II The Magnifying, and III. The Diminishing. We cannot avoid giving to these the Greek or Roman Names; but in tenderness to our countrymen and fellowwriters, many of whom, however exquifite, are wholly ignorant of thofe languages, we have also explained them in our mother-tongue. I. Of the first sort, nothing so much conduces to the Bathos, as the CATACHRESIS. A Mafter of this will say, Mow the Beard, Shave the Grafs, Pin the Plank, From whence results the fame kind of pleasure to the mind as to the eye, when we behold Harlequin trimming himself with a hatchet, hewing down a tree with a razor, making his tea in a cauldron, and brewing his ale in a tea-pot, to the incredible fatisfaction of the British fpectator. Another fource of the Bathos is, The METONYMY, the inverfion of Causes for Effects, of Inventors for Inventions, &c. "Lac'd in her * Cofins new appear'd the bride, "A + Bubble-boy and Tompion at her fide, "And with an air divine her || Colmar ply'd : "Then oh! fhe cries, what flaves I round me fee? "Here a bright Redcoat, there a fmart § Toupee." The SYNECDOCHE, which confifts, in the ufe of a part for the whole. You Stays. † Tweez r-cafe. Watch. SA fort of Perriwig: All words n ufe in this prefent Year 1727. VOL. III. Fan. may may call a young woman fometimes Pretty-face and Pigs-eyes, and fometimes Snotty-nose and Draggle-tail. Or of Accidents for Perfons; as a Lawyer is called Split-cause, a Taylor Prick-loufe, &c. Or of things belonging to a man, for the man himself; as a Sword man, a Gown-man, a T-m-T-d-man; a White-faff, a Turn-key, &c. The APOSIOPESIS. An excellent figure for the Ignorant, as, "What shall "I fay?" when one has nothing to fay: or, "I can no more," when one really can no more. Expreffions which the gentle reader is fo good as never to take in earnest. The METAPHOR. The firft rule is to draw it from the lowest things, which is a certain way to fink the higheft; as when you speak of the Thunder of Heaven,' fay, *The Lords above are angry and talk big.” If you would defcribe a rich man refunding his treafures, exprefs it thus, + "Tho' he (as faid) may Riches gorge, the Spoil "Soon fhall he perish with a swift decay, The fecond, that, whenever you ftart a Metaphor, you must be fure to run it down, and purfue it as far as it can go. If you get the scent of a State-négociation, follow it in this manner : "The ftones and all the elements with thee "Shall ratify a ftri&t confederacy; "Wild beafts their favage temper fhall forget, "And for a firm alliance with thee treat; Lee, Alex. † Blackm. Job, p. 9, 934. + Job, p. 22. The "The finny tyrant of the spacious feas Or, if you represent the Creator denouncing war against the wicked, be fure not to omit one circumftance usual in proclaiming and levying war. *Envoys and Agents, who by my command "Refide in Palestina's land, "To whom commiffions I have given, "To manage there the interefts of heaven: "Or war or peace, in mine your mafter's "For the divine deliverer name: "Will on his march in majefty appear, Under the article of the Confounding, we rank 1. The MIXTURE OF FIGURES, which raises so many images, as to give you no image at all. But its principal beauty is when it gives an idea just oppofite to what it seemed meant to describe: Thus an ingenious artist painting the Spring, talks of a Snow of blossoms, and thereby raises an unexpected picture of Win-ter. Of this fort is the following: + "The gaping clouds pour lakes of fulphur down, "Whofe livid flashes fickning fun-beams drown." What a noble Confufion? clouds, lakes, brimftone, flames, fun-beams, gaping, pouring, fickning, drowning! all in two lines. *Blackm. Ifa, c. xl. + Pr. Arthur, p. 37. X 2 2. The 2. The JARGON. *Thy head fhall rife, tho' buried in the duft, "And 'midft the clouds his glittering turrets thrust." Quare, What are the glittering turrets of a man's head? + Upon the fhore, as frequent as the fand, "To meet the Prince, the glad Dimetians ftand." Quare, Where thefe Dimetians ftood? and of what fize they were? Add alfo to the Jargon fuch as the following. "Deftruction's empire shall no longer last, "Here Niobe, fad mother, makes her moan, But, for Variegation, nothing is more useful than where a Word, like the tongue of a jack-daw, speaks twice as much by being split: As this of Mr. Dennis §, "Bullets that wound, like Parthians, as they fly." or this excellent one of Mr. Welsted 4, "Behold the Virgin lie, "Naked, and only cover'd by the Sky." To which thou may'st add, "To fee her beauties no man needs to stoop, "She has the whole Horizon for her hoop.' 4. The ANTITHESIS, or SEE-SAW, whereby Contraries and Oppofitions are balanced in fuch a way, as to caufe a reader to remain fufpended between * Job, p. 107. † Pr. Arthur, p. 157. T. Cook's Poems. + Welfted's Poems, Acon and Lavin. + Job, p. 89. them, them, to his exceeding delight and recreation. Such are thefe, on a lady who made herself appear out of fize, by hiding a young princess under her cloaths. *While the kind nymph changing her faultless shape "Becomes unhandfome, handsomely to 'scape.” On the Maids of Honour in mourning. "Sadly they charm, and difmally they please." + "His eyes fo bright "Let in the object, and let out the light." "The Gods look pale to fee us look fo red." § "The Fairies and their Queen "In mantles blue came tripping o'er the green." "All nature felt a reverential shock, "The fea ftood ftill to fee the mountains rock." CHA P. XI. The Figures continued: Of the magnifying and Diminifhing Figures. A Genuine Writer of the Profund will take care never to magnify any object without clouding it at the fame time: His Thought will appear in a true mift, and very unlike what is in nature. It must always be remembered that Darkness is an effential quality of the Profund; or, if there chance to be a glimmering, it must be as Milton expreffes it, "No light, but rather darkness vifible.” The chief Figure of this fort is, |