uncommon edge, and that cut remarkably deep, bear the same name, though upon examination they will appear not to be Ironies, but plain expressions. Thus PYRRHUS the son of ACHILLES, when Priam reproached him with cruelty, and put hiin in mind of his father's contrary conduct, insults him in the following Sarcasm :

Thou then shalt bear the tidings, and shalt go
A speedy courier to the shades below;
There tell Achilles of my barb'rous deeds,
And what a wretch his noble fire succeeds

$ 6. Ironies and Sarcasms have a great advanitage in them to infuse strength and vehemence into our discourses, and may be

very serviceable to correct vice and hypocrisy, and dash pride and insolence out of countenance. They add ridicule to dislike, and set up an infamous character as the butt of contempt, than which there is nothing that can wound with forer mortification and a keener anguish. Perhaps these Tropes are never used with greater advantage, than when they are followed with something very severe and cutting in plain and clear language, by which a vile and detestable character is thrown as it were from one rack of torture to another. An example of this sort we may find

in

* Cui Pyrrhus ; referes ergo hæc, & nuntius ibis
-- Pelidæ genitori illi mea triftia facta,
Degeneremque Neoptolemum narrare memento.

Virgil. Æneid. lib. ii. ver. 547.

in Cicero, when speaking of Piso, he says: “ You have heard this Philosopher. He de“ nies that he was ever desirous of a triumph : “ O wretch! O plague! O scoundrel ! when

you destroyed the Senate, fold its authority,

subjected your Consulate to the Tribune, over“ turned the State, betrayed my life and safety « for the reward of a province, if you did not « desire a triumph, what can you pretend you “ did desire + ?"

whom and upon

$ 7. Let us take heed

upon what occasions we employ the Irony or Sarcasm ; ever dreading scattering abroad arrows, firebrands and death, and excusing ourselves with saying, that we are only in Sport. A cruel satire, though it passed from our lips rather for the sake of wit, than out of a principle of illnature, may make such a wound upon a tender and innocent mind, as even whole years or life itself may never be able to heal. Let us in our wit and satire imitate the true Hero, who, though he always wears a sword, yet never uses it but upon a proper occasion. .

+ At audiftis, Patres Confcripti, Philosophi vocem, negavit se triumphi cupidum unquam feciffe. O scelus ! O peftis ! O labes! cum extinguebas senatum, vendebas auctoritatem hujus ordinis, addicebas tribuno plebis consulatum tuum, rempublicam evertebas, prodebas caput & falutem meam una mercede provinciæ, fi triumphum non cupiebas, cujus tandem rei te cu. piditate arfiffe defendes ? CICER. in Pison. $24.

Teach me to feel another's wo,

To hide the fault I see,
That mercy I to others show,
That
mercy

Thow to me ;
are lines that I have somewhere met with in Mr
Pope, however little they may be exemplified in
his Dunciad.

to the

$ 8. If I might venture to give my opinion of the true ground of an Irony, I should ascribe it power

of contraft. We have for our subject a foolish or bad character; in order the more effectually to expose it, we call up by our expressions the idea of a character that is wise or worthy. These two characters are matched to

gether, like a coarse daubing and curious pic-ture exhibited in one view: the curious picture grows brighter and more beautiful by being placed by a bad neighbour, and the coarse daubing looks meaner and baser by the contiguous lustre of its noble companion. The plumes of the raven never appear with so deep a jet, as when he is walking over a track of unsullied snow.

CHAPTER VII.

The HYPERBOLE considered.

$. 1. An Hyperbole, its definition. § 2. Hyper

boles of two kinds : (i) Thát which increases beyond the truth; (2) That which falls below the truth. $ 3. Various ways by which an Hyperbole is expressed: (1) In plain and direet terms ; (2) By similitude ; (3) By a strong Metaphor. $ 4. Various remarks upon an Hyperbole. $ 5. How an Hyperbole may be Softened. $ 6. If two or more Hyperboles in a sentence, they are to strengthen one another.

AN

$ 1. N Hyperbole * is a Trope, that in its

representation of things either magnifies or diminishes beyond or below the line of strict truth, or to a degree that is disproportioned to the real nature of the subject.

§ 2. This Trope is branched into two kinds. (1) That kind of Hyperbole which increases beyond the truth. Such are the expressions, whiter than snow, blacker than a raven, swifter than the

wind, • From umugbaraw, I exceed.

sind, and the Be T-1122 3 Giant POLYPHELE,

He walks suolis, Diamong
So again,

On either ser mE TE
Whole
in the ha
In Deut. ix. 1. ve sadece 30 i 7
ven. In je u to. e até 3 PTUTTON
wicked ran 23
clouds : and HE TOLD ILI
are said to 262, SI TO SEE
beaven.

(2) The other formoni NI truth. Thus we speak o nie len 37. snail, of being us asi EU4, E VUE LE mole, and of being and I EKZEDE I en.. xxiv. 14. * After vms Dann lalu • the king of Ezel com ? EHVIOT CH ss thou pursue? atter a dead on to a frier So Job xxv. 6. zon is ab WITH. 110 xl. 17. - All nations bár GE 2** 28 True; * and they are co2 9 2: Pis iar IIL thing." And P22 .

I Spring TI E * low degree are sanis, ac LTE

are a lie: to be lata in un barangan * together lighter than 720p

G 3
* - Ipse ardeas ataqz priza:
Sidera

Eus liv
† Hinc atque hinc vaiz ropes, gemuugue mutank
In cælum (copali

. – Vizcil, Eu 2.1. ve 25€