Part 7

What art thou, that usurp’st this time of night, Together with that fair and warlike form, In which the _Majesty_ of buried Denmark Did sometime march? _Hamlet, act 1. sc. 1._

Or have ye chosen this place, After the toils of battle, to repose Your weary’d _virtue_? _Paradise Lost._ _Verdure_ for a green field. _Summer. l. 301._

Speaking of cranes:

To pigmy nations wounds and death they bring, And all the _war_ descends upon the wing. _Iliad_ iii. 10.

Cool _age_ advances venerably wise. _Iliad_ iii. 149.

The peculiar beauty of this figure arises from suggesting an attribute that embellishes the subject, or puts it in a stronger light.

6. A complex term employ’d figuratively to denote one of the component parts.

_Funus_ for a dead body. _Burial_ for a grave.

7. The name of one of the component parts instead of the complex term.

_Tœda_ for a marriage. The _East_ for a country situated east from us. _Jovis vestigia servat_, for imitating Jupiter in general.

8. A word signifying time or place employ’d figuratively to denote a connected subject.

_Clime_ for a nation, or for a constitution of government: Hence the expression, _Merciful clime_. _Fleecy winter_ for snow. _Seculum felix._

9. A part for the whole.

The _pole_ for the earth. The _head_ for the person.

Triginta minas pro capite tuo dedi. _Plautus._

_Tergum_ for the man:

Fugiens tergum. _Ovid._

_Vultus_ for the man:

Jam fulgor armorum fugaces Terret equos, equitumque vultus. _Horat._

Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus Tam chari _capitis_? _Horat._

Dumque virent _genua_.

_Horat._

Thy growing virtues justify’d my cares, And promis’d comfort to my _silver hairs_. _Iliad_ ix. 616.

----Forthwith from the pool he rears His mighty _stature_. _Paradise Lost._

The silent _heart_ which grief assails. _Parnell._

The peculiar beauty of this figure consists in marking out that part which makes the greatest figure.

10. The name of the container employ’d figuratively to signify what is contained.

_Grove_ for the birds in it: Vocal _grove_. _Ships_ for the seamen: Agonizing _ships_. _Mountains_ for the sheep pasturing upon them: Bleating _mountains_. _Zacynthus, Ithaca, &c._ for the inhabitants. _Ex mœstis domibus._ Livy.

11. The name of the sustainer employ’d figuratively to signify what is sustained.

_Altar_ for the sacrifice. _Field_ for the battle fought upon it: Well-fought _field_.

12. The name of the materials employ’d figuratively to signify the things made of them.

_Ferrum_ for _gladius_.

13. The names of the Heathen deities employ’d figuratively to signify what they patronise.

_Jove_ for the air. _Mars_ for war. _Venus_ for beauty. _Cupid_ for love. _Ceres_ for corn. _Neptune_ for the sea. _Vulcan_ for fire.

This figure bestows great elevation upon the subject; and therefore ought to be confined to the higher strains of poetry.

SECOND TABLE.

_Attributes expressed figuratively._

1. When two attributes are connected, the name of the one may be employ’d figuratively to express the other.

Purity and virginity are attributes of the same person. Hence the expression, _Virgin_ snow for pure snow.

2. A word signifying properly an attribute of one subject, employ’d figuratively to express a resembling attribute of another subject.

_Tottering_ state. _Imperious_ ocean. _Angry_ flood. _Raging_ tempest. _Shallow_ fears.

My sure divinity shall bear the shield, And edge thy sword to _reap_ the glorious field. _Odyssey_ xx. 61.

_Black omen_, for an omen that portends bad fortune:

_Ater_ odor. _Virgil._

The peculiar beauty of this figure arises from suggesting a comparison.

3. A word proper to the subject, employ’d to express one of its attributes.

_Mens_ for _intellectus_. _Mens_ for a resolution.

Istam, oro, exue mentem.

4. When two subjects have a resemblance by a common quality, the name of the one subject may be employ’d figuratively to denote that quality in the other.

_Summer_ life for agreeable life.

5. The name of the instrument, made to signify the power of employing it.

---- Melpomene, cui liquidam pater Vocem cum _cithara_ dedit.

The ample field of figurative expression display’d in these tables, affords great scope for reasoning and reflection. Several of the observations relating to metaphor, are applicable to figures of speech. These I shall slightly retouch, with some additions peculiarly adapted to the present subject.

In the first place, as the figure under consideration is built upon relation, we find from experience, and it must be obvious from reason, that the beauty of the figure depends on the intimacy of the relation betwixt the figurative and proper sense of the word. A slight resemblance, in particular, will never make this figure agreeable. The expression, for example, _drink down a secret_, for listening to a secret with attention, is harsh and uncouth, because there is scarce any resemblance betwixt _listening_ and _drinking_. The expression _weighty crack_, used by Ben Johnson for _loud crack_, is worse if possible: a loud sound has not the slightest resemblance to a piece of matter that is weighty. The following expression of Lucretius is not less faulty. “Et lepido quæ sunt _fucata_ sonore.” i. 645.

Sed magis Pugnas et exactos tyrannos Densum humeris _bibit_ aure vulgus. _Horat. Carm. l. 2. ode 13._

Phemius! let acts of gods, and heroes old, What ancient bards in hall and bow’r have told, Attemper’d to the lyre, your voice employ, Such the pleas’d _ear will drink_ with silent joy, _Odyssey_ i. 433.

Strepitumque exterritus _hausit_. _Æneid._ vi. 559.

Write, my Queen, 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) As thine the steeds, be thine the task to guide. The horses practis’d to their lord’s command, Shall _hear_ the rein, and answer to thy hand. _Iliad._ v. 288.

The following figures of speech seem altogether wild and extravagant, the figurative and proper meaning having no connection 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, Translatisque aliunde notis, longeque petitis, Ne nimiam ostendas, quærendo talia, curam. Namque aliqui exercent vim duram, et rebus iniqui Nativam eripiunt formam, indignantibus ipsis, Invitasque jubent alienos sumere vultus. Haud magis imprudens mihi erit, et luminis expers, Qui puero ingentes habitus det ferre gigantis, Quam siquis stabula alta lares appellet equinos, Aut crines magnæ genitricis gramina dicat. _Poet. l. 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; Obtruding on my choice a second lord, They press the Hymenean rite abhorr’d. _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, Though ink be made of gall. _Cymbeline, act 1. sc. 2._

The disgust one has to drink ink in reality, is nothing 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, That they may break his foaming courser’s back, And throw the rider headlong in the lists, A caitiff recreant to my cousin Hereford. _Richard II. act 1. 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?

_Wolsey._ Why, well; Never so truly happy, my good Cromwell. I know myself now, and I feel within me A peace above all earthly dignities, A still and quiet conscience. The King has cur’d me, I humbly thank his Grace; and, from these shoulders, These ruin’d pillars, out of pity taken A load would sink a navy, too much honour. _Henry VIII. act 3. sc. 6._

Ulysses speaking of Hector:

I wonder now how yonder city stands When we have here the base and pillar by us. _Troilus and Cressida, act 4. sc. 9._

_Othello._ No, my heart is turn’d to stone: I strike it and it hurts my hand.

_Othello, act 4. sc. 5._

Not less, even in this despicable now, Than when my name fill’d Afric with affrights, And froze your hearts beneath your torrid zone. _Don Sebastian King of Portugal, act 1._

How long a space, since first I lov’d, it is! To look into a glass I fear, And am surpris’d with wonder, when I miss Grey hairs and wrinkles there. _Cowley, vol. 1. p. 86._

I chose the flourishing’st tree in all the park With freshest boughs, and fairest head; I cut my love into his gentle bark, And in three days behold ’tis dead; My very written flames so violent be, They’ve burnt and wither’d up the tree. _Cowley, vol. 1. p. 136._

Ah, mighty Love, that it were inward heat Which made this precious Limbeck sweat! But what, alas, ah what does it avail That she weeps tears so wond’rous cold, As scarce the asses hoof can hold, So cold, that I admire they fall not hail. _Cowley, vol. 1. p. 132._

Je crains que cette saison Ne nous amenne la peste; La gueule du chien celeste Vomit feu sur l’horison. A fin que je m’en délivre, Je veux lire ton gros livre Jusques au dernier feüillet: Tout ce que ta plume trace, Robinet, a de la glace A faire trembler Juillet. _Maynard._

In me tota ruens Venus Cyprum deseruit. _Horat. Carm. lib. 1. ode. 19._

_Almeria._ O Alphonso, Alphonso! Devouring seas have wash’d thee from my sight, No time shall rase thee from my memory; No, I will live to be thy monument: The cruel ocean is no more thy tomb; But in my heart thou art interr’d. _Mourning Bride, act 1. sc. 1._

This would be very right, if there were any inconsistence in being interred in one place really and in another place figuratively.

From considering that a word employ’d in a figurative sense suggests at the same time its proper meaning, a fifth rule occurs, That to raise a figure of speech, we ought to use no word, the proper sense of which is inconsistent or incongruous with the subject: for no incongruity, far less inconsistency, whether real or imagined, ought to enter into the expression of any subject:

Interea genitor Tyberini ad fluminis undam Vulnera _siccabat_ lymphis---- _Æneid. x. 833._

Tres adeo incertos cæca caligine _soles_ Erramus pelago, totidem sine sidere noctes. _Æneid_. iii. 203.

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 Opuntiæ Frater Megillæ, quo _beatus_ Vulnere. _Horat. Carm. lib. 1. ode 27._

Parcus deorum cultor, et infrequens, _Insanientis_ dum sapientiæ Consultus erro. _Horat. Carm. lib. 1. 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, That suck’d the honey of his music vows. _Hamlet._

My bleeding bosom sickens at the sound. _Odyss._ i. 439.

Ah miser, Quantâ laboras in _Charybdi_! Digne puer meliore _flammâ_. Quæ saga, quis te solvere Thessalis Magus _venenis_, quis poterit deus? Vix illigatum te triformi Pegasus expediet _Chimærâ_. _Horat. Carm. lib. 1. ode 27._

Eighthly, If crowding figures be bad, it is still worse to graft one figure upon another. For instance,

While his keen falchion drinks the warriors lives. _Iliad_ xi. 211.

A falchion drinking the warriors blood is a figure built upon resemblance, which is passable. But then in the expression, _lives_ is again put for blood; and by thus grafting one figure upon another the expression is rendered obscure and unpleasant.

Ninthly, Intricate and involved figures, that can scarce be analized or reduced to plain language, are least of all tolerable:

Votis incendimus aras. _Æneid._ iii. 279.

---- Onerantque canistris Dona laboratæ Cereris. _Æneid._ viii. 180.

Vulcan to the Cyclopes,

Arma acri facienda viro: nunc viribus usus, Nunc manibus rapidis, omni nunc arte magistra: _Præcipitate_ moras. _Æneid._ viii. 441.

Huic gladio, perque ærea suta Per tunicam squalentem auro, latus _haurit_ apertum. _Æneid._ x. 313.

Semotique prius tarda necessitas Lethi, corripuit gradum. _Horat. Carm. lib. 1. ode 3._

Scribêris Vario fortis, et hostium Victor, Mæonii carminis _alite_. _Horat. Carm. lib. 1. ode 6._

Else shall our fates be number’d with the dead. _Iliad_ v. 294.

Commutual death the fate of war confounds. _Iliad viii. 85. and xi. 117._

Speaking of Proteus,

Instant he wears, elusive of the rape, The mimic force of every savage shape. _Odyss._ iv. 563.

Rolling convulsive on the floor, is seen The piteous object of a prostrate Queen. _Ibid._ iv. 952.

The mingling tempest waves its gloom. _Autumn_, 337.

A various sweetness swells the gentle race. _Ibid._ 640.

A sober calm fleeces unbounded ether. _Ibid._ 967.

The distant water-fall swells in the breeze. _Winter_, 738.

In the tenth place, When a subject is introduced by its proper name, it is absurd to attribute to it the properties of a different subject to which the word is sometimes apply’d in a figurative sense:

Hear me, oh Neptune! thou whose arms are hurl’d From shore to shore, and gird the solid world. _Odyss._ ix. 617.

Neptune is here introduced personally, and not figuratively for the ocean: the description therefore, which is only applicable to the ocean, is altogether improper.

It is not sufficient, that a figure of speech be regularly constructed, and be free from blemish: it requires taste to discern when it is proper when improper; and taste, I suspect, is the only guide we can rely on. One however may gather from reflection and experience, that ornaments and graces suit not any of the dispiriting passions, nor are proper for expressing any thing grave and important. In familiar conversation, they are in some measure ridiculous. Prospero in the _Tempest_, speaking to his daughter Miranda, says,

The fringed curtains of thine eyes advance, And say what thou seest yond.

No exception can be taken to the justness of the figure; and circumstances may be imagined to make it proper: but it is certainly not proper in familiar conversation.

In the last place, though figures of speech have a charming effect when accurately constructed and properly introduced, they ought however to be scattered with a sparing hand: nothing is more luscious, and nothing consequently more satiating, than redundant ornament of any kind.

CHAP. XXI.

Narration and Description.

Horace, and many writers after him, give instructions for chusing a subject adapted to the genius of the author. But rules of criticism would be endless, did one descend to peculiarities in talent or genius. The aim of the present work is, to consider human nature in general, and to explore what is common to the species. The choice of a subject comes not under such a plan: but the manner of execution comes under it; because the manner of execution is subjected to general rules. These rules respect the things expressed, as well as the language or expression; which suggests a division of the present chapter into two parts; first of thoughts, and next of words. I pretend not to justify this division as entirely accurate. In discoursing of the thoughts, it is difficult to abstract altogether from words; and still more difficult, in discoursing of the words, to abstract altogether from thought.

The first observation is, That the thoughts which embellish a narration ought to be chaste and solid. While the mind is intent upon facts, it is little disposed to the operarations of the imagination. Poetical images in a grave history are intolerable; and yet Strada’s Belgic history is full of poetical images. These being discordant with the subject, are disgustful; and they have a still worse effect, by giving an air of fiction to a genuine history. Such flowers ought to be scattered with a sparing hand, even in epic poetry; and at no rate are they proper, till the reader be warmed, and by an enlivened imagination be prepared to relish them: in that state of mind, they are extremely agreeable. But while we are sedate and attentive to an historical chain of facts, we reject with disdain every fiction. This Belgic history is indeed wofully vicious both in matter and form: it is stuffed with frigid and unmeaning reflections, as well as with poetical flashes, which, even laying aside the impropriety, are mere tinsel.

Vida[31], following Horace, recommends a modest commencement of an epic poem; giving for a reason, that the writer ought to husband his fire. This reason has weight; but what is said above suggests a reason still more weighty: Bold thoughts and figures are never relished till the mind be heated and thoroughly engaged, which is not the reader’s case at the commencement. Shakespear, in the first part of his history of Henry VI. begins with a sentiment too bold for the most heated imagination:

_Bedford._ Hung be the heav’ns with black, yield day to night! Comets, importing change of times and states, Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky, And with them scourge the bad revolting stars, That have consented unto Henry’s death!

Henry the Fifth, too famous to live long! England ne’er lost a king of so much worth.

The passage with which Strada begins his history, is too poetical for a subject of that kind; and at any rate too high for the beginning of a grave performance. A third reason ought to have not less influence than either of the former: A man who, upon his first appearance, endeavours to exhibit all his talents, is never relished; the first periods of a work ought therefore to be short, natural, and simple. Cicero, in his oration _pro Archia poeta_, errs against this rule: his reader is out of breath at the very first period, which seems never to end. Burnet begins the history of his own times with a period long and intricate.

A third rule or observation is, That where the subject is intended for entertainment solely, not for instruction, a thing ought to be described as it appears, not as it is in reality. In running, for example, the impulse upon the ground is accurately proportioned to the celerity of motion: in appearance it is otherwise; for a person in swift motion seems to skim the ground, and scarcely to touch it. Virgil, with great taste, describes quick running according to its appearance; and thereby raises an image far more lively, than it could have been by adhering scrupulously to truth:

Hos super advenit Volsca de gente Camilla, Agmen agens equitum et florentes ære catervas, Bellatrix: non illa colo calathisve Minervæ Fœmineas assueta manus; sed prælia virgo Dura pati, cursuque pedum prævertere ventos. Illa vel intactæ segetis per summa volaret Gramina: nec teneras cursu læsisset aristas: Vel mare per medium, fluctu suspensa tumenti, Ferret iter; celeres nec tingeret æquore plantas. _Æneid_ vii. 803.

This example is copied by the author of _Telemachus_:

Les Brutiens sont legeres à la course comme les cerfs, et comme les daims. On croiroit que l’herbe même la plus tendre n’est point foulée sous leurs pieds; à peine laissent ils dans le sable quelques traces de leurs pas.

_Liv._ 10.

Again,

Déja il avoit abattu Eusilas si léger à la course, qu’à peine il imprimoit la trace de ses pas dans le sable, et qui devançoit dans son pays les plus rapides flots de l’ Eurotas et de l’ Alphée.

_Liv._ 20.

Fourthly, In narration as well as in description, facts and objects ought to be painted so accurately as to form in the mind of the reader distinct and lively images. Every useless circumstance ought indeed to be suppressed, because every such circumstance loads the narration; but if a circumstance be necessary, however slight, it cannot be described too minutely. The force of language consists in raising complete images[32]; which cannot be done till the reader, forgetting himself, be transported as by magic into the very place and time of the important action, and be converted, as it were, into a real spectator, beholding every thing that passes. In this view, the narrative in an epic poem ought to rival a picture in the liveliness and accuracy of its representations: no circumstance must be omitted that tends to make a complete image; because an imperfect image, as well as any other imperfect conception, is cold and uninteresting. I shall illustrate this rule by several examples, giving the first place to a beautiful passage from Virgil.

Qualis _populeâ_ mœrens Philomela sub umbrâ Amissos queritur fœtus, quos durus _arator_ Observans nido _implumes_ detraxit. _Georg. lib. 4. l. 511._

The poplar, plowman, and unfledged, though not essential in the description, are circumstances that tend to make a complete image, and upon that account are an embellishment.

Again,

Hic viridem Æneas _frondenti ex ilice_ metam Constituit, signum nautis. _Æneid._ v. 129.

Horace, addressing to Fortune:

Te pauper ambit sollicita prece Ruris colonus: te dominam æquoris, Quicumque Bithynâ lacessit Carpathium pelagus carinâ. _Carm. lib. 1. ode 35._

---- Illum ex mœnibus hosticis Matrona bellantis tyranni Prospiciens, et adulta virgo, Suspiret: Eheu, ne rudis agminum Sponsus lacessat regius asperum Tactu leonem, quem cruenta Per medias rapit ira cædes. _Carm. lib. 3. ode 2._