Black omen, for an omen that portends bad fortune. Ater odor. Virgil. The peculiar beauty of this figure arifes from fuggesting a comparison. 3. A word proper to the fubject, employ'd to exprefs one of its attributes. Mens for intellectus. Mens for a refolution : Iftam, oro, exue mentem, 4. When two fubjects have a refemblance by a common quality, the name of the one fubject may be employ'd figuratively to denote that quality in the other. Summer life for agreeable life. 5. The name of the inftrument made to fignify the power of employing it. Melpomene, cui liquidam pater Vocem cum cithara dedit, The ample field of figurative expreffion difplay'd in these tables, affords great scope for reafoning. Several of the observations relating to metaphor, are applicable to figures of fpeech: thefe these I shall slightly retouch, with fome additions peculiarly adapted to the prefent fubject. In the first place, as the figure under confideration is built upon relation, we find from experience, and it must be obvious from reason, that the beauty of the figure depends on the intimacy of the relation between the figurative and proper fense of the word. A flight refemblance, in particular, will never make this figure agreeable: the expreffion, for example, Drink down a fecret, for liftening to a fecret with attention, is harsh and uncouth, because there is scarce any refemblance between liftening and drinking. The expreffion Weighty crack, used by Ben Johnson for loud crack, is worfe if poffible: a loud found has not the flightest resemblance to a piece of matter that is weighty. The following expreffion of Lucretius is not lefs faulty, "Et lepido 66 quæ funt fucata fonore." i. 645. Sed magis Pugnas et exactos tyrannos Denfum humeris bibit aure vulgus, Horat. Carm. 1. 2. ode 13. Phemius! let acts of gods, and heroes old, Strepitumque exterritus haufit. Ody fey, i. 433. Eneid, vi. 559. U 4 Write Write, my Queen, And with mine eyes I'll drink the words you fend. Cymbeline, act 1. sc. 2. As thus th' effulgence tremulous I drink. Summer, l. 1684. Neque audit currus habenas: Georg. i. 514. O Prince! (Lycaon's valiant fon reply'd) Iliad, v. 288. The following figures of fpeech feem altogether wild and extravagant, the figurative and proper meaning having no connection whatever. Moving foftness, Freshness breathes, Breathing profpect, Flowing fpring, Dewy light, Lucid coolnefs, and many others of this false coin may be found in Thomfon's Seafons. Secondly, The proper fenfe of the word ought to bear fome proportion to the figurative fenfe, and not foar much above it, nor fink much below it. This rule, as well as the foregoing, is finely illuftrated by Vida : Hæc adeo cum fint, cum fas audere poetis Trandatifque Tranflatifque aliunde notis, longeque petitis, Ne nimiam oftendas, quærendo talia, curam. Namque aliqui exercent vim duram, et rebus iniqui Haud magis imprudens mihi erit, et luminis expers, Poet. l.iii. 148. Thirdly, In a figure of speech, every circumstance ought to be avoided that agrees with the proper fense 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, Odyssey, xix. 152. Zacynthus here ftanding figuratively for the inhabitants, the defcription of the island is quite out of place it puzzles the reader, by making : him doubt whether the word 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 1 Though ink be made of gall. Cymbeline, act 1. fc. 2. The difguft one has to drink ink in reality, is not to the purpose where the fubject 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 abfurdity, for it is confounding truth with fiction: Be Moubray's fins fo heavy in his bofom, Richard II. act 1. fc. 3. Sin may be 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 fubject, 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 ftill and quiet confcience. The King has cur'd me, A |