Sed magis Pugnas et exactos tyrannos Densum humeris bibit aure vulgus. Horat. Carm. l. ii. ode 13. Phemius! let acts of gods, and heroes old, Odyssey, i. 433. Strepitumque exterritus hausit. Write, my Queen, Eneid, vi. 559. And with mine eyes I'll drink the words you send. Cymbeline, Act 1. Sc. 2. As thus th' effulgence tremulous I drink. Summer, l. 1684. Neque audit currus habenas. Georg. i. 514. O Prince! (Lycaon's valiant son reply'd), Iliad, v. 288. The following figures of speech seem altogether wild and extravagant, the figurative and proper meaning having no connexion whatever. Moving softness, Freshness breathes, Breathing prospect, Flowing spring, Dewy light, Lucid coolness, and many others of this false coin, may be found in Thomson's Seasons. Secondly, The proper sense of the word ought to bear some proportion to the figurative sense, and not soar much above it, nor sink much below it. This rule, as well as the foregoing, is finely illustrated by Vida: Hæc adeo cum sint, cum fas audere poetis Multa modis multis; tamen observare memento Si quando haud propriis rem mavis dicere verbis, Haud magis imprudens mihi erit, et luminis expers, Poet. iii. 148. Thirdly, In a figure of speech, every circumstance ought to be avoided that agrees with the proper sense only, not the figurative sense; for it is the latter that expresses the thought, and the former serves for no other purpose but to make harmony: Zacynthus green with ever-shady groves, And Ithaca, presumptuous boast their loves; Odyssey, xix. 152. Zacynthus here standing figuratively for the inhabitants, the description of the island is quite out of place: it puzzles the reader, by making him doubt whether the word ought to be taken in its proper or figurative sense. -Write, my Queen, And with mine eyes I'll drink the words you send, Cymbeline, Act I. Sc. 2. The disgust one has to drink ink in reality, is not to the purpose where the subject is drinking ink figuratively. In the fourth place, To draw consequences from a figure of speech, as if the word were to be understood literally, is a gross absurdity, for it is confounding truth with fiction. Be Moubray's sins so heavy in his bosom, Richard II. Act I. Sc. 3. Sin may be imagined heavy in a figurative sense : but weight in a proper sense belongs to the accessory only; and therefore to describe the effects of weight, is to desert the principal subject, and to convert the accessory into a principal: Cromwell. How does your Grace? Never so truly happy, my good Cromwell. A peace above all earthly dignities, A still and quiet conscience. The King has cur'd me, A load would sink a navy, too much honour. Ulysses speaking of Hector : Henry VIII. Act III. Sc. 6. I wonder now how yonder city stands, When we have here the base and pillar by us.. Troilus and Cressida, Act IV. Sc. 9. Othello. No; my heart is turn'd to stone: I strike it, and it hurts my hand. Othello, Act IV. Sc. 5. Not less, even in this despicable now, Don Sebastian, King of Portugal, Act 1. How long a space, since first I lov'd, it is! And am surpris'd with wonder when I miss Cowley, vol. I. p. 86. I chose the flourishing'st tree in all the park, I cut my love into his gentle bark, They've burnt and wither'd up the tree. Cowley, vol. I. p. 136. Ah, mighty Love, that it were inward heat But what, alas! ah what does it avail, So cold, that I admire they fall not hail. Cowley, vol. I. p. 132. Such a play of words is pleasant in a ludicrous poem. Almeria. O Alphonso, Alphonso! Devouring seas have wash'd thee from my sight, No time shall rase thee from my memory; But in my heart thou art interr'd. Mourning Bride, Act I: Sc. 1. This would be very right, if there were any inconsistence, in being interred in one place really, and in another place figuratively. Je crains que cette saison In me tota ruens Venus Maynard. Horat. Carm. l. i. ode 19. From considering that a word used in a figurative sense suggests at the same time its proper meaning, we discover a fifth rule, That we ought not to employ a word in a figurative sense, the proper sense of which is inconsistent or incongruous with the subject: for every inconsistency, and even incongruity, though in the expression only and not real, is unpleasant: Interea genitor Tyberini ad fluminis undam Eneid, x. 833. Tres adeo incertos cæca caligine soles Aneid, iii: 209. The foregoing rule may be extended to form a sixth, That no epithet ought to be given to the figurative sense of a word that agrees not also with its proper sense Dicat Opuntia Frater Megillæ, quo beatus. Vulnere. Horat. Carm. lib. i. ode 27. Parcus deorum cultor, et infrequens, Horat. Carm. lib. i. ode 34. Seventhly, The crowding into one period or thought different figures of speech, is not less faulty than crowding metaphors in that manner: the mind is distracted in the quick transition from one image to another, and is puzzled instead of being pleased: I am of ladies most deject and wretched, My bleeding bosom sickens at the sound. Hamlet. Odyssey, i. 439. |