Quam siquis stabula alta lares appellet equinos, Poet. iii. 148. Thirdly, In a figure of speech, every circumstance ought to be avoided that agrees with the proper sense only, not 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-shady groves, 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, Cymbeline, Act I. Sc. 2. The disgust one has to drink ink in reality, is not to the purpose where the subject is drinking ink figuratively. In the fourth place, To draw consequences from a figure of speech, as if the word were to be under stood literally, is a gross absurdity, for it is confounding truth with fiction. Be Moubray's sins so heavy in his bosom, A caitiff recreant to my cousin Hereford. Sin Richard II. Act 1. Sc. 2. may be imagined heavy in a figurative sense: but weight in a proper sense belongs to the accessory only; and therefore to describe the effects of weight, is to desert the principal subject, and to convert the accessory into a principal : Cromwell. How does your grace? Wolsey. Why, well: Never so truly happy, my good Cromwell. A peace above all earthly dignities, A still and quiet conscience. The king has cur'd me, A load would sink a navy, too much honour. Henry VIII. Act III. Sc. 2. Ulysses speaking of Hector : I wonder now how yonder city stands, Troilus and Cressida, Act IV. Sc. 5. Othello. No; my heart is turn'd to stone: I strike it, and it hurts my hand. Othello, Act IV. Sc. 1, Not less, even in this despicable now, Than when my name fill'd Afric with affrights, How long a space, since first I lov'd, it is! And am surpris'd with wonder when I miss Cowley, vol. i. p. 86. I chose the flourishing'st tree in all the park, And in three days behold 'tis dead ; Ah, mighty Love, that it were inward heat But what, alas! ah, what does it avail, 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. Almeria. O Alphonso, Alphonso! Devouring seas have wash'd thee from my sight, No time shall raze thee from my memory; No, I will live to be thy monument : But in my heart thou art interred. Mourning Bride, Act 1. Sc. 1. This would be very right, if there were any inconsistence in being interred in one place really, and in another place figuratively. Je crains que cette saison A faire trembler Juillet. In me tota ruens Venus Cyprum deseruit. Maynard. Horat. Carm. l. i. ode 19. 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 inconsistency, and even incongruity, though in the expression only and not real, is unpleasant: Interea genitor Tyberini ad fluminis undam Vulnera siccabat lymphis Eneid. x. 833. Tres adeo incertos cæca caligine soles Erramus pelago, totidem sine sidere noctes. Eneid. 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 : Dicat Opuntiæ Frater Megillæ, quo beatus Vulnere. Horat. Carm. lib. i. ode 27. Parcus deorum cultor, et infrequens, Insanientis dum sapientiæ Consultus erro. Horat. Carm. bib. i. ode 34. 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, My bleeding bosom sickens at the sound. Hamlet. Odyssey, i. 439. Ah miser, Quantâ laboras in Charybdi! Digne puer meliore flamma. Horat. Carm. lib. i. ode 27. |