VIII. An attribute of the agent given to the subject, upon which it operates.

High-climbing hill. Milton.

IX. A quality of one subject given to another.
When shapeless age, and weak feeble limbs,

Should bring thy father to his drooping chair. Shakspeare.

By art, the pilot through the boiling deep,

And howling tempest, steers the fearless ship. Iliad, xxiii. 385. X. A circumstance connected with a subject, expressed as a quality of the subject.

'Tis ours the chance of fighting fields to try. Iliad, i. 301. 261. The several relations upon which figures of speech are commonly founded, are epitomized in the following two tables: one of subjects expressed figuratively, and one of attributes.

FIRST TABLE.

Subjects expressed figuratively.

I. A word proper to one subject, employed figuratively, to express a resembling subject.

Illus. 1. There is no figure of speech so frequent, as that which is derived from the relation of resemblance; as, morning of life, for youth. (Illus. Art. 257.)

Analysis. The life of man resembles a natural day, in several particulars: the morning is the beginning of day; youth the beginning of life; the morning is cheerful; so is youth, &c.

2. By another resemblance, a multitude of troubles are, a sea of trouble; and a bold warior is, the thunderbolt of war.

Corol. This figure, above all others, affords pleasure to the mind, by variety of beauties. It possesses, among others, the beauty of a metaphor, or of a simile. A figure of speech, built upon resemblance, always suggests a comparison between the principal snbject and the accessory. Hence, by this figure, every good effect of a metaphor, or simile, may be produced in a short and lively man

ner.

II. A word proper to the effect, employed figuratively, to express the cause; as, shadow, for cloud; glittering tower, for helmet; umbrage or shadow, for tree.

Where the dun umbrage hangs. Spring. 1. 1023.

A wound is made to signify an arrow.

Vulnere non pedibus te consequar. Ovid.

Analysis. There is a peculiar force and beauty in this; the word,

which signifies figuratively the principal subject, denotes it to be a cause, by suggesting the effect.

III. A word proper to the cause, employed figuratively to express the effect; as, grief, sorrow,

for tears.

Again Ulysses veil'd his pensive head;

Again, unmann'd, a show'r of sorrow shed. Streaming grief his faded cheek bedewed. Blindness, for darkness.

Cæcis erramus in nudis. Eneid, iii. 200.

Analysis. There is a peculiar beauty in this figure, similar to that in the former: the figurative name denotes the subject to be an effect, by suggesting its cause.

IV. Two things being intimately connected, the proper name of the one employed figuratively to signify the other.

Illus. Day, for light. Night, for darkness; and hence, a sudden night. Winter, for a storm at sea:

Interea magno misceri murmure pontum,

Emissamque Hyemem sensit Neptunus. Encid, i. 128.

V. A word proper to an attribute, employed figuratively to denote the subject.

Youth and beauty shall be laid in dust.

Majesty, for king; as in Hamlet, Act. i. Scene i.
What art thou, that usurp'st this time of night,
Together with that fair and warlike form,

In which the majesty of buried Denmark

Did sometimes march?

Analysis. The peculiar beauty of this figure arises from suggesting an attribute that embellishes the subject, or puts it in a stronger light.

VI. A complex term, employed figuratively to denote one of the component parts; as, funus, for a dead body; burial, for a grave.

VII. The name of one of the component parts, instead of the complex term; as, the east, for a country situated east from us.Jovis vestigia servat, for immitating Jupiter, in general.

VIII. A word signifying time or place, employed figuratively to denote what is connected with it.

Illus. Clime, for season, or for a constitution of government: hence the expression, merciful clime, fleecy winter, for snow, seculum felix.

IX. A part, for the whole; as, the pole, for the earth; the head, for the person.

Triginta minas pro capite tuo dedi. Plautus.

Analysis. The peculiar beauty of this figure consists is marking that part, which makes the greatest figure.

X. The name of the container to signify what is contained.

Illus. Grove for birds in it; as, vocal grove. Ships for the seamen; as, agonizing ships. Mountains for the sheep pasturing on them; as, bleating mountains. The kettle for the water; as, the kettle boils.

XI. The name of the sustainer, to signfy what is sustained. Illus. Altar, for sacrifice; field, for the battle fought upon it; as, well-fought field. (§. X. p. 145.)

XII. The name of the materials, to signify the things made of them; as, hemp, for rope; cold steel, for a sword; lead, for a bullet.

XIII. The names of Gods and Goddesses, employed figuratively, to signify what they patronize.

Illus. Jove for the air, Mars for war, Venus for beauty, Cupid for love, Ceres for corn, Neptune for the sea, Vulcan for fire.

This figure bestows great elevation upon the subject; and therefore ought to be confined to the higher strains of poetry.

SECOND TABLE.

Attributes expressed figuratively.

I. When two attributes are connected, the name of the one may he employed figuratively, to express the other.

Illus. Purity for virginity. These are attributes of the same person or thing; hence the expression, virgin snow, for pure snow; virgin gold, for gold unalloyed.

II. A word signifying properly an attribute of one subject, employed figuratively to express a resembling attribute of another subject.

Illus. 1. Tottering state, imperious ocean, angry flood, raging tempest, shallow fears.

My sure divinity shall bear the shield,

And edge thy sword to reap the glorious field.

Odyssey, xx. 61.

2. Black omen, for an omen that portends bad fortune; as, ater odor. Virgil.

Obs. The peculiar beauty of this figure, arises from suggesting a comparison.

III. A word proper to the subject, employed to express one of its

attributes.

Illus. Mind, for intellect; mind, for resolution.

1

IV. When two subjects have a resemblance by a common quality, the name of the one subject may be employed figuratively, to denote that quality in the other; as, summer, for agreeable life. V. The name of the instrument, made to signify the power of employing it.

Scholium. The ample field of figurative expression, displayed in

these tables. affords great scope for reasoning, as we shall find in the subsequent ANALYSES of figurative language.

CHAPTER II.

METAPHOR.

262. METAPHOR is a figure founded entirely on the resemblance which one subject bears to another. Hence, it is much allied to simile, or comparison; and is indeed no other than a comparison, expressed in an abridged form. (Art. 260.)

Illus. When of some great minister it is said, "that he upholds the state, like a pillar which supports the weight of a whole edifice," a comparison is made; but when it is said of such a minister, "that he is the pillar of the state," it is now become a metaphor.

Analysis. The comparison betwist the minister and a pillar, is made in the mind; but is expressed without any of the words that denote comparison. The comparison is only insinuated, not expressed: the one object is supposed to be so like the other, that, without formally drawing the comparison, the name of the one may be put in the place of the name of the other. "The minister is the pillar of the state." This, therefore, is a more lively and animated manner of expressing the resemblances which imagination traces among objects. There is nothing that delights the fancy more than this act of comparing things together, discovering resemblances between them, and describing them by their likeness. The mind thus employed, is exercised without being fatigued; and is gratified with the consciousness of its own ingenuity. (Scholium, p. 147.)

263. Though all metaphor imports comparison, and, therefore, is, in that respect, a figure of thought; yet, as the words in a metaphor are not taken literally, but changed from their proper to a figurative sense, the metaphor is cummonly ranked among tropes or figures of words. (Example, Art. 245.) But, provide the nature of it be less understood, it signifies very little whether we call it a figure or a trope. (Obs. Art. 254.)

Illus. 1. We have confined it to the expression of resemblance

between two objects. We must remark, however, that the word metaphor is sometimes used in a looser and more extended sense; for the application of a term in any figurative signification, whether the figure be founded on resemblance, or on some other relation which two objects bear to one another.

Example. For instance; when grey hairs are put for old age, as, "to bring one's grey hairs with sorrow to the grave;" some writers would call this a metaphor, though it is not properly one, but what rhetoricians call a metonymy; that is, the effect put for the cause; (. II. p. 145.) "grey hairs" being the effect of old age, but not bearing any sort of resemblance to it.

264. Of all the figures of speech, none comes so near to painting as metaphor. Its peculiar effect is to give light and strength to description; to make intellectual ideas, in some sort, visible to the eye, by giving them colour, and substance, and sensible qualities. In order, however, to produce this effect, a delicate hand is required; for, by a very little inaccuracy, we are in hazard of introducing confusion, in place of promoting perspicuity. (Art. 257.)

Illus. Several rules, therefore, are necessary to be given for the proper management of metaphor. But, before entering on these, we shall give one instance of a very beautiful metaphor, that we shew the figure to full advantage. We shall take our instance from Lord Bolingbroke's Remarks on the History of England. Just at the conclusion of his work, he is speaking of the behaviour of Charles I. to his last parliament: "In a word," says he, "about a month after their meeting, he dissolved them: and, as soon as he had dissolved them, he repented; but he repented too late of his rashness. Well might he repent, for the vessel was now full, and this last drop made the waters of bitterness overflow."— "Here," he adds, "we draw the curtain, and put an end to our remarks."

Analysis. Nothing could be more happily thrown off. The metaphor, we see, is continued through several expressions. The vessel is put for the state or temper of the nation already full, that is, provoked to the highest by former oppressions and wrongs; this last drop, stands for the provocation recently received by the abrupt dissolution of the parliament; and the overflowing of the waters of bitterness, beautifully expresses all the effects of resentment let loose by an exasperated people.

Scholia. Nothing forms a more spirited and dignified conclusion of a subject, than a figure of this kind happily placed at the close. We see the effect of it in this instance. The author goes off with a good grace; and leaves a strong and full impression of his subject on the reader's mind. A metaphor has frequently an advantage