XVI. paffage, Quinctilian fhews the true genius of LECT. an orator, as much as he does elsewhere that of the critic. FOR fuch bold Figures of difcourfe as strong Perfonifications, addreffes to personified objects, and Apoftrophes, the glowing imagination of the ancient Oriental nations was particularly fitted. Hence, in the facred fcriptures, we find fome very remarkable inftances: O thou fword of the Lord! how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put thy"felf up into the fcabbard, reft and be ftill! "How can it be quiet, feeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Afhkelon, and "against the fea-fhore? there hath he ap"pointed it *." There is one passage in particular, which I muft not omit to mention, because it contains a greater affemblage of fublime ideas, of bold and daring Figures, than is perhaps any where to be met with. It is in the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah, where the prophet thus defcribes the fall of the Affyrian empire: "Thou shalt take up this "proverb against the king of Babylon, and "fay, how hath the oppreffor ceased! the "golden city ceafed! The Lord hath broken "the staff of the wicked, and the fceptre of "the rulers. He who fmote the people in "wrath with a continual ftroke: he that ruled LECT. "the nations in anger, is perfecuted, and none hindereth. The whole earth is at reft, "and is quiet: they break forth into finging. "Yea the fir-trees rejoice at thee, and the "cedars of Lebanon, faying, Since thou art "laid down, no feller is come up against us. "Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to "meet thee at thy coming; it stirreth up the "dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the "earth it hath raised up from their thrones "all the kings of the nations. All they fhall fpeak, and fay unto thee, Art thou also be"come weak as we? Art thou become like "unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to "the grave, and the noife of thy viols: the "worm is fpread under thee, and the worms "cover thee. How art thou fallen from Hea"ven, O Lucifer, fon of the morning! how "art thou cut down to the ground, which "didft weaken the nations! For thou haft "faid in thine heart, I will afcend into Hea"ven, I will exalt my throne above the stars "of God: I will fit alfo upon the mount of "the congregation, in the fides of the north. "I will afcend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Moft High. "Yet thou shalt be brought down to Hell, "to the fides of the pit. They that fee thee "fhall narrowly look upon thee, and confider thee, faying, Is this the man that made the "earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms? << that XVI. "that made the world as a wilderness, and LECT. deftroyed the cities thereof? that opened "not the house of his prifoners? All the kings of the nations, even all of them lie "in glory, every one in his own houfe. But "thou art caft out of thy grave, like an abo"minable branch: and as the raiment of "thofe that are flain, thrust through with a "fword, that go down to the stones of the "pit, as a carcafe trodden under feet." This whole paffage is full of fublimity. Every object is animated; a variety of perfonages are introduced: we hear the Jews, the fir-trees, and cedars of Lebanon, the ghosts of departed Kings, the King of Babylon himself, and those who look upon his body, all speaking in their order, and acting their different parts without confufion. LECTURE XVII. LECT. COMPARISON, ANTITHESIS, INTERRO. WE are ftill engaged in the confideration of Figures of Speech; which, as they add much to the beauty of ftyle when properly employed, and are at the fame time liable to be greatly abufed, require a careful difcuffion. As it would be tedious to dwell on all the variety of figurative expreffions which rhetoricians have enumerated, I chose to felect the capital Figures, fuch as occur most frequently, and to make my remarks on thefe; the principles and rules laid down concerning them, will fufficiently direct us to the use of the reft, either in profe or poetry. Of Metaphor, which is the most common of them all, I treated fully; and in the last Lecture I discoursed of Hyperbole, Personification, and Apoftrophe. This Lecture will nearly finish what remains on the head of Figures. COMPARISON, 5 XVII. COMPARISON, or Simile, is what I am to LECT. treat of first a Figure frequently employed both by Poets and Profe-writers, for the ornament of Compofition. In a former Lecture, I explained fully the difference betwixt this and Metaphor. A Metaphor is a comparison implied, but not expreffed as fuch; as when I fay, "Achilles is a Lion," meaning, that he resembles one in courage or ftrength. A Comparison is, when the refemblance between two objects is expreffed in form, and generally purfued more fully than the nature. of a Metaphor admits; as when I fay, "The "actions of princes are like thofe great rivers, "the courfe of which every one beholds, but "their springs have been seen by few." This flight inftance will fhow, that a happy Comparison is a kind of fparkling ornament, which adds not a little luftre and beauty to difcourfe; and hence fuch Figures are termed by Cicero, "Orationis lumina." THE pleasure we take in Comparisons is juft and natural. We may remark three different fources whence it arifes. Firft, from the pleasure which nature has annexed to that act of the mind by which we compare any two objects together, trace resemblances among thofe that are different, and differences among those that refemble each other; a pleasure, the final caufe of which is, to prompt |