in physics, expresses the surface or terminating extremities of any body.

FIGURES, in arithmetic, are certain characters whereby we denote any number which may be expressed by any combination of the nine digits, &c. See ARITHMETIC.

Figure, among divines, is used for the mysteries represented under certain types.

Figure, in dancing, denotes the several steps which the dancer makes in order and cadence, considered as they mark certain figures on the floor. See DANCING.

Figure, in painting and designing, denotes the lines and colours which form the representation of any animal, but more particularly of a human personage. See the article PAINTING.

Figure, in the manufactures, is applied to the various designs represented or wrought on velvets, damasks, taffetas, lattins, and other stuffs and cloths.

The most usual figures for such designs are flowers, imitated from the life; or grotesques, and compartments of pure fancy. Representations of men, beasts, birds, and landscapes, have only been introduced since the taste for the Chinese stuffs, particularly those called figures, began to prevail among us. It is the woof of the stuff that forms the figures; the warp only serves for the ground. In working figured stuffs, there is required a person to show the workman how... far he must raise the threads of the warp, to represent the figure of the design with the woof, which is to be passed across between the threads thus raised. This some call reading the design.

For the figures on tapestry, brocade, &c. see Ta- pestries, &c.

For those given by the calenders, printers, &c. see Calender, &c.

Figure, in logic, denotes a certain order and dis- position of the middle term in any syllogism.

Figures are fourfold. 1. When the middle term is the subject of the major proposition, and the predicate of the minor, we have what is called the first figure. 2. When the middle term is the predicate of both the premises, the syllogism is said to be in the second fi- gure. 3. If the middle term is the subject of the two premises, the syllogism is in the third figure; and, lastly, by making it the predicate of the major, and subject of the minor, we obtain syllogisms in the fourth figure. Each of these figures has a determinate num- ber of moods, including all the possible ways in which propositions differing in quantity or quality can be combined, according to any disposition of the middle term, in order to arrive at a just conclusion. See Logic.

Figure, in composition. See Oratory; also Al- legory, Apostrophe, Hyperbole, Metaphor, Personification, &c.

A Figure, the means or instrument conceived to be the agent. When we survey a number of connected ob- jects, that which makes the greatest figure employs chiefly our attention; and the emotion it raises, if lively, prompts us even to exceed nature in the concep- tions we form of it. Take the following examples.

For Neleus' son Alcides' rage had slain. A broken rock the force of Pirus threw.

In these instances, the rage of Hercules and the force of Pirus, being the capital circumstances, are so far exalted as to be conceived the agents that produce the effects.

In the first of the following instances, hunger being the chief circumstance in the description, is itself ima- gined to be the patient.

Whose hunger has not tasted food these three days. Jane Shore.

As when the force Of subterranean wind transports a hill. Paradise Lost.

As when the potent rod Of Amram's son, in Egypt's evil day Wav'd round the coast, upcall'd a pitchy cloud Of locusts. Paradise Lost.

A Figure, which, among related objects, extends the properties of one to another. This figure is not dignified with a proper name, because it has been overlooked by writers. Giddy brink, jovial wine, daring wound, are examples of this figure. Here are adjectives that can- not be made to signify any quality of the substantives to which they are joined: a brink, for example, can- not be termed giddy in a sense, either proper or figu- rative, that can signify any of its qualities or attributes. When we examine attentively the expression, we dis- cover, that a brink is termed giddy from producing that effect in those who stand on it: in the same manner, a wound is said to be daring, not with respect to itself, but with respect to the boldness of the person who in- sists it: and wine is said to be jovial, as inspiring mirth and jollity. Thus the attributes of one subject are extended to another with which it is connected; and the expression of such a thought must be consid- ered as a figure, because the attribute is not applicable to the subject in any proper sense.

How we are to account for this figure, which we see lies in the thought, and to what principle shall we refer it? Have poets a privilege to alter the nature of things, and at pleasure to bestow attributes upon a subject to which they do not belong? It is observed +, that the mind passes easily and sweetly along a train of connected objects; and, where the objects are inti- mately connected, that it is disposed to carry along the r. § 6. good or bad properties of one to another; especially when it is in any degree inflamed with these proper- ties. From this principle is derived the figure under consideration. Language, invented for the communi- cation of thought, would be imperfect, if it were not expressive even of the slightest propensities and more delicate feelings; but language cannot remain so im- perfect among a people who have received any polish; because language is regulated by internal feeling, and is gradually improved to express whatever passes in the mind. Thus, for example, when a sword in the hand of a coward is termed a coward sword, the ex- pression is significative of an internal operation; for the mind, in passing from the agent to its instrument, is dis- posed to extend to the latter the properties of the for- mer. Governed by the same principle, we say liftening fear, by extending the attribute liftening of the man who li- fens, to the passion with which he is moved. In the expression bold deed, or audax facinus, we extend to the effect what properly belongs to the cause. But not to waste time by making a commentary upon every ex- pression of this kind, the best way to give a complete view of the subject, is to exhibit a table of the diffe- rent relations that may give occasion to this figure. And in viewing the table, it will be observed, that the figure can never have any grace but where the rela- tions are of the most intimate kind.

1. An attribute of the cause expressed as an attri- bute of the effect.

Audax facinus. Of yonder fleet a bold discovery make. An impious mortal gave the daring wound. To my adventurous song, That with no middle flight intends to tear. Paradise Lost.

2. An attribute of the effect expressed as an attri- bute of the cause.

Quos periclit abomis miseris cenefam in mari. Plautus. No wonder, fallen such a perilous height. Paradise Lost.

3. An effect expressed as an attribute of the cause.

Jovial wine, Giddy brink, Dr. wry night, Musing midnight, Painting height, Aeronish'd thought, Mournful gloom. Casting a dim religious light. Milton, Comus. And the merry bells ring round, And the sound rebounds found. Milton, Allegro.

4. An attribute of a subject bestowed upon one of its parts or members.

Longing arms. It was the nightingale, and not the lark, That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear. Romeo and Juliet, act 3, sc 7. Oh, lay by Those most ungentle looks and angry weapons: Unless you mean my griefs and killing fears Should stretch me out at your relentless feet.

And rarely now To stoop with weariest wing, and willing feet, On the bare outside of this world.

5. A quality of the agent given to the instrument with which it operates. Why peep your coward swords half out their shells?

6. An attribute of the agent given to the subject upon which it operates. High climbing hill

7. A quality of one subject given to another. Icili, beatis nunc Arabum invides Horat. Carm. i. 1 ed. 29. When saples are, and weak unable limbs, Should bring thy father to his swooping chair.

By art, the pilot through the boiling deep, And howling tempest, steers the farthest ship.

Then, nothing loth, th' enamour'd fair he led, And sunk transported on the confious bals.

A stupid moment motionless the flood.

8. A circumstance connected with a subject, expressed as a quality of the subject. Breezy summit. 'Tis ours the chance of fighting fields to try.

Oh! had I dy'd before that well-fought wall.

From this table it appears, that the adorning a cause with an attribute of the effect, is not so agreeable as the opposite expression. The progress from cause to effect is natural and easy; the opposite progress resembles retrograde motion; and therefore panting height, astonish'd thought, are strained and uncouth expressions, which a writer of taste will avoid.

It is not less strained, to apply to a subject in its present state, an epithet that may belong to it in some future state:

Submersaque obruere puppes. Enniid. i. 73. And mighty ruins fall. Iliad. v. 411. Impious sons their mangled fathers wound.

Another rule regards this figure, That the property of one subject ought not to be bestowed upon another with which that property is incongruous.

K. Rich. —— How dare thy joints forget To pay their awful duty to our presence? Richard II. act 3. sc. 6

The connection between an awful superior and his submissive dependent is so intimate, that an attribute may readily be transferred from the one to the other; but awfulness cannot be so transferred, because it is inconsistent with submission.

Figure of Speech, as peculiarly distinguished from the above and from those first referred to.] Under the article Metaphor and Allegory, a figure of speech is defined, "The using a word in a sense different from what is proper to it;" and the new or uncommon sense of the word is termed the figurative sense. The figurative sense must have a relation to that which is proper; and the more intimate the relation is, the figure is the more happy. How ornamental this figure is to language, will not be readily imagined by any one who hath not given peculiar attention; and therefore we shall endeavour to unfold its capital beauties and advantages. In the first place, a word used figuratively, or in a new sense, suggests at the same time the sense it commonly bears; and thus it has the effect to present two objects; one signified by the figurative sense, which may be termed the principal object; and one signified by the proper sense, which may be termed accessory: the principal makes a part of the thought; the accessory is merely ornamental. In this respect, a figure of speech is precisely similar to concordant sounds in music, which, without contributing to the melody, make it harmonious.

To explain the matter by examples. Youth, by a figure of speech, is termed the morning of life: This expression signifies youth, the principal object which enters into the thought; it suggests, at the same time, the proper sense of morning; and this accessory object, being in itself beautiful, and connected by resemblance to the principal object, is not a little ornamental. Imperious ocean is an example of a different kind, where an attribute is expressed figuratively: Together with Stormy, the figurative meaning of the epithet imperious, there is suggested its proper meaning, viz. the stern authority of a despotic prince; and these two are strongly connected by resemblance. Upon this figurative power of words, Vida descants with elegance, Poet. lib. iii. 44.

In the next place, this figure possesses a signal power of aggrandising an object, by the following means. Words, which have no original beauty but what arises from their sound, acquire an adventitious beauty from their meaning: a word signifying anything that is agreeable, becomes by that means agreeable; for the agreeableness of the object is communicated to its name. This acquired beauty, by the force of custom, adheres to the word even when used figuratively; and the beauty received from the thing it properly signifies, is communicated to the thing which it is made to signify figuratively. Consider the foregoing expression Imperious ocean, how much more elevated it is than Stormy ocean.

Thirdly, This figure hath a happy effect by preventing the familiarity of proper names. The familiarity of a proper name is communicated to the thing it signifies by means of their intimate connection; and the thing is thereby brought down in our feeling. This bad effect is prevented by using a figurative word instead of one that is proper; as for example, when we express the sky by terming it the blue vault of heaven; for though no work of art can compare with the sky in grandeur, the expression, however, is relished, because it prevents the object from being brought down by the familiarity of its proper name. With respect to the degrading the familiarity of proper names, Vida has the following passage:

Hinc si dura mihi passus dicendus Ulysses, Non illum vero memorabo nomine, sed quae Et mores hominum multorum vidit, et urbem, Naufragus everte post fava incendia Trojae. Poet. lib. ii. 1. 46.

Lastly, By this figure, language is enriched, and rendered more copious; in which respect, were there no other, a figure of speech is a happy invention. This property is finely touched by Vida; Poet. lib. iii. 90.

The beauties we have mentioned belong to every figure of speech. Several other beauties peculiar to one or other sort, we shall have occasion to remark afterward.

Not only subjects, but qualities, actions, effects, may be expressed figuratively. Thus, as to subjects, gates of breath for the lips, the watery kingdom for the ocean. As to qualities, fierce for stormy, in the expression Fierce winter; altus for profundus, Altus putens, Altum mare; breathing for perspiring, Breathing plants. Again, as to actions, The sea roars, Time will melt her frozen thoughts, Time kills grief. An effect is put for the cause, as lux for the sun; and a cause for the effect, as bonum labores for corn. The relation of resemblance is one plentiful source of figures of speech; and nothing is more common than to apply to one object the name of another that resembles it in any respect: Height, size, and worldly greatness, resemble not each other; but the emotions they produce resemble each other, and, prompted by this resemblance, we naturally express worldly greatness by height or size: One feels a certain uneasiness in seeing a great depth; and, hence depth is made to express anything disagreeable by excess, as depth of grief, depth of despair: Again, height of place, and time long past, produce similar feelings; and hence the expression, Ut altius repetem! Distant in past time, producing a strong feeling, is put for any strong feeling; Nihil mihi antiquius nostra amicitia: Shortness with relation to space, for shortness with relation to time; Brevis est labor, obscurus fio: Suffering a punishment resembles paying a debt; hence pendere penas. In the same manner, light may be put for glory, sunshine for prosperity, and weight for importance.

Many words, originally figurative, having, by long and constant use, lost their figurative power, are degraded to the inferior rank of proper terms. Thus the words that express the operation of the mind, have in all languages been originally figurative: the reason holds in all, that when these operations came first under consideration, there was no other way of describing them but by what they resembled: it was not practicable to give them proper names, as may be done to objects that can be ascertained by sight and touch. A soft nature, jarring tempers, weight of woe, pompous phrase, beget compallion, affluence grief, break a vow, bend the eye downward, shower down curses, drown'd in tears, wrapt in joy, warm'd with eloquence, loaded with spoils, and a thousand other expressions of the like nature, have lost their figurative sense. Some terms there are that cannot be said to be altogether figurative or altogether proper: originally figurative, they are tending to simplicity, without having lost altogether their figurative power. Virgil's Regio faucis cura, is perhaps one of these expressions: with ordinary readers, faucis will be considered as expressing simply the effect of grief; but one of a lively imagination will exalt the phrase into a figure.

For epitomizing this subject, and at the same time for giving a clear view of it, Lord Kames* gives a list of the several relations upon which figures of speech are commonly founded. This list he divides into two

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*Elem. of Criticism, ii. 305.

tables; one of subjects expressed figuratively, and one of attributes.

**Tab. I. Subjects expressed figuratively.**

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

There is no figure of speech so frequent, as what is derived from the relation of resemblance. Youth, for example, is signified figuratively by the morning of life. The life of a man resembles a natural day in several particulars: the morning is the beginning of a day, youth the beginning of life; the morning is cheerful, so is youth, &c. By another resemblance, a bold warrior is termed the thunderbolt of war; a multitude of troubles, a sea of troubles.

This figure, above all others, affords pleasure to the mind by variety of beauties. Besides the beauties above-mentioned, common to all sorts, it possesses in particular the beauty of a metaphor or of a simile: a figure of speech built upon resemblance, suggests always a comparison between the principal subject and the accessory; whereby every good effect of a metaphor or simile may, in a short and lively manner, be produced by this figure of speech.

2. A word proper to the effect employed figuratively to express the cause.

Lux for the sun; Shadow for cloud. A helmet is signified by the expression glittering terror; a tree by shadow or umbrage. Hence the expression,

Nec habet Pelion umbrae.

Ovid.

Where the dim umbrage hangs.

Spring, i. 1023.

A wound is made to signify an arrow:

Vulnera non pedibus te consecuar.

Ovid.

There is a peculiar force and beauty in this figure: the word which signifies figuratively the principal subject, denotes it to be a cause by suggesting the effect.

3. A word proper to the cause employed figuratively to express the effect.

Boungue labores for corn. Sorrow or grief for tears.

Again Ulysses weld his pensive head; Again, unmann'd, a show'r of sorrow shed. Streaming Grief his faded cheek bedew'd. Blindness for darkness;

Cæcis eramus in undis.

Æneid. iii. 200.

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

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

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

Inter ea magno miseri murmure pontum, Emifanumque Hyææm tenfit Neptunus.

Æneid. i. 128.

This last figure would be too bold for a British writer, as a storm at sea is not inseparably connected with winter in this climate.

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

Tough and beauty for those who are young and beautiful:

Youth and beauty shall be laid in dust.

Majesty Majesty for the king: 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 sometime march? Hamlet, act I. sc. I.

Or have ye chosen this place After the toils of battle, to repose Your weary'd virtue? Paradise Lost.

Verdure for a green field. Summer, l. 301.

Speaking of cranes, The pigmy nations, wounds and death they bring, And all the war descends upon the wing. Iliad. iii. 10.

Co-Lage advances venerably wise. Iliad. iii. 149.

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

6. A complex term employed figuratively to denote one of the component parts. Funus for a dead body. Burial for a grave.

7. The name of one of the component parts instead of the complex term. Taeda for a marriage. The Eaf for a country situated east from us. Jovis religia servat, for imitating Jupiter in general.

8. A word signifying time or place, employed figuratively to denote what is connected with it. Clima for a nation, or for a constitution of government: hence the expression, Merciful clime, Fleecy winter for snow, Seculum felice.

9. A part for the whole. The pole for the earth. The head for the person: Triginta minas pro capite tuo dedi. Plautus.

Tergum for the man: Fugit tergum, Ovid.

Vultus for the man: Jam fulgor armorum fugaces Territ equos, equitumque vultus. Horat.

Quis defiderio fit pudor aut modus Tam chari capitii? Horat.

Dumque virum genus? Thy growing virtue: justify'd my cares, And promis'd comfort to my fiber hair. Iliad, ix. 616.

Forthwith from the pole he rears His mighty stature. Paradise Lost.

The silent heart which grief affails. Parmen.

The peculiar beauty of this figure consists in marking that part which makes the greatest figure.

10. The name of the container, employed figuratively to signify what is contained. Grove for the birds in it; Vocal grove. Ships for the seamen; Agonizing ships. Mountains for the sheep pasturing upon them; Bleating mountains. Zacynthus, Ithaca, &c., for the inhabitants. Ex maefis domibus, Livy.

11. The name of the sustainer, employed figuratively to signify what is sustained. Altar for the sacrifice. Field for the battle fought upon it; Well-fought field.

12. The name of the materials, employed figuratively to signify the things made of them. Ferrum for gladius.

13. The names of the Heathen deities, employed figuratively to signify what they patronise. Jove for the air, Mars for war, Venus for beauty, Cupid for love, Ceres for corn, Neptune for the sea, Vulcan for fire.

Vol. VII. Part I.

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

Tab. II. Attributes expressed figuratively.

1. When two attributes are connected, the name of the one may be employed figuratively to express the other. Purity and virginity are attributes of the same person: hence the expression, Virgin snow, for pure snow.

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

Black omen, for an omen that portends bad fortune. Alter omen. Virgil.

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

3. A word proper to the subject, employed to express one of its attributes. Mens for intellectus. Mens for a resolution: Istam, oro, exue mecum.

4. 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: Summer life for agreeable life.

5. The name of the instrument made to signify the power of employing it: Melponense, cui liquidam pater vocem cum silibra dedit.

The ample field of figurative expression displayed in these tables, affords great scope for reasoning. Several of the observations relating to metaphor *, are applicable to figures of speech: these shall be slightly touched, with some additions peculiarly adapted to the present subject.

1. As the figure under consideration is built upon relation, we find from experience, and it must be obvious from reason, that the beauty of it depends on the intimacy of the relation between the figurative and proper sense of the word. A slight resemblance, in particular, will never make this figure agreeable: the expression, for example, Drink down a secret, for listening to a secret with attention, is harsh and uncouth, because there is scarce any resemblance between listening and drinking. The expression weighty crack, used by Ben Johnson for loud crack, is worse if possible: a loud sound has not the slightest resemblance to a piece of matter that is weighty.

Phenius! let acts of gods, and heroes old, What ancient bards in hall and how' have told, Attempter'd to the lyre, your voice employ, Such the pleas'd ear will drink with silent joy. Odyssey, i. 433.

Strepitumque exterritus haust. Aeneid. vi. 539.

Write, my queen, And with mine eyes I'll drink the words you send. Cymbeline, act i. sc. 2.

As thus th' effulgence tremulous I drink. Summer, l. 1684.

Neque Neque audet currus habendas. Georg. i. 514.

O prince! (Lycaon's valiant son reply'd), As thine the steeds, be thine the talk to guide. The horses prais'd to their lord's command, Shall bear the rein, and answer to thy hand. Iliad, v. 288.

The following figures of speech seem altogether wild and extravagant, the figurative and proper meaning having no connection whatever. Moving softness, Freshness breathes, Breathing prospect, Flowing spring, Dewy light, Lucid coolness, and many others of this false coin, may be found in Thomson's Seasons.

2. The proper sense of the word ought to bear some proportion to the figurative sense, and not soar much above it, nor sink much below it. This rule, as well as the foregoing, is finely illustrated by Vida, Poet. iii. 148.

3. In a figure of speech, every circumstance ought to be avoided that agrees with the proper sense only, not with the figurative sense; for it is the latter that expresses the thought, and the former serves for no other purpose but to make harmony:

Zacynthus green with ever-faithful groves, And Ithaca, preeminent boast their loves; Obtruding on my choice a second lord, They press the Hymenean rite abhorred.

Odyssey, xix 152.

Zacynthus here standing figuratively for the inhabitants, the description 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 sense.

Write, my queen, And with mine eyes I'll drink the words you send, Though ink be made of gall. Cymbeline, act i. sc. 2.

The difficulty one has to drink ink in reality, is not to the purpose where the subject is drinking ink figuratively.

4. To draw consequences from a figure of speech, as if the word were to be understood literally, is a gross absurdity; for it is confounding truth with fiction:

Be Mowbray's sins so heavy in his bosom, That they may break his foaming courier's back, And throw the rider headlong in the hills, A scullf recant to my cousin Hereford.

Richard II. act i. sc. 3.

Sin may be imagined heavy in a figurative sense: but weight in a proper sense belongs to the accedory only; and therefore to describe the effects of weight, is to distort the principal subject, and to convert the accedory into a principal:

Cromwell. How does your Grace? Wife. Why, well; Never so truly happy, my good Cromwell, I know myself now, and I feel within me A peace above all earthly dignities, A still and quiet conscience. The king has cur'd me, I humbly think his Grace: and, from these shoulders, These ruined pillars, cut of pity, taken A lead would sink a navy, too much honour.

Henry VIII. act 3. sc. 6.

Ulysses speaking of Hector: I wonder now how yonder city stands, When we have here the base and pillar by us.

Troilus and Cressida, act 4. sc. 9.

Othello. No; my heart is turn'd to stone: I strike it, and it hurts my hand.

Othello, act 4. sc. 5.

Not lest, even in this despicable now, Than when my name fill'd Afric with affrights, And froze your hearts beneath your torrid zone. Don Sebastián King of Portugal, act I.

How long a space, since first I lov'd, it is! To look into a glass I fear, And am surpris'd with wonder, when I miss Grey hairs and wrinkles there.

Cowley, vol. i. p. 86.

I chose the flourishing tree in all the park, With fresh'st boughs, and fairest head; I cut my love into its gentle bark, And in three days behold 'tis dead; My very written flames so violent be, They've burnt and wither'd up the tree.

Cowley, vol. i. p. 136.

Ah, mighty Love, that it were inward heat Which made this precious limebeck sweat! But what, alas! ah what does it avail That the weeps tears so wound'rous cold, As scarce the af's hood can hold, So cold, that I admire they fall not hail?

Cowley, vol. i. p. 132.

Such a play of words is pleasant in a ludicrous poem.

Amorius. O Alphonsus, Alphonsus! Devouring seas have wash'd thee from my sight, No time shall raise thee from my memory; No, I will live to be thy monument: The cruel ocean is no more thy tomb; But in my heart thou art inter'd.

Mourning Bride, act i. sc. 1.

This would be very right, if there were any inconsistence in being interred in one place really, and in another place figuratively.

From considering, that a word used in a figurative sense suggests at the same time its proper meaning, we discover a fifth rule, That we ought not to employ a word in a figurative sense, the proper sense of which is inconsistent or incongruous with the subject: for every inconsistence, and even incongruity, though in the expression only and not real, is unpleasant:

Interes genitor Tyberini ad fluminis undam Vulnera, ficcabat lynx his

Aeneid. x. 833.

Tres adeo incertos casca caligine flet Eritamus pelago, totidem sine lidere noceas.

Aeneid. iii. 203.

The foregoing rule may be extended to form a sixth, That no epithet ought to be given to the figurative sense of a word that agrees not also with its proper sense:

Dicit Opuntiae Frater Megillus, quo beatus Vulnere. Horat. Carm. lib. i. ode 27. Parcus deorum cultor, et infrequens, Infaustis dum sapientiae Confutus erro. Horat. Carm. i. i. ode 54.

Seventhly, The crowding into one period or thought different figures of speech, is not less faulty than crowding metaphors in that manner: the mind is distracted in the quick transition from one image to another, and is puzzled instead of being pleased:

I am of ladies most deject and wretched, That fuck'd the honey of his music vows.

Hamlet.

My bleeding bosom fickens at the sound.

Odyssey, i. 439.

Quanta laboras in Charybdis! Digne puer meliore flammea. Quae saga, quis te solvere Thessalia Magus venit; quis poterit deus?

Vix Vix illigatum tetriformi Pegasus expedit Chimera.

Horat. Carm. lib. i. ode 27.

Eightly, if crowding figures be bad, it is still worse to graft one figure upon another: For instance, While his keen falchion drinks the warriors lives. Iliad, xi. 211.

A falchion drinking the warriors blood is a figure built upon resemblance, which is fallible. But then in the expression, lives is again put for blood; and by thus grafting one figure upon another, the expression is ren- dered obscure and unpleasing.

Ninthly, Intricate and involved figures, that can scarcely be analysed, or reduced to plain language, are least of all tolerable:

Votis incendimus aras. Aeneid. iii. 279.

One centum canifris Dona laborata Cereris. Aeneid. viii. 180.

Vulcan to the Cyclopes:

Ama acri facienda viro: nunc viribus usus, Nunc maibus rapidis, omni nunc arte magistra: Prescipe moras. Aeneid. viii. 441.

Hic gladio, perque aerea fuita Per tunicam squalentem auro, latus buuris apertum. Aeneid. x. 313.

Scriberis Vario fortis, et hosilium Victor, Maonii carminis aliae. Horat. Carm. lib. i. ode 6.

Else shall our fates be number'd with the dead. Iliad, v. 294.

Communal death the fate of war confounds. Iliad, viii. 85. and xi. 117.

Speaking of Proteus.

Infant he wears, elusive of the rape, The mimic force of every savage shape. Odyssey, iv. 563.

Rolling convulsive on the floor, to see The piteous object of a prostrate queen. Ibid. iv. 654.

The mingling tempest weaves its gloom. Autumn, 337.

A various sweetness swells the gentle race. Ibid. 640.

The distant water-fall swells in the breeze. Winter, 738.

In the tenth place, When a subject is introduced by its proper name, it is absurd to attribute to it the pro- perties of a different subject to which the word is some- times applied in a figurative sense:

Hear me, oh Neptune! thou whose arms are hurl'd From shore to shore, and gird the solid world. Odyssey, ix. 617.

Neptune is here introduced personally, and not figu- ratively for the ocean: the description therefore, which is only applicable to the latter, is altogether improper.

It is not sufficient that a figure of speech be regu- larly constructed, and be free from blemish: it re- quires taste to discern when it is proper, when impro- per; and taste perhaps is our only guide. One, however, may gather from reflections and experience, that orna- ments and graces suit not any of the dispiriting pas- sions, nor are proper for expressing anything grave and important. In familiar conversation, they are in some measure ridiculous: Prospero, in the Tempest, speak- ing to his daughter Miranda, says,

The fringed curtains of thine eyes advance, And say what thou feel'st yond.

No exception can be taken to the justness of the fi- gure; and circumstances may be imagined to make it proper: but it is certainly not proper in familiar con- versation.

In the last place, Though figures of speech have a charming effect when accurately constructed and pro- perly introduced, they ought, however, to be scattered with a sparing hand: nothing is more ludicrous, and nothing consequently more fatiguing, than redundant ornaments of any kind.

Figure is used, in theology, for the mysteries re- presented or delivered obscurely to us under certain types or actions in the Old Testament. Thus manna is held a figure or type of the eucharist; and the death of Abel a figure of the suffering of Christ.

Many divines and critics contend, that all the ac- tions, histories, ceremonies, &c. of the Old Testament, are only figures, types, and prophecies, of what was to happen under the New. The Jews are supposed to have had the figures or shadows, and we the sub- stance.

Figure is also applied in a like sense to profane matters; as the emblems, enigmas, fables, symbols, and hieroglyphics, of the ancients.