Again, by a figure of fpeech, flame may be put for fire, because they are commonly conjoined; and therefore a fever may also be imagined a flame. But now admitting a fever to be a flame, its effects ought to be explained in words that agree literally to a flame. This rule is not observed here; for a flame drinks figuratively only, not properly. King Henry to his fon Prince Henry: Thou bid'ft a thoufand daggers in thy thoughts, To ftab at half an hour of my frail life. Second Part Henry IV. act 4. fc. II. Such faulty metaphors are pleasantly ridiculed in the Rehearsal : Phyfician. Sir, to conclude, the place you fill has more than amply exacted the talents of a wary pilot; and all these threatening storms, which, like impregnate clouds, hover o'er our heads, will, when they once are grafp'd but by the eye of reafon, melt into fruitful fhowers of bleffings on the people. Bayes. Pray mark that allegory. Is not that good? Johnson. Fobnfon. Yes, that grafping of a storm with the eye, is admirable. Att 2. jc. I. Fifthly, The jumbling different metaphors in the fame fentence, or the beginning with one metaphor and ending with another, is commonly called a mixt metaphor. Quintilian bears teftimony against it in the bitterest terms: "Nam id quoque in primis eft cuftodiendum, ut quo ex genere cœperis tranflationis, hoc "definas. Multi enim, cum initium a tempeftate fumpferunt, incendio aut rui"na finiunt: quæ eft inconfequentia rerum « fœdiffima." L. 8. cap. 6. § 2, K. Henry. Will you again unknit This churlifh knot of all-abhorred war, And move in that obedient orb again, Where you did give a fair and natural light? First Part Henry IV. act 5. fc. 1、 Whether 'tis nobler in the mind, to fuffer In the fixth place, It is unpleasant to join different metaphors in the fame period, even where they are preserved distinct. It is difficult to imagine the fubject to be first one thing and then another in the fame period without interval: the mind is distracted by the rapid tranfition; and when the imagination is put on fuch hard duty, its images are too faint to produce any good effect; At regina gravi jamdudum faucia cura, Eneid. iv. 1. Eft mollis flamma medullas Interea, et tacitum vivit fub pectore vulnus. Eneid. iv. 66. Motum ex Metello confule civicum, Bellique caufas, et vitia, et modos, Ludumque fortunæ, gravefque Principum amicitias, et arma Nondum expiatis uncta cruoribus, Horat, Carm, l. 2, ode 1. In the last place, It is ftill worfe to jumble together metaphorical and natural expreffion, or to conftruct a period fo as that it must be understood partly metaphorically partly literally. The imagination cannot follow with fufficient ease changes so sudden and unprepared. A metaphor begun and not carried on, hath no beauty; and instead of light there is nothing but obfcurity and confufion. Inftances of such incorrect compofition are without number. I shall, for a fpecimen, felect a few from different authors: Speaking of Britain, This precious stone set in the fea Richard II. at 2. fc. 1. In the first line Britain is figured to be a precious stone. In the following lines, Britain, divested of her metaphorical dress, is presented to the reader in her natural appearance. Thefe These growing feathers pluck'd from Cæfar's wing, Will make him fly an ordinary pitch, Who elfe would foar above the view of men, And keep us all in fervile fearfulness. Julius Cafar, alt 1. fc. 1. Rebus anguftis animofus atque Fortis adpare: fapienter idem The following is a miserable jumble of expreffions, arifing from an unsteady view of the subject betwixt its figurative and natural appearance. But now from gath'ring clouds destruction pours, Difpenfary, canto 3. To thee, the world its prefent homage pays, Pope's imitation of Horace, b.2. |