! let the ftorm come on, Let the tumultuous roar drive all upon me, Dash my devoted bark; ye furges, break it; 'Tis for my ruin that the tempeft rifes, When I am loft, funk to the bottom low, Peace thall return, and all be calm again.

Fair Penitent, act 4.

The metaphor I next introduce, is fweet and lively, but it suits not a fiery temper inflamed with paffion parables are not the language of wrath vent, ing itfelf without restraint:

Chament. You took her up a little tender flower,
Juft fprouted on a bank, which the next frost
Had nip'd; and with a careful loving hand,
Tranfplanted her into your own fair garden,

Where the fun always fhines: there long the flourish'd,
Grew fweet to fenfe and lovely to the eye,
Till at the laft a cruel fpoiler came,

Cropt this fair rofe, and rifled all its fweetnefs,
Then caft it like a loathfome weed away.

Orphan, at 4.

The following fpeech, full of imagery, is not natural in grief and dejection of mind:

Gonfalez. O my fon! from the blind dotage
Of a father's fondnefs thefe ills arofe.

For thee I've been ambitious, bafe and bloody :
For thee I've plung'd into this fea of fin;
Stemming the tide with only one weak hand,
While t'other bore the crown (to wreathe thy brow,)
Whose weight has funk me ere I reach'd the fhore.
Mourning Bride, act 5. fc. 6.

There is an enchanting picture of deep diftrefs in
Macbeth, where Macduff is reprefented lamenting

his

* A& 4. fc. 6.

his wife and children, inhumanly murdered by the tyrant. Stung to the heart with the news, he queftions the meffenger over and over: not that he doubted the fact, but that his heart revolted against fo cruel a misfortune. After struggling fometime with his grief, he turns from his wife and children to their favage butcher; and then gives vent to his refent, ment, but still with manliness and dignity :

O, I could play the woman with mine eyes,
And braggait with my tongue. But, gentle Heav'n!
Cut fhort all intermillion; front to front
Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself;
Within my fword's length fet him.-If he 'fcape,
Then Heav'n forgive him too.

The whole scene is a delicious picture of human na ture. One expreffion only feems doubtful: in ese amining the meflenger, Macduff expreffes him!! thus:

He hath no children-all my pretty ones!

Did you fay, all? what, all? Oh, hell-kite! all?
What! all my pretty little chickens and their dam,
At one fell fwoop!

Metaphorical expreffion, I am fenfible, may fometimes be used with grace, where a regular fimile would be intolerable: but there are fituations fo fevere and difpiriting, as not to admit even the flightest metaphor. It requires great delicacy of tafte to de termine with firmness, whether the prefent cafe be of that kind; I incline to think it is; and yet I would not willingly alter a fingle word of this admirable fcene.

But metaphorical language is proper when a man ftruggles to bear with dignity or decency a misfor

tune

tune however great: the ftruggle agitates and animates the mind:

Wolfey. Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness;
This is the ftare of man; to-day he puts forth
The tender leaves of hope; to-morrow bloffoms,
And bears his blufhing honours thick upon him;
The third day comes a froft, a killing frost,
And when he thinks, good eafy man, full furely
His greatness is a ripening, nips his root,
And then he falls as I do.

Henry VIII. act 3. fc. 6.

IN the fection immediately foregoing, a fig.

ure of fpeech is defined, "The ufing a word in a fense different from what is proper to it ;" and the new or uncommon fenfe of the word is termed the figurative fenfe. The figurative fense must have a relation to that which is proper; and the more intimate the relation is, the figure is the more happy. How ornamental this figure is, to language, will not be readily imagined by any one who hath not given peculiar attention; and therefore I fhall endeavour to unfold its capital beauties and advantages. In the first place, a word ufed figuratively or in a new fenfe, fuggefts at the fame time the fenfe it commonly bears and thus it has the effect to prefent two objects; one fignified by the figurative fenfe, which may be termed the principal object; and one fignified by the proper fenfe, which may be termed acceffory: the principal makes a part of the thought; the acceffory is merely ornamental. In this refpect, a fig

ure

ure of fpeech is precifely fimilar to concordant founds in mufic, which without contributing to the melody, make it harmonious. I explain myfelf by examples. Youth, by a figure of fpeech, is termed the morning of life. This expreffion fignifies youth, the principal object, which enters into the thought: it fuggefts, at the fame time, the proper fenfe of morning; and this acceffory object, being in itself beautiful, and connected by refemblance to the principal object, is not a little ornamental. Imperious ocean is an example of a different kind, where an attribute is expreffed figuratively together with Stormy, the figurative meaning of the epithet imperious, there is fuggefted its proper meaning, viz. the ftern authority of a defpotic prince; and these two are ftrongly connected by refemblance. Upon this figurative power of words, Vida defcants with elegance :

Nonne vides, verbis ut veris fæpe relictis

Accerfant fimulata, aliundeque nomina porro
Tranfportent, aptentque aliis ea rebus; ut ipfæ,
Exuviafque novas, res, infolitofque colores
Indutæ, fæpe externi mirentur amicus
Unde illi, lætæque aliena luce fruantur,
Mutatoque habitu, nec jam fua nomina mallent?
Sæpe ideo, cum bella canunt, incendia credas
Cernere, diluviumque ingens furgentibus undis.
Contra etiam Martis pugnas imitabitur ignis,
Cum furit accenfis acies Vulcania campis.
Nec turbato oritur quondam minor æquore pugna:
Confligunt animofi Euri certamine vafto
Inter fe, pugnantque adverfis molibus undæ.
Ufque adco paflim fua res infignia lætæ
Perinutantque, juvantque viciffim ; et mutua fefe
Altera in alterius transformat protinus ora.
Tum fpecie capti gaudent fpectare legentes :
Nam diverfa fimul datur è re cernere eadem
Multarum fimulacra animo fubeuntia rerum.

Poet. lib. 3. I. 44.

In the next place, this figure poffeffes a fignal power of aggrandizing an object, by the following means. Words, which have no original beauty but what arises from their found, acquire an adventitious beauty from their meaning: a word fignifying any thing that is agreeable, becomes by that means agreeable; for the agreeablenefs of the object is communicated to its name. This acquired beauty by the force of cuftom, adheres to the word even when ufed figurAtively; and the beauty received from the thing it properly fignifies, is communicated to the thing which it is made to fignify figuratively. Confider the foregoing expreffion Imperious ocean, how much more elevated it is than Stormy ocean.

Thirdly, This figure hath a happy effect by pre venting the familiarity of proper names. The familiarity of a proper name, is communicated to the thing it fignifies by means of their intimate connection; and the thing is thereby brought down in our feeling. This bad effect is prevented by using a figurative word instead of one that is proper; as, for example, when we exprefs the fky by terming it the blue vault of heaven; for though no work of art can compare with the fky in grandeur, the expreffion however is relifhed, because it prevents the object from being brought down by the familiarity of its proper name. With refpect to the degrading familiarity of proper names, Vida has the following paffage:

Hinc

* See chap. 2. part 1. fect. 5.

I have often regretted, that a factious fpirit of oppofition to the teigning family makes it neceffary in public worship to diftinguish the King by his proper name. One will fearce imagine who has not made the trial, how much better it founds to pray for our Sovereign Lord the King, without any addition.