I bridle in my struggling muse with pain,
That longs to launch into a bolder strain.

The muse, 'figured as a horse, may be bridled; but when we speak of launching, we make it a ship; and by no force of imagination, can it be supposed both a horse and a ship at one moment; bridled, to hinder it from launching.

The same author, elsewhere, says, "There is not a single view of human nature, which is not sufficient to extinguish the seeds of pride." Observe the incoherence of the things here joined together; making a view extinguish, and extinguish seeds.

As metaphors ought never to be mixed, so they should not be crowded together on the same object; for the mind has difficulty in passing readily through many different views of the same object, presented in quick succession.

The last rule concerning metaphors, is, that they be not too far pursued. If the resemblance, on which the figure is founded, be long dwelt upon, and carried into all its minute circumstances, we tire the reader, who soon grows weary of this stretch of fancy; and we render our discourse obscure. This is called straining a metaphor. Authors of a lively and strong imagination are apt to run into this exuberance of metaphor. When they hit upon a figure that pleases them, they are loth to part with it, and frequently continue it so long, as to become tedious and intricate. We may observe, for instance, how the following metaphor is spun out.

Thy thoughts are vagabons; all outward bound,

'Midst sands, and rocks, and storms, to cruise for pleasure; If gain'd, dear bought; and better miss'd than gain'd. Fancy and sense, from an infected shore,

Thy cargo bring; and pestilence the prize :
Then such a thirst, insatiable thirst,

By fond indulgence but inflam'd the more;
Fancy still cruises, when poor sense is tir❜d.

An Allegory may be regarded as a metaphor continued ; since it is the representation of some one thing by another that resembles it, and which is made to stand for it. We

may take from the scriptures a very fine example of an allegory, in the 80th psalm; where the people of Israel are represented under the imags of a vine; and the figure is carried throughout with great exactness and beauty. "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it; and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it; and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. She sent out her boughs into the sea, and her branches into the river. Why hast thou broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her? The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. Return, we beseech thee, O God of Hosts, look down from heaven, and behold and visit this vine !" See also Ezekiel, xvii. 22-24.

The first and principal requisite in the conduct of an allegory, is, that the figurative and the literal meaning be not mixed inconsistently together. Indeed, all the rules that were given for metaphors, may also be applied to allegories, on account of the affinity they bear to each other. The only material difference between them, besides the one being short, and the other being prolonged, is, that a metaphor always explains itself by the words that are connected with it in their proper and natural meaning: as, when I say, "Achilles was a lion ;” “ An able minister is the pillar of the state;" the "lion" and the "pillar” are sufficiently interpreted by the mention of " Achilles" and the "minister," which I join to them; but an allegory is, or may be, allowed to stand less connected with the literal meaning, the interpretation not being so directly pointed out, but left to our own reflection.

Allegory was a favourite method of delivering instruction in ancient times for what we call fables or parables, are no other than allegories. By words and actions attributed to beasts or inanimate objects, the dispositions of men were figured; and what we call the moral, is the unfigured sense or meaning of the allegory.

A Comparison or simile, is, when the resemblance between two objects is expressed in form, and generally pursued more fully than the nature of a metaphor admits: as when it is said, "The actions of princes are like those great rivers, the course of which every one beholds, but their springs have been seen by few." "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people." "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment, &c. and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion."

The advantage of this figure arises from the illustration which the simile employed gives to the principal object; from the clearer view which it presents; or the more strong impression which it stamps upon the mind. Observe the effect of it in the following instance. The author is explaining the distinction between the powers of sense and imagination in the human mind. "As wax," says he, "would not be adequate to the purpose of signature, if it had not the power to retain as well as to receive the impression, the same holds of the soul with respect to sense and imagination. Sense is its receptive power; imagination, its retentive. Had it sense without imagination, it would not be as wax, but as water, where, though all impressions are instantly made, yet as soon as they are made, they are instantly lost."

In comparisons of this nature, the understanding is concerned much more than the fancy: and therefore the rules to be observed, with respect to them, are, that they be clear, and that they be useful; that they tend to render our conception of the principal object more distinct; and that they do not lead our view aside, and bewilder it with any false light. We should always remember that similes are not arguments. However apt they may be, they do no more than explain the writer's sentiments; they do not prove them to be founded on truth.

Comparisons ought not to be which are too fint and remote.

founded on likenesses For these, in place of

assisting, strain the mind to comprehend them, and throw no light upon the subject. It is also to be observed, that a comparison which, in the principal circumstances, carries a sufficiently near resemblance, may become unnatural and obscure, if pushed too far. Nothing is more opposite to the design of this figure, than to hunt after a great number of coincidences in minute points, merely to show how far the writer's ingenuity can stretch the resemblance.

A Metonymy is founded on the several relations, of cause and effect, container and contained, sign and thing signified. When we say: "They read Milton," the cause is put instead of the effect; meaning "Milton's works." On the other hand, when it is said, "Gray hairs should be respected," we put the effect for the cause, meaning by 66 gray hairs," old age. "The kettle boils," is a phrase where the name of the container is substituted for that of the thing contained. "To assume the sceptre" is a common expression for entering on royal authority; the sign being put for the thing signified.

When the whole is put for a part, or a part for the whole; a genus for a species, or a species for a genus; in general, when any thing less, or any thing more, is put for the precise object meant ; the figure is then called a synecdoche or Comprehension. It is very common, for instance, to describe a whole object by some remarkable part of it : as when we say: "A fleet of twenty sail," in the place of "ships;" when we use the "head" for the "person," the "waves" for the "sea." In like manner, an attribute may be put for a subject; as, "Youth" for the "young," the "deep" for the "sea ;" and sometimes a subject for its attribute.

Personification or Prosopopoeia, is that figure by which we attribute life and action to inanimate objects. The use of this figure is very natural and extensive there is a wonderful proneness in human nature, under emotion, to animate all objects. When we say, "the ground thirsts for rain," or, "the earth smiles with plenty ;" when we

speak of "ambition's being restless," or, " a disease's being deceitful;" such expressions show the facility with which the mind can accommodate the properties of living creatures to things that are inanimate, or to abstract conceptions of its own forming. The following are striking examples from the Scriptures: "When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Judah from a people of strange language; the sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back! The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. What ailed thee, O thou sea! that thou fleddest ? Thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob."

"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."

Apostrophe is a turning off from the regular course of the subject, to address some person or thing; as, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory?

The following is an instance of personification and apostrophe united : "O thou sword of the Lord! how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put thyself up into thy scabbard, rest and be still! How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Askelon, and against the sea-shore? there hath he appointed it." See also an extraordinary example of these figures, in the 14th chapter of Isaiah, from the 4th to the 19th verse, where the prophet describes the fall of the Assyrian empire.

The next figure in order, is Antithesis. Comparison is founded on the resemblance; antithesis, on the contrast or opposition of two objects. Contrast has always the effect, to make each of the contrasted objects appear in the stronger light. White, for instance, never appears so bright as when it is opposed to black; and when both are viewed together. An author, in his defence of a friend against the