and nature of his feelings, as, "I laboured more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me," 1 Cor. xv. 10. "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee," Isaiah xlix. 15. "Oh folly! folly shall I say? rather intolerable impudence." CICERO. "The slightest glance of her bewitching eye,— Those dark blue eyes,—commands the inmost soul. "If she come in, she'll sure speak to my wife, My wife !-my wife!--What wife?—I have no wife! EPIZEUXIS. TERENCE. SHAKSPEARE-Othello. The EPIZEUXIS, (from E, and Levyvvu, to join,) or Repetition, is a figure by which either the same words are repeated, or the same meaning is conveyed in different words; as, "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would to God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!" 2 Sam. xviii. 33. "Happy, happy, happy pair; None but the brave, None but the brave, None but the brave deserves the fair." DRYDEN. "Howl, howl, howl, howl!—O you are men of stones; EROTESIS. SHAKSPEARE-King Lear. The EROTESIS, (from epwraw, to ask,) or Interrogation, is a figure in which the writer or speaker proposes questions, and sometimes returns answers, as, "And what is death, my friends, that I should fear it? "Think you a little din can daunt mine ears? Loud larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets clang? That gives not half so great a blow to the ear, SHAKSPEARE-Taming of the Shrew. "Which way shall I fly, Infinite wrath, and infinite despair? "And did he rise? Pow'rs most illumin'd, wilder'd in the theme." HYPOTYPOSIS. MILTON. YOUNG. The HYPOTYPOSIS, (from vжоTUTоw, to delineate,) gives a strong and beautiful representation of a thing, or circumstance, as, "the bending reed," "dove-like innocence," "a torrent of eloquence.' "The foe came on like a storm. The mingled sound of death arose. Man took man; shield met shield; steel mixed its beams with steel. Darts hiss through the air; spears ring on mails; swords on broken bucklers bound. As the noise of an aged grove beneath the roaring winds, when a thousand ghosts break the trees by night; such was the din of arms." OSSIAN. "Lovely as day he was-but envious clouds Have dimm'd his lustre. He is as a rock, In sullen majesty.-Rugged, now, his look- Would charm the tow'ring eagle in her flight, "How beautiful is night! A dewy freshness fills the silent air; COLMAN-Mountaineers. No mist obscures, nor cloud, nor speck, nor stain, In full orb'd glory, yonder moon divine, The desert circle spreads, Like the round ocean girded with the sky. How beautiful is night! Southey's Thalaba. "'Tis Time gives strength. To ripening time is due "Now stormy fury rose, Resounded, and, had earth been then, all earth IMPRECATION. MILTON. The IMPRECATION (from in, and precor, to pray,) is an ejaculatory address, earnestly entreating adversity or evil, as, "Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, there is a man-child conceived. Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it," &c. Job iii. 3, 4, 5. "All the stored vengeances of heaven fall On her ungrateful top! Strike her young bones, You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames SHAKSPEARE-King Lear. 66 Poison be their drink! Gall, worse than gall, the dainties that they taste! SHAKSPEARE-King Henry VI.-Part 2. "Now may the pestilent dew of vaporous night, COLMAN-Mountaineers. "I curse your purpose homicides! I curse the bond of blood by which you are united. May fell division, infamy, and rout defeat your projects and rebuke your hopes! On you and on your children be the peril of the innocent blood which shall be shed this day." SHERIDAN-Pizarro. DIDO'S CURSE ON ENEAS. "Thou Sun, who view'st at once the world below! Thou Hecate, hearken from thy dark abodes! Ye Furies, fiends, and violated gods! All powers invok'd with Dido's dying breath, Dryden's Virgil, Book iv. L 872. INVOCATION. The INVOCATION, (from in and voco, to call,) is a kind of supplicatory address; as, "Father of light and life! thou good supreme! Oh teach me what is good! teach me thyself! From every low pursuit, and feed my soul With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure; "Thou, who did'st put to flight, O Thou, whose word from solid darkness struck Hear from these nether thrones of light; Up to the Heav'n of Heav'ns, and there 'Mid the dread records of Eternity." LITOTES. THOMSON. YOUNG. MILTON. MASON-Elfrida. The LITOTES, (ATOτns, a lessening, a λros, slender,) is a figure which by an apparent negation makes a more forcible affirmation, as, “A broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise," i. e. accept. Psalm li. 17. "But with many of them God was not well pleased,” i. e. displeased. 1 Cor. x. 5. Yet, as I am allow'd to walk at large, Within the tower, and hold free speech with any, I have not dream't away my thoughtless hours:" RowE-Lady J. Grey. "Mexicans, He sent to bid ine wear a woman's robe.- SOUTHEY. |