"upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God moved upon "the face of the waters." Several other passages, particularly some of the Psalms, afford striking examples of this sort of grave, melodious construction. Any composition that rises considerably above the ordinary tone of prose, such as monumental inscriptions, and panegyrical characters, naturally runs into numbers of this kind.

But, in the next place, besides the general correspondence of the current of sound with the current of thought, there may be a more particular expression attempted, of certain objects, by means of resembling sounds. This can be, sometimes, accomplished in prose composition; but there only in a more faint degree; nor is it so much expected there. In poetry, chiefly, it is looked for; where attention to sound is more demanded, and where the inversions and liberties of poetical style give us a greater command of sound; assisted, too, by the versification, and that cantus obscurior, to which we are naturally led in reading poetry. This requires a little more illustration.

The sounds of words may be employed for representing, chiefly, three classes of objects; first, other sounds; secondly, motion; and, thirdly, the emotions and passions of the mind.

First, I say, by a proper choice of words, we may produce a resemblance of other sounds which we mean to describe, such as, the noise of waters, the roaring of winds, or the murmuring of streams. This is the simplest instance of this sort of beauty. For the medium through which we imitate here, is a natural one; sounds represented by other sounds; and between ideas of the same sense, it is easy to form a connexion. No very great art is required in a poet, when he is describing sweet and soft sounds, to make use of such words as have most liquids and vowels, and glide the softest; or, when he is describing harsh sounds, to throw together a number of harsh syllables which are of difficult pronunciation. Here the common structure of Language assists him; for it will be found, that in most Languages, the names of many particular sounds are so formed, as to carry some affinity to the sound which they signify; as with us, the whistling of the winds, the buz and hum of insects, the hiss of serpents, the crash of falling timber; and many other instances, where the word has been plainly framed upon the sound

it represents. I shall produce a remarkable example of this beauty from Milton, taken from two passages in Paradise Lost, describing the sound made, in the one, by the opening of the gates of hell; in the other, by the opening of those of heaven. The contrast between the two, displays, to great advantage, the poet's art. The first is the opening of hell's gates:

......

.On a sudden, open fly,

With impetuous recoil, and jarring sound,

Th' infernal doors; and on their hinges grate

Observe, now, the smoothness of the other:

B.i.

.............Heaven opened wide

Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound,

On golden hinges turning..............

B. ii.

The following beautiful passage from Tasso's Gierusalemme,

has been often admired on account of the imitation effected by sound of the thing represented:

Chiama gli habitator de l'ombre eterne

Il rauco suon de la Tartarea tromba:
Treman le spaciose atra caverne,
Et l'aer cieco a quel rumor rimbomba
Ni stridendo cosi de la superne
Regioni dele cielo, il folgor piomba ;
Ne si scoffa giammia la terra,

Quand i vapori in sen gravida serra. CANT. IV. STANZ. 4. The second class of objects, which the sound of words is often employed to imitate, is, Motion; as it is swift or slow, violent or gentle, equable or interrupted, easy or accompanied with effort. Though there be no natural affinity between sound, of any kind, and motion, yet, in the imagination, there is a strong one; as appears from the connexion between music and dancing. And, therefore, here it is in the poet's power to give us a lively idea, of the kind of motion he would describe, by means of sounds which correspond, in our imagination with that motion. Long syllables naturally give the impression of slow motion; as in this line of Virgil:

Olli inter sese magna vi brachia tollunt.

A succession of short syllables presents quick motion to the mind; as,

Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum.

Both Homer and Virgil are great masters of this beauty; and their works abound with instances of it; most of them, indeed, so often quoted, and so well known, that it is needless to produce them. I shall give one instance, in English, which seems happy. It is the description of a sudden calm on the seas, in a Poem, entitled, The Fleece.

With easy course

The vessels glide; unless their speed be stopp'd
By dead calms, that oft lie on these smooth seas
When every zephyr sleeps ; then the shrouds drop;
The downy feather, on the cordage hung,

Moves not; the flat sea shines like yellow gold
Fus'd in the fire, or like the marble floor

Of some old temple wide...........

The third set of objects which I mentioned the sound of words as capable of representing, consists of the passions and emotions of the mind. Sound may, at first view, appear foreign to these; but, that here also, there is some sort of connexion, is sufficiently proved by the power which music has to awaken, or to assist certain passions, and, according as its strain is varied, to introduce one train of ideas, rather than another. This, indeed, logically speaking, cannot be called a resemblance between the sense and the sound, seeing long or short syllables have no natural resemblance to any thought or passion. But if the arrangement of syllables, by their sound alone, recal one set of ideas more readily than another, and dispose the mind for entering into that affection which the poet means to raise, such arrangement may, justly enough, be said to resemble the sense, or be similar and correspondent to it. admit, that, in many instances, which are supposed to display this beauty of accommodation of sound to the sense, there is much room for imagination to work; and, according as a reader is struck by a passage, he will often fancy a resemblance between the sound and the sense, which others cannot discov er. He modulates the numbers to his own disposition of mind; and, in effect, makes the music which he imagines himself to hear. However, that there are real instances of this kind, and that poetry is capable of some such expression, cannot be doubted. Dryden's Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, affords a very beautiful exemplification of it, in the English Language, With

out much study or reflection, a poet describing pleasure, joy, and agreeable objects, from the feeling of his subject, naturally runs into smooth, liquid, and flowing numbers.

Brisk and lively sensations, exact quicker and more animated numbers.

......................Juvenum manus emicat ardens

Littus in Hesperium.

EN. VIL

Melancholy and gloomy subjects, naturally express themselves in slow measures, and long words:

In those deep solitudes and awful cells,
Where heavenly pensive contemplation dwells:

Et caligantem nigrâ formidine lucum:

I have now given sufficient openings into this subject: a moderate acquaintance with the good poets, either ancient or modern will suggest many instances of the same kind. And with this, I finish the discussion of the Structure of Sentences: having fully considered them under all the heads I mentioned; of Perspicuity, Unity, Strength, and Musical Arrangement.

192

LECTURE XIV.

ORIGIN AND NATURE OF FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE.

HAVING now finished what related to the construction of sentences, I proceed to other rules concerning Style. My general division of the qualities of Style, was into Perspicuity and Ornament. Perspicuity, both in single words and in sentences, I have considered. Ornament, as far as it árises from a graceful, strong, or melodious construction of words, has also been treated of. Another, and a great branch of the ornament of Style, is, Figurative Language; which is now to be the subject of our consideration, and will require a full discussion.

Our first inquiry must be, What is meant by Figures of Speech ?*

In general, they always imply some departure from simplicity of expression; the idea which we intend to convey, not only enunciated to others, but enunciated, in a particular manner, and with some circumstance added, which is designed to render the impression more strong and vivid. When I say, for instance, "That a good man enjoys comfort in the midst of adversity;" I just express my thought in the simplest manner possible. But when I say, "To the upright there ariseth light in darkness ;" the same sentiment is expressed in a Figurative Style; a new circumstance is introduced; light is put in the place of comfort, and darkness is used to suggest the idea of adversity. In the

* On the subject of Figures of Speech, all the writers who treat of rhetoric or composition, have insisted largely. To make references, therefore, on this subject, were endless. On the foundations of Figurative Language, in general, one of the most sensible, and instructive writers appears to me, to be M. Marsais, in his Traite des Tropes pour servir d'Introduction a' la Rhetorique, & à la Logique, For observations on particular Figures, the Elements of Criticism may be consulted, where the subject is fully handled, and illustrated by a great vari ety of examples.