and proper meaning having no connection TM whatever. Moving foftnefs, freshness breathes, breathing profpect, flowing spring, dewy light, lucid coolnefs, and many others of this falfe coin may be found in Thom fon's Seafons.

Secondly, the proper fenfe of the word ought to bear fome proportion to the figurative fenfe, and not foar

nor fink much below it.

much above it,

This rule, as

well as the foregoing, is finely illustrated by Vida:

Hæc adeo cum fint, cum fas audere poetis
Multa modis multis; tamen obfervare memento,
Si quando haud propriis rem mavis dicere verbis,
Tranflatifque aliunde notis, longeque petitis!
Ne nimiam oftendas, quærendo talia, curam.
Namque aliqui exercent vim duram, et rebus iniqui
Nativam eripiunt formam, indignantibus ipfis,
Invitafque jubent alienos fumere vultus.
Haud magis imprudens mihi erit, et luminis expers
Qui puero ingentes habitus det ferre gigantis,
Quam fiquis ftabula alta lares appellet equinos,
Aut crines magnæ genitricis gramina dicat.

Poet. . . 148.

Thirdly,

Thirdly, in a figure of fpeech, every circumstance ought to be avoided that agrees with the proper fenfe only, not the figurative fenfe; for it is the latter that expreffes the thought, and the former ferves for no other purpose but to make harmony:

Zacynthus green with ever-fhady groves,
And Ithaca, prefumptuous boast their loves;
Obtruding on my choice a fecond lord,"
They prefs the Hymenean rite abhorr❜d.

Odyley xix. 152.

Zacynthus here standing figuratively for the inhabitants, the defcription of the island is quite out of place. It puzzles the reader, by making him doubt

ought to be taken in its proper or figurative

fenfe.

Write, my Queen,

And with mine eyes. I'll drink the words you

fend,

Though ink be made of gall.

Cymbeline, at 1. Sc. 2.

The disgust one has to drink ink in reality,

is nothing to the purpose where the subject is drinking ink figuratively.

In the fourth place, to draw confequences from a figure of speech, as if the word were to be understood literally, is a grofs absurdity, for it is confounding truth with fiction:

Be Moubray's fins fo heavy in his bofom,
That they may break his foaming courfer's back,
And throw the rider headlong in the lifts,
A caitiff recreant to my coufin Hereford.

Sin may

beli

Richard II, a&t 1. fc. 3a

imagined heavy in a figurative fenfe but weight in a proper fenfe belongs to the acceffory only; and therefore to defcribe the effects of weight, is to defert the principal subject, and to convert the acceffory into a principal.

Cromwell. How does your Grace?
Wolfey. Why, well;

Never fo truly happy, my good Cromwell.
I know myself now, and I feel within me

A peace above all earthly dignities,

A

A still and quiet confcience. The King has cur’d

me,

I humbly thank his Grace; and, from these shoul Vek *sudi a. EnA

ders, These ruin'd pillars, out of pity taken vice vil A load would fink a navy, too much honour.

Henry VIII. act 3. fc. 6.

Ulyffes fpeaking of Hector :

I wonder now how yonder city ftands

When we have here the base and pillar by us. Troilus and Creffida, atl 4. f. 9.

Othello. No, my heart is turn'd to ftone: I ftrike it and it hurts my hand.

Not lefs, even in this defpicable now,

Than when my name fill'd Afric with affrights, And froze hearts beneath your torrid zone. Don Sebastian King of Portugal, all 1.

your

How long a space, fince firft I lov'd, it is!
To look into a glass I fear,

And am furpris'd with wonder, when I mifs
Grey hairs and wrinkles there,

Cowley, vol. 1. p. 86.

I chose the flourishing'ft tree in all the park
With freshest boughs, and fairest head;
I cut my love into his gentle bark,
And in three days behold 'tis dead;
My very written flames fo violent be,
They've burnt and wither'd

up the tree.

Cowley, vol. 1. p. 136.

Ah, mighty Love, that it were inward heat
Which made this precious Limbeck fweat!

But what, alas, ah what does it avail
That fhe weeps tears fo wond'rous cold,
As fcarce the affes hoof can hold,

I

So cold, that I admire they fall not hail.
Cowley, vol. 1. p. 132.

Je crains que cette faifon

Ne nous amenne la pefte;

A

La gueule du chien celeftea 75 jatah teka

Vomit feu fur l' horifon.

A fin que je m'en délivre, P

Je veux lire ton gros livres.
Jufques au dernier feüillet;

Tout ce que ta plume trace,
Robinet,, a de la glace
A faire trembler Juillet.

In me tota ruens Venus

Cyprum deferuit.

Horat. Carm. lib. 1. ode 19.

VOL. III.

X

Almeria.