Thy cargo brings; and peftilence the prize; Speaking of old age, he fays, it should Walk thoughtful on the filent folemn fhore And put good works on board; and wait the wind The two first lines are uncommonly beautiful; "walk thoughtful on the filent," &c. but when he continues the metaphor, to "putting good "works on board, and waiting the wind," it plainly becomes ftrained, and finks in dignity. Of all the English authors, I know none fo happy in his metaphors as mr. Addifon. His imagination was neither fo rich nor fo ftrong as dr. Young's; but far more chafte and delicate. Perfpicuity, natural grace, and eafe, always diftinguifh his figures. They are neither harsh nor ftrained; they never appear to have been ftudied or fought after; but feem to rife of their own accord from the fubject, and conftantly embellish it. I have now treated fully of the metaphor, and the rules that should govern it, a part of ftyle fo important, that it required particular illustration. I have only to add a few words concerning allegory. An allegory may be regarded as a continued metaphor; as it is the reprefentation of fome one thing by another that refembles it, and that is made to ftand for it. Thus, in Prior's Henry and Emma, Emma in the following allegorical manner describes her conftancy to Henry : Did I but purpose to embark with thee And fortune's favour fills the fwelling fails: We may take alfo from the fcriptures a very fine example of an allegory, in the 80th pfalm; where the people of Ifrael are reprefented under the image of a vine, and the figure is fupported throughout with great correctnefs and beauty: "Thou haft brought a vine out of Egypt, thou "haft caft out the heathen, and planted it. Thou "preparedit room before it, and didft caufe it to "take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills "were covered with the fhadow of it; and the "boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. "She fent out her boughs into the fea, and her "branches into the river. Why haft thou broken "down her hedges, fo that all they which pafs "by the way do pluck her? The boar out of the "wood doth wafte it; and the wild beast of the "field doth devour it. Return, we beseech thee, O God of hofts, look down from heaven, and be"hold, and vifit this vine !" Here there is no cir cumftance (except perhaps one phrafe at the beginning, "thou haft caft out the heathen,") that does not ftrictly agree to a vine, whilft at the fame time, the whole quadrates happily with the Jewifh ftate reprefented by this figure. This is the first and principal requifite in the conduct of an allegory, that the figurative and the literal meaning be not mixed inconfiftently together. For inftance, instead of defcribing the vine, as wafted by the boar from the wood, and devoured by the wild beast of the field, had the pfalmift faid, it was afflicted by heathens, or overcome by enemies (which is the real meaning,) this would have ruined the allegory, and produced the fame confufion, of which I gave examples in metaphors, when the figurative and literal fenfe are mixed and jumbled together. Indeed, the fame rules that were given for metaphors may alfo be applied to allegories, on account of the affinity they bear to each other. The only material difference between them, befides the one being fhort, and the other being prolonged, is, that a metaphor always explains itself by the words that are connected with it in their proper and natural meaning; as when I fay, "Achilles was a lion ;" an "able minif"ter is the pillar of the itate;" my lion and my pillar are fufficiently interpreted by the mention of Achilles and the minifter, which I join to them; but an allegory is, or may be, allowed to ftand more difconnected with the literal meaning; the interpretation not fo directly pointed out, but left to our own reflexion. Allegories were a favourite method of delivering inftructions in ancient times; for what we call fables or parables are no other than allegories; where, by words and actions attributed to beafts or inanimate objects, the difpofitions of men are figured; and what we call the moral, is the unfigured fenfe or meaning of the allegory. An ænigma or riddle is alfo a fpecies of allegory; one thing reprefented or imaged by another; but purpofely wrapt up under fo many circumftances, as to be rendered obfcure. Where a riddle is not intended, it is always a fault in allegory to be too dark. The meaning fhould be eafily feen, through the figure employed to fhadow it. However, the proper mixture of light and fhade in fuch compofitions, the exact adjustment of all the figurative circumftances with the literal fenfe, fo as neither to lay the meaning too bare and open, nor to cover and wrap it up too much, has ever been found an affair of great nicety; and there are few fpecies of compofition in which it is more difficult to write fo as to please and command attention, than in allegories. In fome of the vifions of the Spectator, we have examples of allegories very happily executed. LECTURE XVI. HYPERBOLE-PERSONIFICATIONAPOSTROPHE. T HE next figure, concerning which I am to treat, is called hyperbole, or exaggeration. It confifts in magnifying an object beyond its natural bounds. It may be confidered fometimes as a trope, and fometimes as a figure of thought: and here indeed the diftinction between thefe two claffes begins not to be clear, nor is it of any importance that we should have recourfe to metaphyfical fubtilties, in order to keep them distinct. Whether we call it trope or figure, it is plain that it is a mode of fpeech which hath fome foundation in nature. For in all languages, even in common converfation, hyperbolical expreffions very frequently occur-as fwift as the wind-as white as the fnow-and the like: and our common forms of compliment are almost all of them extravagant hyperboles. If any thing be remarkably good or great in its kind, we are inftantly ready to add to it fome exaggerating epithet; and to make it the greatest or best we ever faw. The imagination has always a tendency to gratify itfelf, by magnifying its prefent object, and carrying it to excefs. More or lefs of this hyperbolical turn will prevail in language, according to the liveliness of imagination among the people who fpeak it. Hence young people deal always much in hyperboles. Hence the language of the Orientals was far more hyperbolical than that of the Europeans, who are of more phlegmatic, or, if you pleafe, of more correct imagination. Hence, among all writers in early times, and in the rude periods of fociety, we may expect this figure to abound. Greater experience, and more cultivated fociety, abate the warmth of immagination, and chaften the manner of expreffion. The exaggerated expreflions, to which our ears are accustomed in converfation, scarcely ftrike us as hyperboles. In an instant we make the proper abatement, and understand them according to their juft value. But when there is fomething ftriking and unufual in the form of a hyperbolical expreffion, it then rifes into a figure of fpeech which draws our attention and here it is neceffary to obferve, that unless the reader's imagination be in fuch a ftate as difpofes it to rife and fwell along with the hyperbolical expreffion, he is always hurt and offended by it. For a fort of difagreeable force is put upon him; he is required to ftrain and exert his fancy, when he feels no inclination to make any fuch effort. Hence the hyperbole is a figure of difficult management; and ought neither to be frequently used, nor long dwelt upon. On fome occafions, it is undoubtedly proper; being, as was before obferved, the natural ftyle of a fprightly and heated imagination; but when hyperboles are unfeasonable, or too frequent, they render a compofition frigid and unaffecting. They are the refource of an author of feeble imagination; of one, de |