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quin trimming himself with an hatchet, hew-, ing down a tree with a razor, making his tea "in a cauldron, and brewing his ale in a tea

§4. Upon a review of our account of the Tropes of Rhetoric, we may fee the justice of Mr BLACKWALL's obfervation, that "it is plain "there is a general analogy and relation be"tween all Tropes; and that in all of them a "man ufes a foreign or ftrange word inftead of "a proper one, and therefore fays one thing. "and means fomething different. When he fays one thing, and means another almoft the fame, it is a Synecdoche or Comprehenfion; when "he fays one thing, and means another mutually depending, it is a Metonymy; when he fays one thing, and means another opposite or "contrary, it is an Irony; when he fays one thing, and means another like to it, it is a Metaphor; a Metaphor continued, and often "repeated, is an Allegory; a Metaphor, carried "to a great degree of boldnefs, is an Hyper

tr

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bole; and when at first found it feems a little "harsh and shocking, and may be imagined to carry fome impropriety in it, it is a Cata"chrefis +."

§ 5. The celebrated VIDA has given us fuch a very juft and beautiful account of the nature H 4

* POPE's Art of Sinking, vol. vi. page 191.

BLACKWALL'S Introduction to the Claffics, page 181.

of

of Tropes, and their feveral kinds, that I think proper to annex to our Discourse concerning them a translation of his very fine verfes upon our fubject; and the Reader will excufe me, if along with them I translate fome lines of our Author that belong not to the Tropes, but the Figures of Rhetoric, the last of which have not as yet been considered by us.

Obferve how

proper names afide are thrown, And tropical inferted in their room.

Exotic words, adapted and apply'd

To things for which they were not firft defign'd,
Adorn our fubjects with a novel dress
Magnificently gay, nor would they with
To quit their foreign for their native garb.
Of battle, while the Bard fublimely fings,
His Tropes are borrow'd from devouring flame,
Or the wild wafteful deluge furging high;
Or if a conflagration he defcribes,

His Metaphors are fnatch'd from fighting fields,
The rage and boundlefs devaftation there:
When hoftile hofts in fierce encounter join,
The battle fhall be call'd a ftormy fea;
Where in their boift'rous terrors, winds with winde
Contend, and waves in huge enormous ranks
Burft upon waves in infinite uproar.
Thus things are painted in a foreign form,
Reciprocally thus they lend their aid,
As they their drefs alternately exchange.
Such beauties entertain the Reader's mind,
As from one fubject he beholds a croud
Of inftantaneous images arife.

So from fome neighb'ring hill, while we furvey
The ocean's pure and peaceable expanfe,
And all below us fpread the liquid plain,
We fee, reflected in the watry gleam,
Paftures, and waving woods, and wander o'er
The floating picture with immenfe delight.
Thus fhould the Mufe's Son adorn his verse
With images in rich variety,

Secure th' attention, bear th' enraptur'd mind,
Now here, now there, in his refiftlefs fong.
The Bard too from this fource derives his pow'rs
T'irradiate, and exalt to dignity

A fubject mean and trivial in itself;
And, if the proper words are found too few,
Enriching Tropes will their defects supply.
This liberty is not enjoy'd alone

By Poets: others will the indulgence claim,
And mof the Orators, whofe eloquence
Would roufe the fleeping thunders of the law.
Against delinquents, or would kindly fave
Their friends from the devouring jaws of death
Into the joys of freedom and the day.
Nay, even the countryman's untutor❜d stile
Abounds with Tropes- See what a joyful crop!-
The vine is hung with gems-The thirsty fields
Drink the refreshing show'rs-The valleys smile
With rifing harvefts Poverty of speech

Produc'd thefe Tropes; for when no words occur,
Appointed for the things we would defcribe,
'Tis natural to have recourse to names
Appropriated to express the things

That most resemble them. But by degrees,
As civilizing arts and choice prevail'd,
Tropes, by neceffity first introduc'd,

Were

Were for the pleasures they infpir'd preferr'd,
And the rich luftres they on language shed.
Thus the inclemency of boift'rous winds
And fierce defcending rains compell'd mankind
To rear rude tenements of mud and straw;
But what neceffity firft dictated

Soon grew to elegance. The dome august
On Parian columns rofe, and burnifh'd brass
Suftain'd the tow'ring roof; while regal pomp
And regal luxury reign'd all within,
And the poor hut was for the palace chang'd.
But ftill the privilege of framing Tropes
Is not indulg'd in fuch a large extent.
To other artifts as to tuneful Bards.
They by the rigid laws of verfe are bound
To scanty measures and unvarying feet,
While others in a wide unbounded field.
Expatiate unconfin'd, How fit, how juft,
That Poets then should be allow'd t' adorn
With bolder colours and a richer dress

in

Their works, nor blush to find their art difclos'd!

Ofttimes the Bard delights to raise his fong

Up to a pitch furpaffing all belief *.

t

The fhout afcends the fkies. All heav'n around "Shakes with th' unfufferable noife." Anon How he repeats his words, that execrate : Ravage and havock and the plagues of war†? O father! O my country! O the house "Of PRIAM once fo great! O JUPITER! "Imperial Troy is fmoking on the ground." NEPTUNE fhall sometimes fignify the main ‡, And BACCHUS wine, and CERES corn intend:

• The Hyperbole. The Synecdoche.

+ An Ecphonefu.

The

The father hall denominate his race,

And cities their inhabitants defign,

When Africans with confternation fhake,

Their country trembles to its utmoft bounds,
Give me a cup of Achelous' streams,

And gen'rous wine compos'd--What mean the ftreams
But water, from whatever fount it flows?

Poets will by a change of speech address
Themselves to abfent perfons*, fpeak to caves,
To deferts, mountains, rivers, fields, and woods,
As they with fenfe and reafon were endow'd,
And could return an answer to their call.

Sometimes a Bard profufe fhall pour his praise In words, while he a fenfe reverfe intends t. "She doubtlefs was a moft deferving wife t, "Who, when his foes were rushing thro' his doors, "Drew from her husband's head his faithful fword." "O to what heights of fame has DRANCES foar'd! "How has he ftrew'd the fields with heaps of flain "And, fee the trophies which his valour gain'd! What a rich pleasure oft pervades the mind, When, but from no deficiency of speech, The felf-fame words are by the fong return'd? Should PAN, tho' ARCADY was judge, contend; "Ev'n PAN, tho' ARCADY was judge, muft yield §." But tho' a Poet may have leave to foar

In bold excurfions on his wing of fire,

7

Let him be caution'd in his use of Tropes

Not to exceed all bounds, and croud his verfe
With what are scarce related to his theme.