CHAP. V. BUT OUT here we are to take notice of that very fevere cenfure, which the Right Reverend Author has paffed on Tropes * Doctr. of and Figures of compofition. *" As thefe," faith his LordGrace. B. 1. fhip, " are a deviation from the principles of Metaphyfics and C9. p. 58. Logic, they are frequently vicious. And this the great Ma❝fter [Quintilian] freely confeffeth."--Let us consider these affertions feparately. In the first place it were to be wished that his Lordship had pleased to exprefs his fentiment with a little more precision; that we might have clearly and distinctly been informed, when, and whom, to condemn or to acquit: as all men, who have ever written or spoken, have frequently used this mode of elocution, which is faid to be frequently vicious. The heathen poet speaks of a river †spurning with indignation at a bridge: the evangelist speaks of a ship not being able to look a storm in the face. The deviation from Metaphyfical principles is + Pontem indignatus Araxes. Acneid. L. 8. 1. 728. † Συναρπασθέντος δὲ τῷ πλοίο, καὶ μὴ δυναμένη ΑΝΤΟΦΘΑΛΜΕΙΝ τῷ ἀνέ . •Act. 27. 15. equal equal in both. In the poet we may allow it to be vicious: but we must be more cautious in deciding on the character either of the evangelist, or of his Style. We fee then, that in a position so bold, and in it's application somewhat dangerous, bounds and distinctions should have been ascertained with exactness. And what makes this pofition ftill more hardy is, that however the conclufion feems confined and restrained by the addition of that qualifying word [frequently,] yet the premises are general and unlimited. It is afferted without any restriction, that Figurative compofition is a deviation from the principles of Metaphyfics and Logic. If then it be vicious as it is, i. e. because [quatenus] it is such a deviation, it must be not X only frequently but always vicious; a very fevere cenfure denounced against almost every speaker, and every writer, both facred and profane, that ever appeared in the world. But what is this deviation from the principles of Metaphyfics, which is charged on figurative compofition? Perhaps the joining of attributes and subjects strictly and naturally incongruous; the representing things inanimate as living and acting; and fuch like. But it might deserve the attention of the most rigid Philofopher, that in all fuch cafes MILT. More is meant than meets the ear. And that the fobereft good fenfe, and even a philofophical accuracy of thought, may be conveyed by the livelieft figures. To inftance in those of poetry as moft daring, and feemingly the most flagrant violations of Metaphyfical truth. If a speaker were to tell us in fimple forms of speech, that a melancholy state of mind was not natural to man, was fhocking, and in fome fort monftrous, that it was produced by dark and gloomy fcenes, which are apt to affect the imagination, and to make us fancy frightful and dangerous objects near us, which have no real existence ;————~~~~ This would be readily allowed just and reasonable, confonant to experience and the nature of things. But the fentiment is the fame, the proper fignification of the poet's language precifely the fame, when, to convey it in a manner more lively and affecting, he addresses himself to that imaginary perfonage; Loathed Melancholy! Of Cerberus and blackeft midnight born, In Stygian cave forlorn; 'Mongft horrid shapes, and fhrieks, and fights unholy. L'ALLEGRO And places her in Some uncouth cell : Where, if I may be allowed the expreffion, he makes darknefs visible, by the bold creation of another perfonage, whose whole power in poffeffing the imagination with false fears and ideal dangers, he fully expreffes by one happy epithet. Where brooding darkness spreads her JEALOUS wings. The poet who thus gives a local habitation to Melancholy, in the like adventurous manner affigns to Mirth, parents, being, form, corporeal and mental qualities. Zephyr with Aurora playing, As he met her once a maying, And fresh blown rofes wash'd in dew, Fill'd her with thee a daughter fair; So buxom, blithe, and debonair. L'ALLEG. I remember to have fomewhere found this paffage analyzed, and examined with great feverity, by fome votary of science. " How "How abfurd and irrational! A breath of wind cohabits "with an hour of the day, and begets a paffion or a temper "of the mind. Can any thing be really more wild and "extravagant?" ———-—-—-—-—-—- But if fuch friends of unadorned truth, and severe exactness of thought and language, had not been fo alarmed at these airy forms, but had ventured one step farther, they would have found themselves in a region of perfect fecurity, and that the harmless poet was only conducting them by a pleafing path, to this just and natural fentiment, that vernal gales and fine mornings tend to infpire the mind with mirth and gaiety, which are very agreeable, and pleafing affections. That strict philofophical reasoning may be justly conveyed in the fame manner, the celebrated ESSAY ON MAN is one continued proof. And the chief business of the learned Commentator has been to point out that real and solid knowledge, which is far from being disguised, perverted, or corrupted, by paffing thro' the medium of figurative language. And if we confider the boldest Allegories, Metaphors, and other tropes and figures, as they really are, no more than comparisons and fimilitudes expreffed in another form, it will appear that they are by no means fuch daring violations of Metaphyfical truth, as they may be deemed by those who attend only to their immediate appearance, instead of tracing them to their real and final fignification, with the judgment and penetration of the learned Commentator above-mentioned. In like manner I might proceed to defend this fpecies of tropical and figurative compofition, against the general charge of deviating from the principles of Logic. It doth not indeed define with philofophical and logical precifion; but it is not it's intention to define. It may not divide with fuch accuracy as may be neceffary in calm fpeculation, and the investigation E 2 of of truth: but this is not it's province. It's reafoning however, and it's method, may be ftrict and accurate. When Turnus thus addreffes himself to Drances, Meque timoris Argue tu Drance, quando tot ftragis acervos Teucrorum, tua dextra dedit ÆNEID. xi. 1. 383. The form of expreffion is directly contrary to the true intention of the speaker; and yet the reasoning is as just and accurate, as if he had proved in mode and figure that it was not proper to accuse another of a fault which a man is guilty of himself. The great Athenian derives a confiderable part of his renown, from a strict attention to clearness of arrangement and strength of reasoning, even in the full career of his rapid Eloquence. I fhall take the first inftance which occurs, on looking into his remains. In the pleading relative to theCROWN, in which his whole ministerial conduct was exposed to the feverest examination, his adverfary accufes him as the cause of the defeat at Charonea, with all it's fatal confequences. The fubftance of his answer is as follows: ་ "I am not accountable for the iffue of a battle, which is "determined by Providence. I took every neceffary precaution, "and recommended fuch measures as I thought honourable, " and indeed neceffary; and I was diligent and affiduous in contriving all human means of fuccefs. I have therefore "done my part, and am not to be accountable for accidents or for misconduct in other men. And unfortunate as this " event proved in spight of all my efforts, it might have been "ftill more fatal had I omitted fuch efforts. For inftance, if |