And of so great a favour growing proud, Analysis. Here the earth, which we usually call "our mother," (Ex. 2. Art. 295.) is degraded by being termed "base," (Ex. 3. Art. 295.) Do the supposition that the earth is a person, it was competent to the poet to give her lips" to steal a kiss." But then to fancy the earth "growing proud" of this "favour," and disdaining " to root the summer sinelling flower," is a ridicule of all figurative communication; since, as flowers would embellish her bosom, she prefers, to the pomp of dress, the pleasure of a kiss. But we may surmise that the poet personifies the earth as a male, since it is rather a masculine prerogafive "to steal a kiss." Now, "so great a favour," in place of cooling his heart, was calculated to inflame it; therefore to imagine that the effect would be "to make rough winter everlastingly," marks some. thing more than a defective taste in the poet. 298. Another error, frequent in descriptive personifications, consists in introducing them when the subject of discussion is destitute of dignity, and the reader is not prepared to relish them. P Example. One can scarcely peruse the following quotations with composure. Thomson thus personifies and connects the bodily appe-. tites, and their gratifications. "Then sated Hunger bids his brother Thirst Nor wanting is the brown October, drawn Of thirty years; and now his honest front Example 2. Shakespeare, sometimes great in errors as in beauties, far outdoes Thomson. Speaking of Antony and Cleopatra : 299. So also, addressing the several parts of one's body, as if they were animated, is not congruous to the dignity of passion. Example. For this reason, we must condemn the following passage in Pope's very beautiful poem of Eloise to Abelard: Dear fatal name! rest ever unrevealed, Analysis. Here are several different objects and parts of the body personified; and each of them is addressed or spoken to; let us consider with what propriety. The first is, the name of Abelard: "Dear • Her country calls her Eloise, Pope Eloisa: I write the orthography of either. fatal name! rest ever," &c. To this, no reasonable objection can be made. For, as the name of a person often stands for the person himself, and suggests the same ideas, it can bear this personification withi sufficient diguity. Next, Eloise speaks to herself; and personifies her heart for this purpose: "Hide it, my heart, within that close," &e. As the heart is a dignified part of the human frame, and is often put for the mind or affections, this also may pass without blame. But, when from her heart she passes to her hand, and tells her hand not to write his name, this is forced and unnatural; a personified hand is low, and not in the style of true passion; and the figure becomes still worse, when, in the last place, she exhorts her tears to blot out what her hand had written. "Oh! write it not," &c. There is, in these two lines, an air of epigrammatic conceit, which native passion never suggests; and which is altogether unsuitable to the tenderness which breathes through the rest of that excellent poem. 300. In prose compositions, this figure requires to be used with still greater moderation and delicacy. The same liberty is not allowed to the imagination there, as in poetry. The same assistances cannot be obtained for raising passion to its proper height by the force of numbers, and the glow of style. CHAPTER V. ALLEGORY. 301. ALLEGORY is a species of writing, in which one thing is expressed, and another thing is understood. The analogy is intended to be so obvious, that the reader cannot miss the application, but he is left to draw the proper conclusion for his own use. Mus. It is for this reason employed chiefly when a writer desires to communicate some important intelligence or advice, but is not permitted to deliver it in plain terms. It is also used for ornament, or to convey instruction so as to interest the imagination, and flatter the understanding, by giving the reader the appearance of instructing himself. Example 1. A finer and more correct allegory is not to be found than the following, in which a vineyard is made to represent God's people, the Jews. "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 unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. Why hast thou then 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; and the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest so strong for thyself."* 2. Prior's Henry and Emma contains another beautiful example, in which human life is the primary object, and a voyage also the allegorical one. Any reader of discernment will easily trace the application. Emma addresses Henry : 11. "Did I but purpose to embark with thee But would forsake the ship, and make the shore, Scholium. From these examples it will appear, that allegory partakes of the nature of metaphor and comparison in respect of resem blance, though it is not altogether a resemblance of the same kind. In allegory no supposition is made, even for a moment, that the primary object is converted into the resembling one; as is done in the case of metaphor. Nor is the similitude between the primary and resembling object pointed out, as is performed when comparisons are employed. We are left to discover the application, and to make the proper inference. We are satisfied with discerning the general purpose of the allegory, without inquiring with minuteness into the interpretation of every particular circumstance, because circumstances are sometimes added, to adorn or complete the picture, without being intended to infer any application. Allegory differs from metaphor and simile in another point. Almost all the subjects of allegory are personified; and these consist sometimes of things inanimate, sometimes of abstract ideas. Few metaphors or similes admit personification. 302. Allegories may be divided into three kinds; first, those calculated for ornament: secondly, those designed for instruction: and thirdly, those intended both to adorn and instruct. Example. Akenside employs a beautiful allegory, of the ornamental kind, to communicate a very familiar sentiment, that industry is necessary to acquire reputation in every line of life, though some men are more susceptible of culture than others. Analysis. The chief merit of this example appears to be situated entirely in the expression. 303. The principal purpose of the second sort of allegories, is to communicate instruction. * Psalm lxxx. 8-16. Example. Quinctilian informs us, (lib. 8.) that the following reply st the Lacedæmonians, to Philip, king of Macedon, demanding compli ance with some unreasonable requisition, and threatening hostilities in case of reluctance, was famous over all Greece. To the requisition of Philip, the Lacedæmonians returned this laconic answer, that " Dionysius was at Corinth." Analysis. Philip knew well the history of Dionysius, and they left him to make the application. You will understand the import of this answer, when you are informed, that Dionysius was king of Syracuse, in Sicily; that he was banished from his country and crown, on account of his tyranny; and that, to procure subsistence, he had been obliged to submit to the humiliating employment of teaching a school in Corinth. 304. Besides these specimens of allegory, the ancients frequently employ a moral species, in order to recommend the principles and practice of virtue to the imagination, as well as to the understanding. The moderns sometimes folTow them in this. Illus. The address and knowledge of human nature displayed by his contrivance merit much commendation. The authors of ancient Greece, in all popular writings, both political and moral, discover much attachment to allegorical composition. The Socratic morals, of which Plato and Xenophon have left us so many specimens, abound with figurative allusions to the arts and occupations of life; and the greater part of the arguments they contain are deduced from analogy. All these specimens have much merit; but the writings which we have particularly in view, are, the beautiful Allegory of Prodicus, preserved by Xenophon, in his Memorabilia Socralis, and the pleasant picture of human life exhibited in the Tabulature of Cebes. 305. THE ALLEGORY OF PRODICUS proceeds upon the supposition that Hercules, before he undertook the career of life, retired to deliberate, whether he should take the route which conducted him to the mansions of Pleasure, or the path which led to the temple of Virtue. Illus. In this critical situation, he is accosted by the goddesses of these temples, under the allegorical names of Minerva and Venus, who by turns persuade him to accompany them to their respective abodes. The persons, the dress, the manners of the goddesses, are picturesque and characteristic. Pleasure addresses him first, and hastens her pace to anticipate her rival. She invites him to partake all those enjoyments, which the most luxurious imagination can figure; and her rival listens with patience till she enumerates the gratifications she had to bestow. Virtue then accosts him in a modest, but decisive tone. She acquaints him, that no true fame, happiness, or gratification, is to be procured without great designs and good deeds; and that merit alone can secure the respect and rewards both of gods and men, Having explained her views, it was necessary she should expatiate on the vanity and futility of the enjoyments promised by Pleasure; and the author has admirably preserved the delicacy of the piece, and the modesty of Virtue, by making Pleasure interrupt the speech of her rival, and begin the attack. Pleasure attempts to infer, from the con fession of Virtue herself, the labour and fatigue which awaited her votaries. Virtue retorts with severity and justice. She triumphs over her rival, and prompts Hercules to undertake those great and meritorious achievements, which have rendered him the object of the admiration of all ages. 306. THE TABULATURE OF CEBES is constructed on a larger scale, and leads to allusions much more particular. It proceeds from the supposition, that some uncommon painting, alluding to the rarity of the knowledge and practice of virtue, of which few people understood the meaning, had been suspended in the temple of Saturn. Illus. 1. The painting consisted of three compartments; one very large, comprehending the other two. The first compartment represented human life, into which all men enter; the other two compartments denoted the division of men into good and bad, the larger containing the bad, and the lesser the good. Error and ignorance appear at the gate of the first compartment, and of their cup all men drink some portion. Prejudices, predilections, and pleasures, next succeed in the garb of harlots, to seduce; and by them also all mankind are, more or less, misled. If they are followed too far, they conduct their votaries into the larger compartment, and consign them to Extravagance, Luxury, Avarice, or Flattery, who soon commit them to Sorrow, Remorse, Punishment, and Despair. After wandering for some time in the regions of Folly, their ruin is completed, unless, by accident, they encounter the great physician Repentance, who, if they are willing to submit to his directions, undertakes their cure, and finally conducts them to the small compartment, and the happy abodes of Wisdom, 2. But though some men reach the regions of Wisdom by this route, it is not the most patent path; that path, much less frequented than it ought to be, stretches up an eminence so steep that many travellers approach and survey it, but never attempt to surmount it. On this, Temperance and Moderation have occupied stations, and are ready to succour every candidate who needs their assistance. Fortitude and Activity soon join them, after ascending the eminence, and lead them to the abodes of Wisdom and Happines. Here they meet with Prosperity, Tranquility, Satisfaction, and Health, in the first place; and afterwards, with a great group of the most pleasant and happy companions, Integrity, Contentment, Friendship, Knowledge, Wealth, Dignity, Fame. They are, in a word, rendered superior to the greater part of those misfortunes, which so much disturb the happiness of man. kind; and experience as much of the enjoyments of gods as is competent to mortal men. Corol. Such views of human life are extremely captivating, particularly to young minds. They array Virtue in the most charming colours. They engage the imagination, and even the passions, on her side, and form the most powerful bulwark against the encroachment of Iniquity and Folly. 307. The third sort of allegories are calculated both for ornament and instruction; and of this species may be accounted the allegorical personifications which are often introduced into epic poetry, and sometimes into tragedy, |