SOURCES OF SIMILITUDES.

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The arts and mechanism of Social Intercourse-roads, carriages, mile-stones, harbours, stations, bridges, rails-can be applied figuratively, to render conceivable the more abstract operations of the mind. A person committing blunders is off the rails'. Euclid is credited with the saying, 'There is no royal road to geometry'.

The Healing Art is a source of endless figurative allusions: a few come home to the feelings, but most appeal to the understanding. The derangements in the mental constitution of the individual man, as well as those in the state of society, being compared to diseases, the modes of dealing with them are expressed by terms of medical art. The relevance, however, is often very slight. A wound to the body, and a hurt to the mind, such as a bereavement, have too little in common to give mutual enlightenment.

Science is, in one respect, our best source of comparisons to aid the understanding. The notions being carefully defined, they are usually clear; the drawback being that the scientific knowledge of the general multitude goes only a very little way, while many of the

educated are no better.

Even the simplest notions of Arithmetic are valuable as Figures of comparison: Addition, Multiplication, Fractions, Proportion, Direct and Inverse, are all brought into play. The phraseology of Algebra is less employed; while the terms of Geometry, containing the fundamentals of Demonstrative science, are widely made use of.

The logical distinctions of Matter and Form, Essence and Accident, find application everywhere. In the Mechanical and Physical sciences occur the notions of Inertia, Momentum, Velocity, Acceleration, Gravitation, Cohesion, Adhesion, Repulsion, Equilibrium, Reaction, Resistance, Tension, Pendulum, Clockwork, Centre Gravity, Lever, Balance, Waves, Billows, Flotation, Solidity, Liquidity, Vapour, Distillation, Electricity, Magnetism, Compass, Heat.*

Fine Art gives birth to a numerous host of similitudes. The technicalities of every one of the Arts are extended into figurative uses. They are mostly addressed to the understanding; but occasionally they have an emotional tinge, as in the employment of such words as melody and harmony, the terms for the great works of Architecture, and the language of poetical criticism.†

*As a valuable comparison to the understanding, may be mentioned the con tinual approximation of the asymptote of the hyperbola to the curve, without the two ever coinciding; but this is only understood by those that have studied the Geometry of Conic Sections. The following, from Lord Rayleigh's Presidential Address to the British Association, was especially suitable as used for a scientific audience: The neglected borderland between two branches of knowledge is often that which best repays cultivation; or, to use a metaphor of Maxwell's, the greatest benefits may be derived from the cross fertilisation of the sciences'. Geology is turned to happy account in this description of the themes of Burns's poetry: 'No time can superannuate the subjects which Burns sang; they are rooted in the primary strata, which are steadfast'. (Šhairp.)

The comparison of life to a play is one of those figures at once obvious and striking, which were adopted by the moderns from the classical poets, and employed by every writer till taste revolted at the repetition.' (Mark Pattison.)

It is remarkable that, notwithstanding the frequent allusions to Music among our poets, it is, of all the arts, the one that they seem to understand least. The chief exception is Milton; the references in other poets are mostly so vague as to suggest no knowledge of music beyond mere melody.

The great ideas of Religion, from their nature, affect the human susceptibility, and their transfer to other subjects is usually intended to heighten some emotion. The designations God, Heaven, Hell— are abundantly employed in connection with secular things, and are instances of the loss of power caused by excessive use.

The Recreative Arts yield many of our most familiar similitudes; both the sports of the field and the indoor games. Every situation in Whist is made use of as a figure of similarity.

A vast number of Historical facts and incidents have come into standing figurative employment: Alexander's cutting the Gordian knot, the battle of Thermopyla, Diogenes' lantern, the sword of Damocles, Rome saved by the geese in the capitol, Cæsar's crossing the Rubicon, the crusades, magna charta, the lines of Torres Vedras, the whiff of grape, the Quadrilateral.

Mythology is equally productive. Jupiter, Apollo, Venus, Mars, Mercury, are standing allusions; while Circe, Tantalus, Sisyphus, Proteus, the Sirens, Argus, Hercules, Prometheus, Phaeton, are centres of illustrative incidents.

Conjuring and magic are drawn upon for effective_comparisons. Literature furnishes not a few comparisons. 'To exact the pound of flesh,' 'Lilliputian,' 'Quixotic,' a Pandemonium,' contain allusions to literary works.

The Bible, as being the most widely circulated literature, is the most fertile in such comparisons. The scape-goat, Esau's mess of pottage, the plagues of Egypt, Aaron's serpent, the cave of Adullam, the judgment of Solomon, the Shibboleth of a party, the slaughter of the innocents, Herod and Pilate's friendship, the treachery of Judas,— are examples of a large class.

National customs and institutions have been often found illustrative: The taboo, the palaver, the salaam, the ordeal, Juggernaut, Vestal purity, the white elephant.

The application of terms of Mind to express physical facts is widely spread in our language. The human form and feelings are transferred to things devoid of life.

On a rock whose haughty brow.

These are the figures of Personification; they play a great part in Poetry, and in the evoking of emotion generally. Their full discussion falls under the Emotional Qualities of Style, although they have something in common with the Figures of Resemblance, strictly so called.

KINDS OF SIMILITUDES THE METAPHOR.

We next consider Similitudes under the various forms that modify their peculiarities.

Rhetoricians have always distinguished between the Simile and the Metaphor. The differences of the two have considerable rhetorical importance.

1. The metaphor is a comparison implied in the mere use of a term.

When we say 'his victory was brilliant,' 'he bridles his anger,' we employ figures of comparison without saying so. The likeness is embodied in a single word, and that word is put forward as if it were the plain and literal name for the fact.

It is in the circumstance of being confined to a word, or at most to a phrase, that we are to look for the peculiarities of the metaphor-its advantages on the one hand, and its dangers and abuses on the other. It lends its force to the composition, without a change of grammatical structure.

Like all similitudes, Metaphors may (1) aid the Understanding, (2) intensify or work up a Feeling or Emotion, (3) give an agreeable Surprise. For the second and third effects, and also as a distinct aim, they are required to be in full Harmony with the subject. (See p. 145.)

(1) For aiding the Understanding.

The light of Nature' is a similitude to express shortly the indications that Nature can afford as to its own origin; it implies a contrast with the light of Revelation.

"Coming events cast their shadows before' is a highly expressive employment of one of the most familiar phenomena. It combines all the requisites of a similitude for aiding the understanding.

Introducing the thin end of the wedge' is also highly effective, from the same combination of merits.

'The Geological record' is the expression for the stratification and fossil remains of the globe, taken as the means of reading its past history.

'He is master of the situation' is a suggestive employment of a relationship understood by everyone.

Bentham called the moralist 'a scout for consequences'.
A word in season' is highly expressive.

Stamping out' is the name of a familiar operation employed to designate the means of arresting the spread of contagion. It implies at once the serious nature of the evil and the vigorous method of dealing with it.

'The sinews of war,' as applied to money, is intended to convey the idea that on it all the power of armies depends. The expression goes back to Beaumont and Fletcher.

Levelling up' was expressively applied, during the Irish Church debates, to the proposal for endowing all churches, as opposed to disestablishment of the one that occupied the privileged position.

'Athens, the eye of Greece' is recommended by the familiarity of the thing compared, but the relevance is only vague. The mind or intellect of Greece' would have been more suitable. Plato called Aristotle the 'intellect' of his school.

The wish is father to the thought' is scarcely an aid to the understanding. There is only the advantage of stating in a few words that a man's thoughts upon a subject grow out of what he wishes, not out of the real state of the case. To use 'father' or 'mother' each by itself, as the origin or source of anything, is questionable. The concurrence of both to progeny is of the essence of the parental relationship; and when this is the relevant circumstance, the comparison attains its full force.

Excellent examples of metaphors for the understanding may be found in Pope. The following quotation describes the advantages of mental activity as opposed to Stoic apathy. The rising tempest puts in act the soul,

Parts it may ravage, but preserves the whole.

(2) For intensifying the Feelings.

The news was a dagger to his heart' is a powerful metaphor, from the vividness of the idea, and the intensity of the feeling aroused.

The virtuous poor are spoken of as elevating, but over-strained comparison.

God's nobility'-an

'To break,' for to disobey, the law, is an energetic figure, and yet moderate.

'The town was stormed' is an attempt at giving intensity to the feeling, but is inadequate. The word is accepted as a literal name for the action intended; other language being needed to suggest the horrors of the reality.

For images of strength and endurance, we go to our tenacious metals and minerals,-iron, steel, brass, adamant. The Stoics were said by Adam Smith to clothe the obdurate heart with triple steel.

The precious metals, gold, silver, are standing metaphors for value or worth: they can never lose their power as

METAPHORS OF SURPRISE.

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metaphors, as long as they keep up their present position and use.

'My voice is not a bellows unto ire' (Keats).

The divinity that hedges a king is one of the over-done applications of the divine nature to human beings. It had more force in days when the divine right of kings was believed in. The human face divine' is another instance; it has but a slightly elevating effect.

There is a heightening power in the lines

At length Erasmus

Stemm'd the wild torrent of a barbarous age
And drove those holy Vandals off the stage.

For a metaphor apt and also harmonious, we may quote Plato's expression for the elaboration of style— "combing and curling it '.

(3) For giving an agreeable Surprise.

Chatham says-The power of directing the local disposition of the army is the royal prerogative, the master feather in the eagle's wing'. This is an agreeable figure, but scarcely assists the understanding, or adds to the sentiment of royal grandeur. It is ingenious and original; it refers us to a conventional object of our admiration-the flight of the eagle. A king could not derive elevation from an eagle; all he could get would be the maintenance of our respect by an allusion that is in itself somewhat elevated.

Junius improves on the figure of Chatham, and renders it a still better example of the ingenuity that gives a pleasurable surprise. The feather that adorns the royal bird supports his flight. Strip him of his plumage, and you fix him to the earth. Not much is to be made of this in the way of explaining the sources of royal power, and the effect upon the feelings is the same as before.

Again, In the shipwreck of the state, trifles float and are preserved; while everything solid and valuable sinks to the bottom, and is lost for ever'.

'Assuredly, if the tree which Socrates planted and Plato watered is to be judged by its flowers and leaves, it is the noblest of trees. But if we take the homely test of Bacon, if we judge of the tree by its fruits, our opinion of it may perhaps be less favourable.' (Macaulay.) This is entirely fanciful. There is no standing contrariety between flowers and leaves on the one hand, and fruit on the other; as a