tempest, is a figure. The things compared are different in nature, although sufficiently similar to render the one illustrative of the other.

7. In compositions addressed to the FEELINGS-Oratory and Poetry-resemblances are sought out to give greater intensity or impressiveness to the meaning.

For this purpose, the comparison should be to something that excites the feelings more strongly than the thing compared. Thus, Sir Philip Sidney, in endeavoring to give a lively idea of the rousing effect of the ballad of Chevy Chase, says, "it stirs the heart like the sound of a trumpet.”

Chaucer's description of the Squire, contains several comparisons for raising the feelings:

"Embrouded was he, as it were a mede,

All full of freshe floures white and rede;
Singing he was, or floyting all the day;
He was as freshe as is the moneth of May."

So, the following simile from the Odyssey is calculated to give a more lively sense of the speaker's sentiment of veneration:- "I follow behind, as in the footsteps of a God.”

Again, "Justice," says Aristotle, "is more glorious than the Eastern Star or the Western Star."

An example of a simile elevating a common subject to a poetic character, occurs in Tennyson's description of the miller in "Enoch Arden."

"Him, like the working bee in blossom dust,

Blanched with his mill, they found."

Of the examples of the Simile on page 29, the 5th appeals to the feelings almost exclusively; the 1st and 6th are addressed to the undertanding; while the rest fall under a class to be mentioned presently, § 10.

8. Many comparisons have a mixed effect, partly assisting the understanding, and partly giving rise to feeling.

Demosthenes likened the statesmanship of such politicians as his rival Æschines to old sores in the body, which come out

into painful prominence, when the general health happens to be disturbed.

Extract I. (APPENDIX) may be referred to as exemplifying mixed effects.

In not a few instances, even in Expository Composition, the understanding is sacrificed to the feelings. (See Extract II.)

9. Some Similitudes enable us to picture an object vividly to the mind, and are called, on that account, picturesque; as in Chaucer's Squire, "With lockes crull, as they were laide in presse.”

These comparisons are much used in Poetry, and in the more poetical forms of Descriptive and Narrative composition.

10. Original comparisons, besides having the effects just stated, cause an agreeable SURPRISE, and are introduced into composition with that view.

A comparison that is new and not obvious, strikes us with a pleasurable flash, even although contributing little, either to elucidate a subject, or to excite livelier feelings in connection with it. In the following instance, the agreeable effect arises, partly from the elevation of the subject (See QUALITIES OF STYLE, Strength), and partly from the detection of a certain resemblance between two things lying remote in nature:-" The actions of princes are like those great rivers, whose course every one beholds, but their springs have been seen by but few."

When comparisons have no other effect than the pleasure of surprise, they are often termed fanciful. This indicates one of the meanings of Fancy. Luxuriant composition, as the poetry of Shelley or Keats, is apt to abound in this species of effect.

11. I. When Figures of Similarity are employed to give intelligibility and clearness-that is, to aid the Understanding they must satisfy the following condi

tions:

(1.) The resemblance should turn on the relevant cir

cumstance.

(2.) The comparison should be more intelligible to those addressed than the thing compared.

(3.) The accompanying circumstances should not be such as to distract the mind from the real point.

This is the most common fault in the use of figures of similarity, and is most likely to occur when they are most profusely employed.

12. II. With a view to heighten the Feelings, the conditions are these:

(1.) The figure employed should be more impressive than the plain form of expression.

(2.) The degree of elevation should be within the bounds that the hearer can tolerate. (See HYPERBOLE.) (3.) The similitude should be neither obvious nor trite.

Some degree of novelty, originality, or rarity, is essential to any powerful effect.

(4.) A mere intellectual comparison should not be tendered for an emotional one.*

On the other hand, the absence of intellectual similarity is consistent with emotional keeping. Hence the admissibility of the following:

"The noble sister of Poplicola,

The moon of Rome; chaste as the icicle

That's curdled by the frost from purest snow
And hangs on Dian's temple."

13. III. To render comparison, as such, a source of pleasure, the following points must be attended to :(1.) Novelty, originality, or freshness, is still more requisite than in the previous case.

* The profuse employment of intellectual similitudes without emotional keeping, is the peculiarity of the class of poets designated by Johnson as "metaphysical" (Life of Cowley). For a precise discrimination of the characteristics of this class, see Masson's Life of Milton (Vol. I. p. 441).

CONDITIONS OF EFFECTIVE COMPARISON.

27

(2.) There should be a harmony between the things compared, and no distasteful accompaniments.

The following well-known passage from Lucretius contains a fine harmony, and also a circumstance that jars on the mind :

"Sweet it is, when the winds are agitating the waters on a wide sea, to witness from the land the spectacle of another's distress; not because it is agreeable to us that any one should suffer, but because it is pleasant to behold the ills ourselves are free from. Sweet also is it to look upon the mighty encounters of war spread over the plains, without sharing the danger. But nothing is sweeter than to occupy the well-girt serene temple raised by the learning of the wise, whence we may look down upon others and see them straying and wandering, rivals in intellect, and in the pride of birth, striving night and day by surpassing labor to rise to wealth and to win dominion."

The two comparisons quoted are in full harmony with the situation to be illustrated; there is one pervading emotionthe grateful feeling of security from visible woes. But it jars on our sympathies to represent the misery of others as our delight; and the clause of explanation, so awkward in a poem, does not redeem the discord. Better to have simply compared the three situations, without giving any name to the feeling. “Like a man witnessing from the land the struggles of the mariner with the storm, or like one viewing the shock of war from a safe distance, is he that occupies the temple raised by wisdom, and looks down upon the erring crowd beneath."

14. Many figures of similarity are to be found in literature that fail to yield any of the results just named.

It would not be easy to attribute any effect to such as the following from Bacon:-"Certainly it is heaven on earth, to have a man's mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth." The old writers abound in comparisons equally unmeaning and insipid.

15. The sources of Figures of Resemblance are coextensive with human knowledge.

An idea may be formed of the wide range of figurative

comparison by glancing at some of the objects to which it has been extended.

Natural Agents :-Gravity, Heat, Light, Electricity, Magnetism, affinity, attraction, repulsion, force, solution, diffusion, expansion, matter, solid, liquid, gas.

Celestial Bodies and Operations:- Sun, moon, stars, orbits, eclipses, cycles, seasons, nebulæ, galaxies.

Terrestrial Objects on a grand scale :-Winds, storms, clouds, rain, thunder, lightning, oceans, shores, tides, waves, continents, plains, mountains, villages, rivers, floods, forests, deserts, sands, swamps, rocks, strata.

Minerals and their Properties :-Stone, granite, flint, metal, diamond, ruby, emerald, gold, silver, iron, brass, crystal, transparency, brilliancy, lustre, opaque, hard, rough, smooth, symmetrical. Vegetation:-Seed, root, stem, branch, flower, bud, fruit, leaf, growth, sap, ripeness, decay, excrescence. The rose, thorn, lily, oak, fungus, upas-tree.

Animal Life:-Organic processes, and names of parts, as in plants: Birth, procreation, health, disease, food, nourishment, bone, sinew, heart, head, eyes, tongue, foot, arm, breath, digestion. Special Animals:-Lion, tiger, elephant, dog, fox, eagle, lark, nightingale, parrot, serpent, viper, shark, worm, grub, oyster, bee, ant, spider, butterfly.

Operations of Human Industry :-(Agriculture), shepherd, flocks, herds, dig, till, plough, manure, water, sow, reap, harvest, thresh, winnow, prune, graft. (Mining), vein, ore. (Building), foundation, stone, cement, wall, roof, door, house, palace, temple, pyramid. (Seamanship), launch, set sail, chart, steer, compass, tack, breeze, wreck, founder. (War), army, array, battle, conquest, defeat, sword, arms, shot, broadside, parry, strategy, generalship. (Trade), buy, sell, import, traffic, capital, interest, borrow, credit, security, market, goods, exchange, money, currency, weight, measure. (Manufactures), hammer, forge, shape, carve, cut, joint, dovetail, spin, weave, embroider, tinsel.

Government:-Sovereign, king, rule, court, regulate, minister,

judge, law.

Social Relations:-Father, mother, friend, neighbor, companion, society, communion, wedlock.

Social Intercourse: Road, highway, carriage, conveyance, canal, harbor, haven, post, letter, arts of writing and printing. Medicine:-Physic, pill, unguent, syrup, purge, plaster, bleed, blister, disease, symptom, remedy, fever, inflammation, pulse, scar, sore, ache, wound, delirium, heart-burn, dropsy, gangrene. Teaching:-Master, pupil, lesson, school.

Science-Sum, fraction, equation, equivalent, theorem, axiom, postulate, definition, demonstrate, induction.

Fine Arts:-Melody, harmony, discord, dance, rhythm, paint, color, sculpture, engrave, carve.