like the goodly cedars. Why hast thou broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by that 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 which thou madest strong for thyself.-Psalms.

Here there is no circumstance that does not strictly agree with a vine; while at the same time, the whole quadrates happily with the Jewish state represented by this figure. It is the principal requisite in the conduct of an allegory, that the figurative and the literal meaning be not inconsistently mixed together. If, instead of describing the vine as wasted by the boar out of the wood, and devoured by the wild beasts of the field, the psalmist had said, that it was afflicted by heathens, or overcome by enemies, this would have ruined the allegory, and produced the same confusion that has been remarked in those metaphors in which the figurative and literal sense are confounded together. Indeed, the rules which have been given with respect to metaphors may also be applied to allegories, on account of the affinity that they bear to each other. The only material difference between them, besides the one being short, and the other prolonged, is, that a metaphor always explains itself by the words which are connected with it in their proper and natural meaning. When I say, " Wallace was a thunderbolt of war," "in peace Fingal was the gale of spring," the thunderbolt of war, and the gale of spring are sufficiently interpreted by the mention of Wallace and Fingal. But an allegory may be allowed to stand

more

more unconnected with the literal meaning; the interpretation is not so directly pointed out, but left to our own discovery.

Allegories were a favourite method of delivering instruction in ancient times; for what we call fables or parables are no other than allegories; and those fables are to be found among the earliest productions of literature. They represent the dispositions of men by words and actions attributed to beasts and inanimate objects; and what we call the moral, is the simple meaning of the allegory. An ænigma or riddle is also a figure of this kind. One thing is imaged by another, but purposely rendered obscure by being involved in a complication of circumstances. Where a riddle is not intended, it is always a fault in allegory to be too dark. The meaning should be easily seen through the figure employed to shadow it. The proper mixture of light and shade in such compositions, the exact adjustment of all the figurative circumstances with the literal sense, so as neither to lay the meaning too open, nor to cover it too closely, has ever been found an affair of great nicety; and in allegorical compositions of any length, few writers have succeeded, pa

An allegory is in every respect similar to a hieroglyphical painting, excepting only that words are used instead of colours. Their effects are precisely the same; a hieroglyphic raises two images in the mind ; one seen, which represents one not seen. The same is the case with an allegory: the representative subject is described; and the resemblance leads us to apply the description to the subject represented.

Nothing affords greater pleasure than this figure,

when

when the representative subject bears a strong analogy, in all its circumstances, to that which is represented. But the choice is seldom so fortunate; the analogy being generally so faint and obscure as to puzzle instead of pleasing. An allegory is still more difficult in painting than in writing: the former can shew no resemblance but what appears to the eye; whereas the latter has many other resources.

In an allegory, as well as in a metaphor, such terms ought to be chosen as are literally applicable to the representative subject: nor ought any circumstance to be added that is not proper to that subject, however justly it may apply to the principal either in a figurative or proper sense. Our view must never wave between the type and the anti-type.

For the further illustration of the nature of allegory, I shall subjoin a few miscellaneous examples.*

My well-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: and he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a wine-press therein; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now, go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard; I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up, and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. And I will lay it waste : it shall not be pruned nor digged; but there shall come up briars and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon

Various remarks on allegorical composition occur in Mr. Warcon's Observations on Spencer, 2 vols. 8vo.

it, for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant.—Isaiah.

Wise men ne'er sit and wail their loss,
But cheerly seek how to redress their harms.
What though the mast be now blown overboard,
The cable broke, the holding anchor lost,
And half our sailors swallowed in the flood?
Yet lives our pilot still. Is't meet that he
Should leave the helm, and, like a fearful lad,

With tearful eyes add water to the sea,

And give more strength to that which hath too much;
While in his moan the ship splits on the rock,

Which industry and courage might have sav’d? —Shakspeare.

Ha! thou hast rous'd

The lion in his den; be stalks abroad,

And the wide forest trembles at his roar.---Southerners

Did I but purpose to embark with thee

On the smooth surface of a summer's sea,

While gentle zephyrs play with prosperous gales,
And Fortune's favour fills the swelling sails;
But would forsake the ship and make the shore,
When the winds whistle and the tempest roar?---Prior.

OF THE CONCISE AND THE DIFFUSE STYLE.

IT has already been hinted that, as words are copies

of our ideas, there must always he a very intimate connexion between the manner in which every writer employs words, and his manner of thinking; and that, by the peculiarity of his thought and expression, there is a certain character imprinted on his style, which

may

may be denominated his manner.

The terms which

we use in order to express the general manner of different authors, bear some reference to their mode of thinking; but refer chiefly to their mode of expression. The distinctions of nervous and feeble, simple and affected, arise from the whole tenor of a writer's language; and comprehend the effect produced by all those parts of style which we have already considered : the choice which he makes of single words, his arrangement of these in sentences; the degree of his precision; and his embellishment, by means of musical cadence, or the various figures of speech.

That different subjects require to be treated in different sorts of style, is a position too evident to stand in need of illustration. Philosophy demands one kind of style, oratory another; and different parts of the same composition require a variation in the style and manner. But amidst this variety, we still expect to find, in the writings of the same individual, some degree of uniformity, or consistency with himself; we expect to find some predominant character of style impressed on all his works, which shall be suited to his particular genius, and turn of mind. Wherever there is real and native genius, it gives a determination to one kind of style rather than another. Where nothing of this description appears, where there is no marked or peculiar character in the compositions of an author, we are apt to infer that he writes from imitation, and not from the impulse of original genius.

One of the most obvious distinctions of style arises from the conciseness or the diffuseness with which an author expresses his sentiments. A concise writer compresses

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