in Rhetoric, is when a person speaks contrary to his thoughts, in order to add force to his discourse; whence Quintilian calls it *diversifloquium*.

Thus, when a notorious villain is gracefully complimented with the title of a very honest and excellent person; the character of the person commended, the air of contempt that appears in the speaker, and the exorbitancy of the commendations, sufficiently discover the dissimulation of irony.

Ironical exhortation is a very agreeable kind of trope; which, after having set the inconveniences of a thing in the clearest light, concludes with a feigned encouragement to pursue it. Such is that of Horace, when, having beautifully described the noise and tumults of Rome, he adds ironically,

> Go now, and study tuneful verse at Rome!