СНАР. Х. OF TROPES AND FIGURES: AND FIRST OF THE VARIEGATING, CONFOUNDING, AND RESERVING, FIGURES. BUT we proceed to the Figures. We cannot too earnestly recommend to our authors the study of the Abuse of Speech. They ought to lay it down as a principle, to say nothing in the usual way, but (if possible) in the direct contrary. Therefore the Figures must be so turned, as to manifest that intricate and wonderful Cast of head which distinguishes all writers of this kind; or (as I may say) to refer exactly the Mould in which they were formed, in all its inequalities, cavities, obliquities, odd crannies, and distortions. It would be endless, nay impossible, to enumerate all such Figures1; but we shall content ourselves to 'Another figure which greatly contributes to the Bathos might here be added, which Longinus, in his third section, calls the Parenthyrsus; a kind of violence and emotion, ill-timed and out of season, and disproportioned to the subject; into which good writers, nay Horace himself, is said to have fallen. When he says, that " even as the most superb and useful monuments of human skill and regal magnificence, the making new ports, the draining of marshes, the altering the course of rivers, the building moles, and other vast and expensive works, alter and decay; so do words and current expressions: "Debemur morti nos nostraque— -Mortalia facta peribunt, Nedum sermonum stet honos et gratia vivax." range the principal, which most powerfully contribute to the Bathos, under three Classes. I. The Variegating, Confounding, or Reversing, II. The Magnifying; and We cannot avoid giving to these the Greek or Roman names; but in tenderness to our countrymen and fellow-writers, many of whom, however exquisite, are wholly ignorant of those languages, we have also explained them in our mother tongue. I. Of the first sort, nothing so much conduces to the Bathos, as the CATACHRESIS. A Master of this will say, Mow the Beard, Shave the Grass, Pin the Plank, From whence results the same kind of pleasure to the mind, as to the eye when we behold Harlequin trimming himself with a hatchet, hewing down a tree with a razor, making his tea in a caldron, and brewing his ale in a tea-pot, to the incredible satisfaction of the British spectator. Another source of the Bathos is "The objects by which this decay of words is illustrated are too large and important for the occasion." Hor. Art of Poetry, 1. 63. See Blondell's Comparison of Horace and Pindar. THE METONYMY, the inversion of Causes for Effects, of Inventors for Inventions, etc. * Lac'd in her Cosins3 new appear'd the bride, THE SYNECHDOCHE, which consists in the use of a part for the whole. You may call a a young woman sometimes Pretty-face and Pigs-eyes, and sometimes Snotty-nose and Draggle-tail. Or of Accidents for Persons; as a Lawyer is called Split-cause, a Tailor Prick-louse, etc. Or of things belonging to a man, for the man himself; as a Sword-man, a Gown-man, a T-m T-dman; a White-Staff, a Turn-key, etc. I THE APOSIOPESIS. An excellent figure for the Ignorant, as "What shall say ?" when one has nothing to say: or "I can no more," when one really can no more. Expressions which the gentle reader is so good as never to take in earnest. 2 These five lines, and the two at the bottom of p. 226, are quoted from his own youthful poems; as indeed are most of those marked Anonymous. See also note on p. 207. 2 A sort of Periwig. All words in use in this present Year 1727. P.. THE METAPHOR®. The first rule is to draw it from the lowest things, which is a certain way to sink the highest; as when you speak of the Thunder of Heaven, say, 9 The Lords above are angry and talk big. If you would describe a rich man refunding his treasures, express it thus, 1 Tho' he (as said) may Riches gorge, the Spoil Soon shall he perish with a swift decay, The Second, that, whenever you start a Metaphor, you must be sure to run it down, and pursue it as far as it can go. If you get the scent of a State negotiation, follow it in this manner. 2 The stones and all the elements with thee Wild beasts their savage temper shall forget, The finny tyrant of the spacious seas It were to be wished that all the critical opinions of Dr. Johnson were as solid and judicious as are his admirable observations in the Life of Cowley, on mixed Metaphors, false Wit, and what (after Dryden) he calls " Metaphysical Poetry." After a certain period, in every country and in every language, men grow weary of the natural, and search after the singular. ' Lee, Alex. 'Blackm. Job, 91. 93. Job, p. 22. W. 2 Or if you represent the Creator denouncing war against the wicked, be sure not to omit one circumstance usual in proclaiming and levying war. 3 * Envoys and Agents, who by my command Reside in Palestina's land, To whom commissions I have given, To manage there the interests of heaven: Or war or peace, in mine your master's name: Make it plain, direct, and broad; For I in person will my people head; Will on his march in majesty appear, Under the article of the Confounding, we rank, 1. THE MIXTURE OF FIGUres*, which raises so many images, as to give you no image at all. But its principal beauty is when it gives an idea just opposite to what it seemed meant to describe. Thus an ingenious artist painting the Spring, talks of a Snow of Blossoms, and thereby 3 Blackm. Isa. c. xl. W. * In Concanen's Supplement to the Profund, letter the second, which is a counterpart to this tenth chapter, and treats of Figures, are some more shrewd remarks and more pertinent examples than might be expected from such a writer, and are enough to make us think he had some more able assistant. Concanen was at that time an intimate friend of Warburton; and it has been suggested was assisted by him in writing these remarks; but of this there is no positive proof. |