The machinery of these poems were fiery dragons, giants and fairies; the scenery enchanted forests, castles and lakes. The virtues, vices, and passions were personified, and the mythology was a mixture of the Greek, Roman, Arabian, and Christian. The advancement of learning has long banished this false taste; and it cannot be denied, that perhaps the meanest modern composition, even the flimsy flowers of a monthly miscellany, will better stand the test of criticism; yet how fleetly do these short lived embryos vanish, never to appear again, at the approach of the great visionary figures, called up by our old bards! How is the imagination carried away in their lofty flights into the regions of fancy, adorned with the glow of genuine poetry!"

The Clergy, also, adopted a similar style of writing, in which they considered themselves warranted, by the mystical allusions of the Old Testament. The "Pelerinage de vie humaine," (of which an old manuscript still exists in the Library at Lyons) an Allegorical French Poem in Rhyme, is a spiritual parody of the "Romaunt of the Rose"; and was translated and published in most of the continental languages, immediately after the invention of printing. "The Parable of the Pilgrim," by Dr. Symon Patrick (afterwards, in succession, Bishop of Chichester and

of Ely) was first published in 1665, and speedily passed through several editions. This gave place to "The Pilgrim's Progress," a work of a very different cast: the rigid Calvinistic principles of which acquired for it immediate popularity; while the management of the Allegory has given no small portion of fame to the name of Bunyan.

APOLOGUE-FABLE-PARABLE-COMPARISON.

The Apologue, Greek apo, from, and logos, a speech,―(because meaning something beyond the literal words) is a short allegorical fiction, from which a separate meaning, or moral lesson is drawn. It is only another name for an Æsopian Fable, in which animals, vegetables, stocks and stones speak and act as monitors to mankind.

An Apologue, or Fable, differs from a Tale in being written expressly for the sake of the moral. Let there be no moral and there is no Fable. The word Fable is used here in a confined sense; for, generally speaking, all literary fabrications are Fables: We have fabulous histories and fabulous cosmogonies. There are few modern Fables that are sufficiently concise. Those of Gay often lengthen into Tales, or lose themselves in Allegory. The following, from the Italian of Baldi, has been quoted for its singularity:

"

Sicily addressed Neptune, praying to be re

joined with Italy:-You are foolish, answered the God, if you do not know how much better it is to be a small head than a great foot."-" The allusion to the form of Italy, which resembles a Boot, gives an air of conceit to the turn of the moral."

A Parable (Greek parabole, from paraballein, to compare,) is a Fable, but is more generally used to denominate those allegorical Tales, in Scripture, which were introduced for the purpose of illustrating some truth to which they have a similitude: such is that of "The Prodigal Son" and many others.

An author, whose name is unknown and whose work has been unjustly neglected, has made some excellent remarks on these and other literary subjects:*

"Comparisons, Proverbial Speeches, Parables and Fables, may be easily converted, the one into the other.

Sometimes the moral is expressed, sometimes understood. By some writers it is set in front, as by Fontaine; by some, at the end, as by Esop; and occasionally it is placed in the middle of the work.

Those moral sentences which we find so fre

"Genuine Letters from a Gentleman to a young Lady his Pupil." 2 vols. 12mo. 1772.

1

quently interspersed in Homer, Virgil, Milton, &c. before, in the middle, or at the close of some interesting narration, are entirely in the nature of morals to a Fable.

I shall throw a little illustation on these points, particularly relative to proverbial sentences and phrases, and then release my dear scholar. We have a proverb in Scotland,

"Cocks are free of horse corn;"

meaning to imply that people are liberal or profuse of what belongs to another.

Again, we have,

"Use a cat to the churn, and she will call it custom;"

signifying, if you accustom your servants, or other folks, to make too frequent use of what is yours, they will think, at last, that they have acquired a right to it.

How easily now may these be changed into a Comparison! for instance, "As a Cat that has been allowed," &c.-" As a Cock that sits in a manger," &c. or into a Fable, as, "A widow had a favourite cat, whom she indulged," and so on. These simple examples clearly show how closely the figures are allied.

A Fable or Story may be either true or false, it matters not which, so that a moral accompanies it, and flows naturally from it.

Here follows a quotation from Spencer, where a Fable, Comparison, and Moral are finely wrought up together.

As when a weary traveller, that strays

By muddy shore of broad seven-mouthed Nile,
Unweeting of the per❜lous wandering ways,
Doth meet a cruel, crafty crocodile,

Which, in false grief hiding his harmful guile,
Doth weep full sore, and sheddeth tender tears,
The foolish man, that pities, all this while,

His mournful plight, is swallow'd unawares,
Forgetful of his own, who minds another's cares."

ENIGMA, OR RIDDLE.

The general allusion of an Allegory ought to be easily perceived, otherwise it becomes an Enigma, a Greek word signifying an obscure speech. Such Allegories, made up of ambiguous terms, are formed on purpose to exercise the mind in discovering their meanings.

Enigmas are the amusements of wit and ingenuity; but they hold no higher rank in literature. Many of them, however, are given in verse, and, as small poetical pieces, are not without merit. The most recent, to which any character is attached, is the following, said to have been written by Lord Byron:

'Twas whisper'd in heaven, 'twas mutter'd in hell, And Echo caught faintly the sound as it fell :