he neither feels himself, nor is capable of exciting in others.

Roscoe has remarked that "if the moderns excel the ancients in any department of poetry, it is in that now under consideration. It must not indeed be supposed that the ancients were insensible of the effects produced by this powerful charm. But it may safely be asserted, that they have availed themselves of this creative faculty much more sparingly, and with much less success, than their modern competitors. The attribution of sense to inert objects is indeed common to both; but the still bolder exertion which embodies abstract existence, and renders it susceptible of ocular representation, is almost exclusively the boast of the moderns."*

APOSTROPHE.

APOSTROPHE is a figure nearly allied to personification, with which it is sometimes confounded. It consists in bestowing an ideal presence upon real persons, either dead or absent. We address them as if they stood before us listening to the overflowing of our passion.

Strike the harp in praise of Bragela, whom I left in the isle of mist, the spouse of my love. Dost thou raise thy fair face from the rock to find the sails of Cuchullin ? The sea is rolling far distant, and its white foam shall deceive thee for my sails. Retire, for it is night, my love, and the dark winds sigh in thy hair. Retire to the hall of my feasts, and think of the times that are past; for I will not return till the storm of war is gone.-Ossian.

Never, O little flock! from which I was torn by the cruel fate of war, never shall I be unmindful of the sacred ties that united us, of the uninterrupted harmony which we enjoyed, and of those fruits of the Spirit, goodness, righteousness, and truth, which exhibited

Roscoe's Life of Lorenzo de' Medici, vol. i. p. 357.

among you the most convincing proofs of the energy of the gospel. Never shall I forget that melancholy day on which I was separated from you, without one public opportunity of "commending you to God, and to his grace,' without one affectionate expression, without

one adieu.-Brown's Sermons.

In these examples, an address is made to persons that are absent but addresses are also made to the dead.

Oh thor.! with whom my heart was wont to share
From reason's dawn each pleasure and each care;
With whom, alas! I fondly hoped to know
The humble walks of happiness below;

If thy blest nature now unites above

An angel's pity with a brother's love,

Still o'er my life preserve thy mild control,
Correct my views, and elevate my soul.-Rogers.
Departed spirits of the mighty dead!

Ye that at Marathon and Leuctra bled!

Friends of the world! restore your swords to man,
Fight in his sacred cause, and lead the van!

Yet for Sarmatia's tears of blood atone,

And make her arm puissant as your own!

Oh! once again to Freedom's cause return

The patriot Tell, the Bruce of Bannockburn!-Campbell.

In the preceding examples, the persons addressed are supposed to be either present, or at least to listen to the speakers.

It requires a less violent effort of imagination to suppose persons present who are absent or dead, than to animate insensible beings, and direct our discourse to them. This figure may therefore be introduced where personification in its highest degree would be improper. It must not however be employed except when the mind is in some measure under the dominion of passion.

HYPERBOLE,

THE hyperbole consists in magnifying or diminishing an object beyond reality. This figure is in common use among both the learned and unlearned. The human mind does not rest satisfied with the simple truth, but has a strong propensity to add or diminish. An object either very little or very great in its kind, strikes us with surprise; and this emotion forces upon the mind a momentary conviction that the object is greater or less than it is actually found to be: hence the hyperbole, which expresses that momentary conviction. A writer taking advantage of this natural delusion, enriches his description by the use of hyperboles, and the reader, even in his coolest moments, relishes that figure; he is sensible that it is the operation of nature upon a warm fancy.

Even in common conversation, hyperbolical expressions very frequently occur; as swift as the wind, as white as snow, and the like; and our ordinary forms of compliment are almost all of them extravagant hyperboles. Yet these exaggerated expressions scarcely strike us as hyperbolical: in an instant we make the proper abatement, and know how to form a just estimate. But when there is something striking and unusual in the form of a hyperbolical expression, it is exalted into a figure of speech which draws our attention.

It cannot have escaped observation, that a writer is generally more successful in magnifying by a hyperbole than in diminishing. A minute object contracts the

* Quinetian, de Institut. Orator. lib. viii. cap. vi.

mind, and fetters its powers; whereas a grand object dilates and inflames the mind.

The following quotations will exemplify the manner in which this figure is used.

For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.-Genesis.

Me miserable! which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?
Which way I fly is Hell: myself am Hell;
And in the lowest deep a lower deep
Still threat'ning to devour me opens wide,
To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven.

Swift Camilla scours the plain,

Milton.

Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main.-Pope. Longinus quotes from some comic poet, the following ludicrous instance of a diminishing hyperbole: "He possessed a field, of smaller extent than a Lacedemonian letter."

I. A hyperbole should never be introduced in the description of anything ordinary or familiar. In such a case, it is altogether unnatural.'

I saw him beat the surges under him,

And ride upon their backs: he trode the water;
Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted

The surge most swoln that met him: his bold head
'Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oar'd
Himself with his good arms, in lusty strokes

To th' shore, that o'er his wave-born basis bow'd,
As stooping to receive him.

Shakspeare.

II. A hyperbole cannot be introduced with propriety, until the mind of the reader is duly prepared. A figure of this kind, placed at the beginning of a work, is improper.

How far a hyperbole may be carried, and what is the proper measure and boundary of it, cannot be ascertained by any precise rule. Good sense and a cultivated taste must determine the point beyond which it

will become extravagant. Longinus compares a hyperbole carried too far, to a bow-string which relaxes by overstraining, and produces an effect opposite to what is intended.

In single opposition hand to hand,

He did confound the best part of an hour

In changing hardiment with great Glendower.

Three times they breath'd, and three times did they drink,

Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood;

Who then affrighted with their bloody looks,

Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds,
And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank,

Blood-stained with these valiant combatants.-Shakspeare.

England ne'er had a king until his time;

Virtue he had, deserving to command;

His brandish'd sword did blind men with its beams.

His arms spread wider than a dragon's wings;

His sparkling eyes, replete with awful fire,

More dazzled, and drove back his enemies,

Than mid-day sun fierce bent against their faces.-Shakspeare.

I found her on the floor

In all the storm of grief, yet beautiful;

Pouring forth tears at such a lavish rate,

That were the world on fire, they might have drown'd

The wrath of Heaven, and quench'd the mighty ruin.-Lee. With regard to the last of these instances, the person herself who was under the distracting agitations of grief might be permitted to hyperbolize in this manner; but the person describing her cannot be allowed an equal liberty. The one is supposed to utter the sentiments of passion; the other speaks only the language of description, which, according to the dictates of nature, is always in a lower tone. This is a distinction which, however obvious, has not been observed by many writers.

III. A hyperbole, after it is introduced with every advantage, ought to be comprehended in as few words as possible. As it cannot be relished but in the confusion and swelling of the mind, a leisurely view dissolves the charm, and discovers the figure to be either extravagant or ridiculous.