3. When they are so multiplied that they obscure the idea, and render the sentence heavy and encumbered. Ex.-"But what can one do? or how dispense with these darker disquisitions, and moonlight voyagers, when we have to deal with moon-blind wits, who, though very acute and able in their kind, may be said to renounce daylight, and extinguish, in a manner, the bright visible world, by allowing us to know nothing beside what we can prove by strict and formal demonstration ?"-Shaftsbury. "Enfin les genereux poetes Des vertus fleuries interpretes Sont le peuple de ce sejour.”—La Motte. 112. By APPOSITION is meant an incidental phrase which serves as an epithet to a noun, or one which is inserted as a parenthetical clause. Ex. "Yon waste, where roaming lions howl, Yon isle, where moans the gray-eyed owl, His power-clad arm controlled each happier clime, II. FIGURES OF THOUGHT. 1. Of figures of thought adapted to convey instruction. 113. Among the figures of thought, some appear rather an artifice invented by the mind, the principal aim of which is to instruct.-They are the following: 114. PRÆTERMISSION or omission, is the feigned omission or passing over in silence what is nevertheless expressed. Ex.-"I will not speak to you of the agreeable relaxation to be found in these (literary) pursuits from the oppressive toils and cares of business, and the still more oppressive toils and cares of fashionable dissipation; of their talismanic power to avert the malignant influence of that demon who lurks in the train of excessive civilization and refinement, and poisons the fountain of pleasure in polished life. I will not remind you of the consolation afforded by the cultivation of letters in adversity,—of the balm it ministers to the soul wounded in its dearest affections,-of the pure and elevated enjoyments it bestows. I will not speak to you of these," etc.-Wheaton. “ Itaque illa omnia, quæ sæpe audistis, et tenetis animis, etiamsi non audiatis, prætermitto; nihil de hac ejus urbana audacia loquor, nihil de superbia, nihil de contumelia, nihil de crudelitate disputo. Lateant libidines ejus illæ," etc.-Cic. "Ce serait ici le lieu," etc.-Bossuet oras. fun. "But you and I, reader, can afford to make no tarriance in Leyden. I cannot remain with you here till you could see the rector magnificus in his magnificence. I cannot accompany you to the monument of that rash baron who set the crown of Bohemia in evil hour upon the elector palatine's unlucky head. I cannot take you to the graves of Boerhaave and Scaliger. I cannot go with you into that library of which Heinsius said, when he was librarian there, Plerumque in quâ simulac pedem posui, foribus pessulum abdo, ambitionem autem, amorem, libidinem, etc., excludo, quorum parens est ignavia, imperitia nutrix,' etc. I cannot walk with you round the ramparts, from which, etc. I cannot even go up the Burgt with you, though it be pretended that the Hengist of Anglo-Saxon history erected it; nor can I stop at the entrance of that odd place, for you to admire the lion of the United Provinces, etc.-We cannot afford time for going to Oegstgeest, though the first church in Holland is said to have been founded there by St. Willebrod, etc. Nor can I accompany thee to Noortwyck and describe to thee its fish-ponds, its parterres, the arabesque carpet-work of its box, etc. We cannot walk upon the shore at Katwyck, when it was formerly a piece of Dutch courtship for the wooer to take his mistress in his arms, carry her into the sea till he was more than knee deep, set her down upon her feet, and then, bearing her out again, roll her over and over upon the sand-hills by way of drying her. We have no time for visiting that scene of the Batavian Arcadia.No, reader, I cannot tarry to show thee the curiosities of Leyden, nor to talk over its memorabilia, nor to visit the pleasant parts of the surrounding country, though Gerard Goris says, that 'comme la ville de Leide, entourée par les plaisants villages de Soeterwoude, Stompvic, Wilsveen, Tedingerbrouk, Oegstgeest, Leiderdorp, et vennep, est la cêntre et la delice de toute Hollande,'" etc. etc.-The Doctor. 115. CONCESSION grants a thing which appears contrary to what the orator wishes to prove, in order to turn it to his advantage immediately afterwards. Ex.-"Habes igitur, Tubero, quod est accusatori maxime optandum, confitentem reum; sed tamen ita confitentem se in eâ parte fuisse quâ te, Tubero," etc.-Cic. 116. COMMUNICATION takes place when the orator is sure of the weight of his arguments, and communicates them in a familiar manner to his hearers or even to his adversary, appealing from them to his decision. Ex. “Well, honour is the subject of my story— I cannot tell what you and other men Think of this life;" etc.-Shakspeare. "Dis, Valere, dis nous, puisq'il faut qu'il perisse Corneille. "Si tu apud Persos," etc.-Cic. Verr. V. de supplic. No. 166. 117. CORRECTION takes place when we resume what has been said, as if we wished to say it otherwise or in a better manner. Example. "O Stultitiam! Stultitiam ne dicam, an impudentiam!" Cic. "Mais que dis-je? Il ne faut pas l'en louer, il faut l'en plaindre."-Flechier. 118. OCCUPATION or PROLEPSIS foresees an objection, meets it, and answers it before it is made by the adversary. Example. "Il a tort, dira l'un; pourquoi faut-il qu'il nomme? Attaquer Chapelain! ah! c'est un si bon homme! Balzac en fait l'éloge en cent endroits divers. Il est vrai, s'il m'eût cru, qu'il n'eût point fait de vers; Voilà ce que l'on dit. Hé, que dis-je autre chose? Boileau. 119. SUBJECTION takes place when the orator himself asks questions and answers them. Ex. "They tell us that we are weak, unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction?" etc.-P. Henry. "Quid enim tam novum, quàm adolescentem, privatum exercitum difficili reipublicæ tempore conficere? - Confecit. Huic præesse?-præfuit."-Cic. “An domus tibi deerat? At hebebas. An pecunia? At abundabas. An arma? At ita pridem missa fuerant.” Cic. 120. GRADATION or CLIMAX presents a succession of ideas, images, or sentiments, the strength of which goes on always increasing or diminishing, according as the gradation is ascending or descending. Ex.-"Nihil agis, nihil moliris, nihil cogitas, quod ego non modo non audiam, sed etiam non videam planeque sentiam."-Cic. "Facinus est vincire civem Romanum, scelus verberare, propè parricidam necare."-Cic. "Let me not stir nor breathe, lest I dissolve "Can you raise the dead? Congreve. Pursue and overtake the wings of time? The years that made me happy?"—Congreve. 121. A SENTENCE is a short and lively reflexion, expressing a general maxim, which flows naturally from the subject. |