phors ought to be introduced with some small Alleviations, fuch as, if it may be fo exprefs'd, and as it were, and if I may speak with fo much Boldness. For this Excufe, say they, very much palliates the Hardness of the Figures.

Such a Rule has a general Ufe, and therefore I admit it, yet still I maintain what Į advanced before in regard to Figures, that bold 2 Metaphors and those too in good plenty, are very seasonable in a noble Compofition, where they are always mitigated and foft'ned by the vehement Pathetic and generous Sublime difperfed through the whole, For as it is the nature of the Pathetic and Sublime to run rapidly along, and carry all before them, fo they require the Figures they are worked up in to be strong and forcible, and do not fo much as give leisure to a Hearer to cavil at their Number, because they imme diately strike his Imagination, and inflame him with all the Warmth and Fire of the Speaker.

But further, in Illustrations and Defcriptions there is nothing fo expreffive and fignificant as a Chain of continued Tropes. By these has Xenophon * described in so pompous

* Απομνημον. 1. 1. c. 45. Ed. Οxon.

and

and magnificent Terms the Anatomy of the human Body. By these has Plato + described the fame thing in fo unparalleled, so divine a

manner.

"3 The Head of Man he calls a Ci"tadel. The Neck is an Ifthmus placed be"tween the Head and the Breaft. The Ver"tebres or Joints on which it turns are fo <<' many Hinges. Pleasure is the Bait which "allures Men to Evil, and the Tongue is the "Informer of Taftes. The Heart being the "Knot of the Veins, and the Fountain from "whence the Blood arifes and briskly circu "lates through all the Members, is a Watch"Tower completely fortified. The Pores he "calls narrow Streets. And because the Heart "is fubject to violent Palpitations, either when "disturbed with Fear of fome impending "Evil, or when inflamed with Wrath, the

Gods, fays he, have provided against any "ill Effect that might hence arise, by giving a Place in the Body to the Lungs, a foft " and bloodlefs Subftance, furnished with in"ward Vacuities, like a Sponge, that when"ever Choler inflames the Heart, the Lungs "should easily yield, fhould gradually break ' its violent Strokes, and preferve it from Harm. The Seat of the concupifcible Paf-`

Plato in Timao paffim.

"fions

"fions he has named the Apartment of the "Women; the Seat of the Irafcible the Apartment of the Men. The Spleen is

"the Sponge of the Entrails, from whence "when filled with Excrements it is fwell'd " and bloated. Afterwards, proceeds he, the "Gods covered all thofe parts with Flesh, "their Rampart and Defence against the Ex"tremities of Heat and Cold, soft through

out like a Cushion, and gently giving way "to outward Impreffions. The Blood he calls "the Pasture of the Flefh, and adds, that "for the fake of nourishing the remoteft "Parts, they opened the Body into a num"ber of Rivulets, like a Garden well stock'd "with plenty of Canals, that the Veins might

by this means receive their supply of the "vital Moisture from the Heart, as the com

mon Source, and convey it thro' all the "Sluices of the Body. And at the Approach "of Death, the Soul, he fays, is loofed, like

a Ship from her Cables, and left to the Li

berty of driving at Pleasure." Many other Turns of the fame nature in the Sequel might be adjoined, but thefe already abundantly fhew, that Tropes are naturally endued with an Air of Grandeur, that Metaphors contribute very much to Sublimity, and are of very

important Service in defcriptive and pathetic Compofitions.

That the Use of Tropes, as well as of all other things which are ornamental in Difcourse, may be carried to excefs, is obvious enough tho' I should not mention it. Hence it comes to pass, that many feverely cenfure Plato, because oftentimes, as if he was mad to utter his Words, he suffers himself to be hurried into raw undigested Metaphors, and a vain Pomp of Allegory. "For is it not (fays

*

he) eafy to conceive that a City ought to "refemble a Goblet replenished with a well

tempered Mixture? where, when the foam"ing Deity of Wine is poured in, it sparkles " and fumes; but when chastised by another

more fober Divinity, it joins in firm Al"liance, and compofes a pleasant and pala"table Liquor." For (fay they) to call Water a fober Divinity, and the Mixture Chaftifement, is a fhrewd Argument that the Author was not very fober himself.

Cecilius had certainly these trifling Flourishes in view, when he had the Rafhnefs in his Effay on 4 Lyfias, to declare him much preferable to Plato; biafs'd to it by two Paffions equally indiscreet. For tho' he loved Lyfias

*Plato. 1. 6. de legibus, p. 773. Ed. Par.

Lyfias as well as his own felf, yet he hated Plato with more Violence than he could poffibly love Lyfias. Befides, he was hurried on by fo much Heat and Prejudice, as to prefume on the Conceffion of certain Points which never will be granted. For Plato being oftentimes faulty, he thence takes occafion to cry up Lyfias for a faultlefs and confummate Writer, which is fo far from being Truth, that it has not fo much as the fhadow of it.

SECTION XXXIII.

BUT let us for once admit the poffibility of a faultlefs and confummate Writer, and then, will it not be worth while to confider at large that important Queftion, Whether in Poetry or Profe, what is truly grand in the midft of fome Faults, be not preferable to that, which has nothing extraordinary in its best Parts, correct however throughout, and faultlefs? And further, Whether the Excellence of fine Writing confifts in the number of its Beauties, or in the Grandeur of its Strokes? For these Points being peculiar to the Sublime demand an Illuftration.

I readily allow, that Writers of a lofty and tow'ring Genius are by no means pure and correct,