For inftance, of a Lion;

*He roar'd fo loud, and look'd fo won'rous grim,
His very shadow 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.

Th' + obfcureness of her birth

Cannot eclipfe the luftre of her eyes,
Which make her all one light.

Of a Bull-baiting.

↑ Up to the stars the sprawling maftives fly, And add new monsters to the frighted sky. Of a Scene of Mifery.

$ Behold a fcene 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 modest 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 shall again in the twelfth.

To the fame class of the Magnifying may be referred the following, which are so excellently modern, that we have yet no name for them. In defcribing a country prospect,

I'd call them mountains, but can't call them fo,
For fear to wrong them with a name too low;

* Vet. Aut. + Blackm.

+ Theob. Double Falfhood.

§ Anon.

Anon.

While the fair vales beneath fo humbly lie,
That even humble feems a term too high.

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,
And part of Flanders hath receiv'd our Yoke.
On a Warrior.

+ And thou Dalhoussy 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 courfe,

Nor Alps nor Pyrenæens 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 some 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 feen of Cato but his privy member. Such are these lines of a Leviathan at fea,

§ His motion works, and beats the oozy mud, And with its flime incorporates the flood, 'Till all the 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 Cynders fhov'd: 2. The VULGAR,

is also a Species of the Diminishing: By this a spear flying into the air is compared to a boy whistling as goes on an errand.

he

+ The mighty Stuffa threw a maffy Spear,

Which, with its Errand pleas'd,fung thro' the air. A Man raging with grief to a Mastiff Dog: I cannot stifle this gigantic woe,

Nor on my raging grief a muzzle throw.

And Clouds big with water to a woman in great ncceffity:

Diftended 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 greateft Mafter in this way: Hear how he fondles, like a meer ftammerer.

§ Little Charm of placid mien,
Miniature of beauty's queen,

Hither, British mufe of mine,
Hither, all ye Græcian Nine,
With the lovely Graces Three,
And your pretty Nurseling fee.

When the meadows next are feen,
Sweet enamel, white and green.
When again the lambkins play,
Pretty Sportlings full of May.

Then the neck fo white and round,
(Little Neck with brillants bound.)
And thy Gentleness of mind,
(Gentle from a gentle kind) etc.
Happy thrice, and thrice agen,
Happiest he of happy men, etc.

and the rest of thofe excellent Lullabies of his compofition.

How prettily he afks the fheep to teach him to bleat?

* Teach me to grieve with bleating moan, my sheep. Hear how a babe would reason on his nurfe'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 less fimplicity does he fuppofe that fhepherdeffes tear their hair and beat their breafts, at their own deaths:

Ye brighter maids, faint emblems of my fair,
With looks caft down, and with difhevel'd hair,
In bitter anguish beat your breasts, and moan
Her death untimely, as it were your own.

*Philips's Paftorals

$0 4

+ Ibid.

‡ Ibid.

4. The

4. The INANITY, or NOTHINGNESS. Of this the fame author furnishes us with most beautiful inftances;

*Ab filly I, more filly than my fSheep,

(Which on the flow'ry plain I once did keep.) ↑ To the grave Senate she could counsel give, (Which with astonishment they did receive.) He whom loud cannon could not terrify, Falls (from the grandeur of his Majesty.) § Happy, merry as a king,

Sipping dew, you fip, and fing.

The Noise returning with returning Light, What did it?

|| Difpers'd the Silence, and difpell'd the Night. You eafily perceive the Nothingness of every fecond Verfe.

The glories of proud London to furvey,

The Sun himself shall rise-by break of day.

5. The EXPLETIVE,

admirably exemplified in the Epithets of many au

thors.

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,
And his fons fons, till there fhall be no more.