1. The HYPERBOLE, or Impoffible. For Inftance, of a Lion. *He roar'd fo loud, and look'd fo wondrous grim, "His very fhadow durft not follow him." Of a Lady at Dinner. "The filver whiteness that adorns thy neck, "Sullies the plate and makes the napkin black.” Of the fame. 忄 "The obfcureness of her birth "Cannot eclipfe the luftre of her eyes, "Which make her all one light.' Of a Bull-baiting. Up to the ftars the fprawling maftives fly, "And add new monsters to the frighted sky." Of a Scene of Mifery. "Behold a scene of mifery and woe! "Here Argus foon might weep himself quite blind, "Ev'n tho' he had Briareus' hundred hands "To wipe thofe hundred eyes." And that modeft request of two abfent lovers. "Ye Gods! annihilate but Space and Time, "And make two lovers happy.” 2. The PERIPHRASIS, which the Moderns call the Circumbendibus, whereof we have given examples in the ninth chapter, and fhall again in the twelfth. To the fame clafs of the Magnifying may be referred the following, which are fo excellently modern, that we have yet no name for them. In defcribing a countryprospect, * Vet. Aut. Theob. Double Falfhood, + Blackm. $ Anon. "I'd call them mountains, but can't call them fo, III. The third Clafs remains, of the Diminishing Figures And 1. the ANTICLIMAX, where the fecond line drops quite fhort of the firft, than which nothing creates greater furprize. On the extent of the British Arms. * « Under the Tropicks is our language spoke, On a Warrior. +"And thou Dalhoufy the great God of War, "Lieutenant-Colonel to the Earl of Mar." On the Valour of the English. "Nor Art nor Nature has the force "To ftop its fteddy course, "Nor Alps nor Pyreneans keep it out, "Nor fortify'd Redoubt." At other times this figure operates in a larger extent; and when the gentle reader is in expectation of fome great image, he either finds it furprizingly imperfect, or is prefented with fomething low, or quite ridiculous. A furprize resembling that of a curious perfon in a cabinet of Antique Statues, who beholds on the Pedestal the names of Homer, or Cato; but looking up, finds Homer without a head, and nothing to be seen of Cato but his privy-member. Such are these lines of a Leviathan at sea. §"His motion works, and beats the oozy mud, "And with its flime incorporates the flood. " "Till all th' encumber'd, thick, fermenting stream "Does like one Pot of boiling Ointment feem. "Where'er he'fwims, he leaves along the lake "Such frothy furrows, fuch a foamy track, "That all the waters of the deep appear "Hoary-with age, or grey with fudden fear." But perhaps even these are excelled by the enfuing: Now the refifted flames and fiery store, "By winds affaulted, in wide forges roar, "And raging feas flow down of melted Ore. "Sometimes they hear long Iron Bars remov'd, "And to and fro huge Heaps of Cinders fhov'd." 2 The VULGAR, } is also a Species of the Diminishing: By this a fpear flying into the air is compared to a boy whiftling as he goes on an errand. + "The mighty Stuffa threw a maffy spear, "Which with its Errand pleas'd, fung thro' the air." A Man raging with grief to a Maftiff-Dog. "I cannot ftifle this gigantic woe, Nor on my raging grief amuzzle throw." And Clouds big with water to a woman in great neceffity: "Diflended with the Waters in 'em pent, "The clouds hang deep in air, but hang unrent." 3. The INFANTINE. This is when a Poet grows fo very fimple, as to think and talk like a child. I fhall take my examples from the greatest Mafter in this way: Hear how he fondles, like: a mere ftammerer. § "Little Charm of placid mien, * Pr. Arthur, p. 157. + Idem. # Job, p. 41. $ Amb. Phil "Hither "Hither British muse of mine, "Then the neck fo white and round, "Happiest he of happy men," etc. and the reft of thofe excellent Lullabies of his compofition. How prettily he asks the sheep to teach him to bleat? Teach me to grieve with bleating moan, my fheep." Hear how a babe would reason on his nurse's death: "That ever she could die! Oh most unkind! + "To die and leave poor Colinet behind ? "And yet-Why blame I her?" With no lefs fimplicity does he suppose that shepherdeffes tear their hair and beat their breafts, at their own deaths: 4 "Ye brighter maids, faint emblems of my fair, 4. The INANITY, or NOTHINGNESS. Of this the fame author furnishes us with most beautiful inftances: "Ah filly I, more filly than my sheep, " (Which on the flow'ry plain I once did keep.) * Phillips's Paftorals. tfbid. VOL. III. Ibid. $ Ibid. *(To the grave Senate she could counsel give, + "He whom loud cannon could not terrify, 4. "Happy, merry as a king, "Sipping dew, you fip and fing." "The Noife returning with returning Light, What did it? || "Difpers'd the Silence, and dispell'd the Night.” You eafily perceive the Nothingness of every fecond Verfe. §"The glories of proud London to survey, "The fun himself shall rise-by break of day." 5. The EXPLETIVE, admirably exemplified in the Epithets of many authors. "Th' umbrageous fhadow, and the verdant green, "The running current, and odorous fragrance "Chear my lone folitude with joyous gladness." Or in pretty drawling words like these, + "All men his tomb, all men his fons adore, "The rifing fun our grief did fee, "The fetting fun did fee the fame, "While wretched we remember'd thee, **O Sion! Sion! lovely name." 6. The MACROLOGY and PLEONASM are as generally coupled, as a lean rabbit with a fat one, nor is it a wonder, the fuperfluity of words and vacuity Phil. on Q. Mary. + Ibid. of |