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wound up to the highest pitch. We should indeed naturally expect this consequence from the violent disorder of the mind in which it can be relished; for, without ascending to that derangement which infers lunacy and distraction, reason can scarcely offer a greater sacrifice to passion, than to admit the order of nature to be reversed, and inanimate existence to be endowed with life and intelligence.

Example 7. All the best tragedies, all the most passionate scenes in the most finished epic poems, bear ample testimony to its truth. We shall exhibit only another quotation from the most perfect play of the most complete painter of the language of passion. King Lear, in the height of his distress, personifies, and rails against the elements, which he considers as combined with his daughters to procure his destruction. "I tax not you, ye elements, with unkindness;

I never gave you kingdoms, call'd you children;
You owe me no subscription; then let fall

Your horrible displeasure. Here I stand your brave;

A poor, infirm, weak, and despis'd old man!

But yet I call you servile ministers,

That have, with two pernicious daughters, joined
Your high engendered battles 'gainst a head
So old and white as this."

296. In treating of gender, (Art. 56. Illus. 3. and 4.) we took notice, that the English language possessed a singular advantage in marking personifications, by employing the pronouns significant of sex. In all other cases, inanimate objects must be denominated by the neuter pronoun; and, in other languages, no distinction of gender can take place in personifications, because the genders of their nouns are invariable. But a writer in English is left at liberty to adopt either the male or female sex; and it is of some consequence to attend to this circumstance, because improprieties are not

uncommon.

Example. Milton has chosen unsuitable genders for the following personifications. Of Satan, he sings,

His form

Had not lost all her original brightness,

Nor appear'd less than archangel ruin'd."

Analysis. If the personification of the form of Satan was admissible, it should certainly have been masculine. A female form, conjoined to the person of a male, seems to approach the ridiculous. (See Anal. Ex. Art. 297.)

297. A capital error in personification, is to deck the figure with fantastic and trifling circumstances. A practice of this sort dissolves the potent charm which enchants and deceives the reader, and either leaves him dissatisfied, or excites, perhaps, his risibility.

Example. Shakspeare will furnish an example of this sort.

"She shall be dignified with this high honour,
To bear my lady's train; lest the base earth
Should from her vesture chance to steal a kiss,

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And of so great a favour growing proud,
Disdain to root the summer smelling flower,
And make rough winter everlastingly."

Analysis. Here the earth, which we usually call "our mother," (Ex. 2. Art. 295.) is degraded by being termed "base," (Ex. 3. Art. 295.) On the supposition that the earth is a person, it was competent to the poet to give her lips " to steal a kiss." But then to fancy the earth growing proud" of this "favour," and disdaining "to root the summer smelling flower," is a ridicule of all figurative communication; since, as flowers would embellish her bosom, she prefers, to the pomp of dress, the pleasure of a kiss. But we may surmise that the poet personifies the earth as a male, since it is rather a masculine prerogative" to steal a kiss." Now, "so great a favour," in place of cooling his heart, was calculated to inflame it; therefore to imagine that the effect would be "to make rough winter everlastingly," marks something more than a defective taste in the poet.

298. Another error, frequent in descriptive personifications, consists in introducing them when the subject of discussion is destitute of dignity, and the reader is not prepared to relish them.

Example. One can scarcely peruse the following quotations with composure. Thomson thus personifies and connects the bodily appetites, and their gratifications.

"Then sated Hunger bids his brother Thirst
Produce the mighty bowl;

Nor wanting is the brown October, drawn,
Mature and perfect, from his dark retreat
Of thirty years; and now his honest front
Flames in the light refulgent."

Example 2. Shakspeare, sometimes great in errors as in beauties, far outdoes Thomson. Speaking of Antony and Cleopatra :

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299. So also, addressing the several parts of one's body, as if they were animated, is not congruous to the dignity of passion.

Example. For this reason, we must condemn the following passage in Pope's very beautiful poem of Eloise* to Abelard:

"Dear fatal name! rest ever unrevealed,
Nor pass these lips in holy silence-sealed.
Hide it, my heart, within that close disguise,
Where, mix'd with God's, his lov'd idea lies:
Oh! write it not, my hand!-his name appears
Already written :-blot it out, my tears!"

Analysis. Here are several different objects and parts of the body personified; and each of them is addressed or spoken to; let us consider with what propriety. The first is, the name of Abelard: "Dear

* Her country calls her Eloise, Pope Eloisa: I write the orthography of either.

fatal name! rest ever," &c. To this, no reasonable objection can be made. For, as the name of a person often stands for the person himself, and suggests the same ideas, it can bear this personification with sufficient dignity. Next, Eloise speaks to herself; and personifies her heart for this purpose: "Hide it, my heart, within that close," &c. As the heart is a dignified part of the human frame, and is often put for the mind or affections, this also may pass without blame. But, when from her heart she passes to her hand, and tells her hand not to write his name, this is forced and unnatural; a personified hand is low, and not in the style of true passion; and the figure becomes still worse, when, in the last place, she exhorts her tears to blot out what her hand had written. "Oh! write it not," &c. There is, in these two lines, an air of epigrammatic conceit, which native passion never suggests; and which is altogether unsuitable to the tenderness which breathes through the rest of that excellent poem.

300. In prose compositions, this figure requires to be used with still greater moderation and delicacy. The same liberty is not allowed to the imagination there, as in poetry. The same assistances cannot be obtained for raising passion to its proper height by the force of numbers, and the glow of style.

CHAPTER V.

ALLEGORY.

301. ALLEGORY is a species of writing, in which one thing is expressed, and another thing is understood. The analogy is intended to be so obvious, that the reader cannot miss the application, but he is left to draw the proper conclusion for his own use.

Illus. It is for this reason employed chiefly when a writer desires to communicate some important intelligence or advice, but is not permitted to deliver it in plain terms. It is also used for ornament, or to convey instruction so as to interest the imagination, and flatter the understanding, by giving the reader the appearance of instructing himself. Example 1. A finer and more correct allegory is not to be found than the following, in which a vineyard is made to represent God's people, the Jews. Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her? The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts; look down from heaven,

and behold and visit this vine; and the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest so strong for thyself." 2. Prior's Henry and Emma contains another beautiful example, in which human life is the primary object, and a voyage also the allegoriAny reader of discernment will easily trace the application. Emma addresses Henry:

cal one.

"Did I but purpose to embark with thee

On the smooth surface of a summer's sea,
While gentle zephyrs play in prosp'rous gales,
And fortune's favour fills the swelling sails,
But would forsake the ship, and make the shore,
When the winds whistle, and the tempests roar ;
No, Henry, no."

Scholium. From these examples it will appear, that allegory partakes of the nature of metaphor and comparison in respect of resemblance, though it is not altogether a resemblance of the same kind. In allegory no supposition is made, even for a moment, that the primary object is converted into the resembling one; as is done in the case of metaphor. Nor is the similitude between the primary and resembling object pointed out, as is performed when comparisons are employed. We are left to discover the application, and to make the proper inference. We are satisfied with discerning the general purpose of the allegory, without inquiring with minuteness into the interpretation of every particular circumstance, because circumstances are sometimes added, to adorn or complete the picture, without being intended to infer any application. Allegory differs from metaphor and simile in another point. Almost all the subjects of allegory are personified; and these consist sometimes of things inanimate, sometimes of abstract ideas. Few metaphors or similes admit personification.

302. Allegories may be divided into three kinds; first, those calculated for ornament: secondly, those designed for instruction: and thirdly, those intended both to adorn and instruct.

Example. Akenside employs a beautiful allegory, of the ornamental kind, to communicate a very familiar sentiment, that industry is necessary to acquire reputation in every line of life, though some men are more susceptible of culture than others.

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Analysis. The chief merit of this example appears to be situated entirely in the expression.

303. The principal purpose of the second sort of allegories, is to communicate instruction.

* Psalm lxxx. 8-16.

ample. Quinctilian informs us, (lib. 8.) that the following reply of the Lacedæmonians, to Philip, king of Macedon, demanding compliance with some unreasonable requisition, and threatening hostilities in case of reluctance, was famous over all Greece. To the requisition of Philip, the Lacedæmonians returned this laconic answer, that " Dionysius was at Corinth."

Analysis. Philip knew well the history of Dionysius, and they left him to make the application. You will understand the import of this answer, when you are informed, that Dionysius was king of Syracuse, in Sicily; that he was banished from his country and crown, on account of his tyranny; and that, to procure subsistence, he opened a school at Corinth, where he doubtless did far more to benefit his species than when he sat upon his throne.

304. Besides these specimens of allegory, the ancients frequently employ a moral species, in order to recommend the principles and practice of virtue to the imagination, as well as to the understanding. The moderns sometimes follow them in this.

Illus. The address and knowledge of human nature displayed by this contrivance merit much commendation. The authors of ancient Greece, in all popular writings, both political and moral, discover much attachment to allegorical composition. The Socratic morals, of which Plato and Xenophon have left us so many specimens, abound with figurative allusions to the arts and occupations of life; and the greater part of the arguments they contain are deduced from analogy. All these specimens have much merit; but the writings which we have particularly in view, are, the beautiful Allegory of Prodicus, preserved by Xenophon, in his Memorabilia Socratis, and the pleasant picture of human life exhibited in the Tabulature of Cebes.

305. THE ALLEGORY OF PRODICUS proceeds upon the supposition that Hercules, before he undertook the career of life, retired to deliberate, whether he should take the route which conducted him to the mansions of Pleasure, or the path which led to the temple of Virtue.

Illus. In this critical situation, he is accosted by the goddesses of these temples, under the allegorical names of Minerva and Venus, who by turns persuade him to accompany them to their respective abodes. The persons, the dress, the manners of the goddesses, are picturesque and characteristic. Pleasure addresses him first, and hastens her pace to anticipate her rival. She invites him to partake all those enjoyments, which the most luxurious imagination can figure; and her rival listens with patience till she enumerates the gratifications she had to bestow. Virtue than accosts him in a modest, but decisive tone. She acquaints him, that no true fame, happiness, or gratification, is to be procured without great designs and good deeds; and that merit alone can secure the respect and rewards both of gods and men. Having explained her views, it was necessary she should expatiate on the vanity and futility of the enjoyments promised by Pleasure; and the author has admirably preserved the delicacy of the piece, and the modesty of Virtue, by making Pleasure interrupt the speech of her rival, and begin the attack. Pleasure attempts to infer, from the con

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