3

I. Of the first fort, nothing fo much conduces to the Bathos, as the

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 rafor, making his tea in a cauldron, and brewing his ale in a tea-pot, to the incredible fatisfaction of the British spectator. Another fource of the Bathos is,

The METONYMY,

the inverfion of Caufes for Effects, of Inventors
for Inventions, etc.

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! She cries, what flaves I round me fee?
Here a bright Redcoat, there a smart || Toupee.

The SYNECHDOCHE,

which confifts, in the use of a part for the whole. You may call a young woman fometimes Prettyface and Pigs-cyes, and fometimes Snotty-nofe and Draggle-tail. Or of Accidents for Perfons; as a Lawyer is called Split-caufe, a Taylor Prick-loufe,

* Stays.

+ Tweezer-cafe. ↑ Watch.

§ Fin. A fort of Perriwig: All words in ufe in this prefent

Year 1727.

4

P.

etc.

etc. 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-Staff, a Turn-key, etc.

The APOSIOPESIS.

An excellent figure for the Ignorant, as, "What "fhall 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 first rule is to draw it from the lowest things, which is a certain way to fink the highest; 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 treasures, express it thus,

+ Tho' he (as faid) may Riches gorge, the Spoil
Painful in maffy Vomit fhall recoil,

Soon shall he perish with a fwift decay,
Like his own Ordure, caft with fcorn away.

The Second, that, whenever you start a Metaphor, you must be fure to run it down, and purfue it as far as it can go. If you get the fcent of a State negotiation, follow it in this manner.

The ftones and all the elements with thee
Shall ratify a strict confederacy;
Wild beafts their favage temper shall forget,
And for a firm alliance with thee treat;
The finny tyrant of the fpacious feas
Shall fend a fcaly embaffy for peace;
His plighted faith the Crocodile fhall keep,
And feeing thee, for joy fincerely weep.

*Lee Alex. Job, p, 22.

+ Blackm. Job, p. 91, 93.

Or

Or if you represent the Creator denouncing war against the wicked, be fure not to omit one circumstance usual in proclaiming and levying war.

* Envoys and Agents, who by my command
Refide in Paleftina's land,

To whom commiffions I have given,
To manage there the interefts of heaven :
Ye holy heralds, who proclaim

Or war or peace, in mine your master's name:
Ye pioneers of heaven, prepare a road,
Make it plain, direct and broad;

For I in perfon will my people head;
For the divine deliverer

Will on his march in majefty appear,
And needs the aid of no confed'rate pow'r.
Under the article of the Confounding, we rank

1. THE MIXTURE OF FIGURES,

which raises fo many images, as to give you no image at all. But its principal beauty is when it gives an idea just opposite to what it feemed meant to describe. Thus an ingenious artift painting the Spring, talks of a Snow of Blossoms, and thereby raises an unexpected picture of Winter. Of this fort is the following:

† The gaping clouds pour lakes of fulphur down, Whofe livid flashes fickning funbeams drown. What a noble Confufion? clouds, lakes, brimftone, flames, fun-beams, gaping, pouring, fickning, drowning! all in two lines.

2. The JARGON.

‡ Thy head shall rife, tho' buried in the dust,

And 'midst the clouds his glittering turrets thruf.

*Blackm. Ifa. c. xl.

↑ Job, p. 107.

† Pr. Arthur, p. 37.

Quare,

Quare, What are the glittering turrets of a man's head?

* Upon the shore, as frequent as the fand,

To meet the Prince, the glad Dimetians ftand.

Quare, Where thefe Dimetians ffood? and of what fize they were? Add alfo to the Jargon fuck as the following.

+ Destruction's empire shall no longer laft, And Defolation lye for ever waste.

§ Here Niobe, fad mother, makes her mean, And feems converted to a fone in ftone.

But for Variegation, nothing is more useful than 3. The PARANOMASIA, or PUN,

where a Word, like the tongue of a jackdaw, speaks twice as much by being fplit: As this of Mr. Dennis ||.

Bullets that wound, like Parthians, as they fly; or this excellent one of Mr. Welsted †,

Behold the Virgin lye

Naked, and only cover'd by the Sky.

To which thou may'st add,

To fee her beauties no man needs to ftoop,
She has the whole Horizon for her hoop.

4. The ANTITHESIS, or SE E-Saw, whereby Contraries and Oppofitions are ballanced in such a way, as to cause a reader to remain sufpended between them, to his exceeding delight and recreation. Such are these, on a lady who made herself appear out of size, by hiding a young princefs under her cloaths.

+ Job, p. 89. || Poems 1693, p. 13.

* Pr. Arthur, p. 157. Cook, Poems, Poems, Acon and Lavin.

§ T. 1 Welfted,

* While

* 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 so red.
The || Fairies and their Queen

In mantles blue came tripping d'er the green.

¶ All nature felt a reverential shock,
The fea flood fill to fee the mountains rock.

CHA P. XI.

The Figures continued: Of the Magnifying and Diminishing 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 essential quality of the Profund, or, if there chance to be a glimmering, it must be as Milton expreffes it,

No light, but rather darkness visible. The chief Figure of this fort is,

1. The HYPERBOLE, or Impoffible.