humility on Pride is the offspring of ignorance, humility is Pride hardens the heart, humility Pride is deaf to the clamours of conscience, humility -; and, finally, pride rejects the counsels of reason, the voice of experience, the dictates of religion; while humility, with a docile spirit, thankfully receives instruction from all who address her in the garb of truth. Milo was unwilling to cause the death of Clodius, at a time when all mankind would have approved the deed. Is it probable, then, he would embrace an occasion when ? He dared not destroy his enemy even with the consent of the law, in a convenient place, on a fit occasion, and without incurring danger. Would he attempt it, then, ? XI. CLIMAX. 440. Climax or gradation is marked by the gradual increase of energy in the language. EXAMPLES. (440.) There is no enjoyment of property without government; no government without a magistrate; no magistrate without obedience; and no obedience where every one does as he pleases. As we have practised good actions awhile, they become easy; and when they are easy, we begin to take pleasure in them; and when they please us, we do them frequently; and by frequency of acts, a thing grows into a habit; and confirmed habit is a kind of second nature; and so far as anything is natural, so far it is necessary, and we can hardly do otherwise; nay, we do it many times when we do not think of it. Exercise. Supply the terms necessary to form the steps of the following climaxes: Children owe regard to their equals; to their superiors in age; and reverence to their God. to their fellow-pupils ; to their parents; and fear, love, Ignorance is to be regretted even in a child; deplorable in shameful to ; ; disgraceful to ; despicable in' It is not commendable to wish for the property of others; it is improper to ; it is unjust to ; it is an offence to; it is a crime to it is punishable with death to What shall we say, then, of him who, in the darkness of the night, when mankind, in the confidence of security, have permitted their watchful senses to sleep, defies the obstacles of bars and bolts, breaks into a dwelling, plunders the property, murders the inhabitants, and sets fire to their habitation? XII. FIGURES OF SPEECH. 441. SYNECHDOCHE is putting a part for the whole, and often proves a more accurate and vivid mode of presenting an object to the mind. A fleet of ten sail,' suggests a group of vessels at sea more certainly than 'ten ships, which might be in dock. All hands to the pumps,' suggests the special attitude desired better than 'all men.' 442. METONOMY is putting one word for another-frequently a more elegant and effective mode of conveying an idea, as when we say, 'a man keeps a good table,' instead of 'good provisions.' 443. A SIMILE is used when one thing is compared with another; thus-'A troubled conscience is like the ocean when ruffled by a storm.' 444. A METAPHOR is used when the resemblance is not stated but implied, and language belonging to sensible objects is used concerning mental ones; thus-Cromwell trampled on the laws. 445. PROSOPOPEIA, or personification, is a metaphor in which the attributes or actions of living beings are attributed to inanimate objects; thus the earth is said to 'thirst for rain,' or to smile with plenty.' The highest degree of personification is when inanimate objects are addressed as intelligent beings; thus-Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! 446. ALLEGORY, including apologue, fable, and parable, is a prolonged use of metaphor and personification in the form of narrative, and without explanation of the similitude involved. 447. APOSTROPHE is an address to a real person, who is dead or absent, but supposed present-Oh, Absalom, my son, my son! 448. All these figures may be used with moderation in ordinary prose, and more freely in a rhetorical composition, while they form a great proportion of the language of poetry. Metaphor is that which is most usual, as we have few terms to express intellectual objects and operations, except those which primarily refer to sensible ones. A few cautions on this subject are necessary: 1. A metaphor must be suited to the nature of the subject, and must be founded on a resemblance which is clear and striking, not far-fetched, or difficult to be discovered. п. Metaphors must not be mixed; that is, two must not meet on the same subject. Shakspeare has said: 'Or to take arms against a sea of troubles.' Now, trouble may properly be likened to a sea in which a man is tossed to and fro, or to an enemy whom he must combat; but to speak of taking arms against a sea, is an inconsistency which even Shakspeare's authority will not sanction. So Milton: 'And ever, against eating cares, The student will observe here a similar confusion between a cord which admits of twisting and tying, and a chain which consists of links, not twists; and is said to bind, not to tie. There is an incongruity, too, in piercing a melting soul, as a solid object only is capable of being pierced. A melting one might be penetrated, however. In the same poem, Milton says: Or sweetest Shakspeare, Fancy's child, It is quite legitimate to call Shakspeare the child of Fancy, or to compare him to a bird warbling his native wood-notes; but to represent him as a child warbling his native wood-notes, is nonsense, because a child does not naturally live and warble in a wood. To avoid incongruities of this kind, a knowledge of the primary meaning of words employed is very important. An eminent divine has spoken of one standing on the wreck of ruined ordinances,' forgetting that wreck belongs to a vessel, and ruin to a building. III. Metaphorical and plain language should not be mixed; that is, a sentence must not be so framed that some words require to be understood literally and some metaphorically. 449. The excessive use of figurative language in prose, constitutes what is called a florid style. Exercise. In the following passages, distinguish the different kinds of figurative language used. Thus, in the first one- The spring and summer,' &c.there is a metaphor implying a comparison between a year and a lifetime : The spring and summer of your days are gone; you have entered on the autumn of your being.-ALISON. They have Moses and the prophets.-Bible. I call upon the bishops to interpose the unsullied sanctity of their lawn; upon the judges to interpose the purity of their ermine.-LORD CHATHAM. Then shall ye bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave.-Bible. The sacred morality of the pulpit.-HALL. I could lie down, like a tired child, And weep away the life of care Which I have borne, and yet must bear.-SHELLEY. Soul of the just! companion of the dead! Where is thy home, and whither art thou fled? Though my perishing ranks should be strewed in their gore, Time but the impression deeper makes, As streams their channels deeper wear.-BURNS. O sun! to tell thee how I hate thy beams.-MILTON. Yet heard in heaven, heard at the mercy-seat.-POLLOK. XIII. RHETORICAL STYLE. 450. A rhetorical composition admits of a more effective arrangement than ordinary prose, as well as a freer use of figurative language. Thus the predicate precedes the subject -Great is Diana of the Ephesians! The adjuncts precede the predicate-Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites! The simile precedes the object to which it is applied—As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed. EXAMPLES. (450.) Feeble are the attractions of the fairest form, if it be suspected that nothing within corresponds to the pleasing appearance without. Short are the triumphs of wit when it is supposed to be the vehicle of malice.-BLAIR. Painful, indeed, was the distress of the march.— GIBBON. Deep is the air and dark. Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have, give I thee. It was Cicero that Cæsar praised (for 'Cæsar praised Cicero.') As wreath of snow, on mountain breast, And at the monarch's feet she lay.-SCOTT. Like the mellow Sweet, O Ossian, is the memory of distant friends! ray of a departing sun, it falls tenderly yet sadly on the heart.OSSIAN. As autumn's dark storms pour from two towards each other approached the heroes. echoing hills, so As the troubled noise of the ocean when roll the waves on high; as the last peal of the thunder of heaven; such is the noise of battle.-OSSIAN. 451. The INTERROGATIVE is a rhetorical mode of arrangement, in which, by a personal appeal, the hearer's attention is called more forcibly to some particular point. It often conveys a triumphant defiance of an opponent to refute what is said. EXAMPLES. (451.) Canst thou thunder with a voice like his ?-JOB. Will it be said, that this was brought about by the incantations of these Begums in their secluded Zenana? 452. An arrangement too effective for the magnitude of the ideas embodied, is called bombast. It has been happily used in burlesque heroic pieces by some of our comic writers. The last quotation from Ossian above may be characterised as bombastic. XIV. POETICAL STYLE. 453. Poetical composition not only admits of the freest use of figurative language, but of liberties in construction and arrangement inadmissible even in rhetorical prose. The following are a few of the liberties of this sort sanctioned by our best authors: 1. The auxiliary verb to do is dispensed with in interrogation: Know ye the land where the cypress and myrtle ?-BYRON. Ho! come ye in peace here, or come ye in war?-SCOTT. Soars thy presumption then so high? SCOTT. Knew ye not Pompey?-SHAKS. II. The verb precedes the nominative- While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand.-BYRON. O'er the path so well known still proceeded the maid.—SOUTHEY. III. The objective case precedes the transitive verb- Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage.-GOLDSMITH. The Stuart sceptre well she swayed, but the sword she could |