་ properly thrown together fink into Burlesque and founding Nonfenfe, and the eafy and familiar are tortured into infipid Fuftian. A true Genius will steer fecurely in either Courfe, and with fuch bold Rafhnefs on particular Occasions, that he will almost touch upon Rocks, yet never receive any damage. This Remark, in that part of it which regards the Terms, may be illuftrated by the following Lines of ShakeSpeare, spoken by Apemantus to Timon, when he had abjured all human Society, and vow'd to pass the remainder of his Days in a Defert. What? think'st thou That the bleak air, thy boift'rous chamberlain And skip when thou pointft out? will the cold brook Of wreakful beav'n, whose bare unboufed trunks Anfwer meer nature; bid them flatter thee; The whole is carried on with so much Spirit, and fupported by fuch air of Solemnity, that it is noble and affecting. Yet the fame Expreffions and Allufions in inferior hands might have retained their original Baseness, and been quite ridiculous. SECT. XXXII. 1 Demofthenes in this Inftance bursts not out upon the traiterous Creatures of Philip with fuch Bitterness and Severity, ftrikes them not dumb with fuch a conti continuation of vehement and cutting Metaphors, as St. Jude fome profligate Wretches in his Epiftle, V. 12, 13. Thefe are spots in your feafts of charity, when they. feoft with you, feeding themselves without fear clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whofe fruit withereth, without fruit, pluck'd up by the roots: raging waves of the fea, foaming out their own fhame: wandring ftars, to whom is reserved the blacknefs of darkness for ever. By how much the bold Defence of Christianity against the lewd Practifes, infatiable Lufts, and impious Blafphemies of wicked abandoned Men, is more glorious than the Defence of a petty State against the Intrigues of a foreign Tyrant; or, by how much more honourable and praife-worthy it is, to contend for the Glory of God and Religion, than the Reputation of one Republic, by fo much does this Paffage of the Apostle exceed that of Demofthenes commended by Longinus in force of Expreffion, livelinefs of Allufion and height of Sublimity. 2 Bold Metaphors and thofe too in great plenty, &c.] This Remark fhews the Penetration of the Judgment of Longinus, and proves the Propriety of the ftrong Metaphors in Scripture, as when Arrows are faid to be drunk with blood, and a fword to devour flesh. (Deut. xxxii. 42.) It illuftrates the Eloquence of St. Paul, who ufes ftronger, more expreffive, and more accumulated Metaphors than any other Writer; as when for Inftance, he ftiles his Converts, His joy, his crown, his hope, his glory, his crown of rejoicing. (Phil. iii. 9.) when he exhorts them to put on Chrift. 1 Christ. Rom. xiii. 14. when he speaks against the Heathens, who had changed the truth of God into a lye. (Rom. i. 25.) when against wicked men, whofe end is deftruction, whofe God is their belly, and whofe glory is their fhame, (Phil. iii. 19.) See a Chain of ftrong ones. Rom. iii. 13-18. 3 The Allegory or Chain of Metaphors that occurs in Pfalm 1xxx. 8. is no way inferior to this of Plato. The royal Author fpeaks thus of the People of Ifrael under the Metaphor of a Vine: Thou haft brought a vine out of Egypt: thou haft caft out the heathen and planted it. Thou madeft room for it, and when it had taken root, it filled the land. The bills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedar trees. She Stretched out her branches unto the fea, and her boughs unto the river. Dr. Pearce. St. Paul has nobly defcribed in a continuation of Metaphors the Christan Armour, in his Epiftle to the Ephef. vi. 13 The fublime Defcription of the Horfe in Job c. xxxix. 19-25. has been highly applauded by feveral Writers. The Reader may fee fome juft Observations on it in the Guardian N° 86. But the 29th Chapter of the fame Book will afford as fine Inftances of the Beauty and Energy of this Figure, as can any where be met with. Ob that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preferved me: when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me: when I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil:When the ear heard me, then it blessed Sect. 33. blessed me ; and when the eye faw me, it gave witness to me. The bleffing of him that was ready to perish came upon me and I caufed the widows heart to fing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it cloathed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was à father to the poor There is another beautiful use of this Figure in the ⚫ latter part of the 65th Pfalm. The Description is lively, and what the French call riante, or laughing. It has indeed been frequently obferved, that the Eaftern Writings abound very much in ftrong Metaphors, but in Scripture they are always fupported by a Ground-work of masculine and nervous strength, without which they are apt to fwell into ridiculous Bombaft. 4 Lyfias.] He was one of the ten celebrated Orators of Athens. He was a neat, elegant, correct, and witty Writer, but not fublime. Cicero calls him prope perfectum, almoft perfect. Quintilian fays he was more like a clear Fountain, than a great River. I SECT. XXXIII. 1 In paffing our judgment, &c.] So Horace, Ep. 1. 2. Ep. 1. 262. Difcit enim citiùs meminitque libentiùs illud Quod quis deridet, quam quod probat & veneratur. ? 3 Tho they cannot every where boast, &c.] So Mr. Pope in the Spirit of Longinus Great 25 Great wits fometimes may gloriously offend, And rife to faults true critics dare not mend; eFrom vulgar bounds with brave diforder part, And fnatch a grace beyond the rules of art, Which, without passing thro' the judgment, gains The beart, and all its end at once attains. Effay on Criticism. 4. Apollonius.] Apollonius was born at Alexandria, but called a Rhodian, becaufe he refided at Rhodes: He was the Scholar of Callimachus, and fucceeded *Eratofthenes as Keeper of Ptolemy's Library: He wrote the Argonautics which are ftill extant: Of this ¿Poet Quintilian has thus given his Judgment, Inftit. Orat. l. 10. c. 1. He published a Performance which was not defpicable, but bad a certain even Mediocrity throughout. Dr. Pearce. 25 Eratosthenes.] Eratofthenes the Cyrenean, Schoblar of Callimachus the Poet; among other Pieces of Poetry he wrote the Erigone: and was Predeceffor to Apollonius in Ptolemy's Library at Alexandria. Dr. Pearce. 6 Bacchylides.] A Greek Poet, famous for Lyric Verfe; born at Julis, a Town in the fle of Geos; he wrote the Apodemics, or the Travels of a Deity. The Emperor Julian was fo pleas'd with his Verses, that he is faid to have drawn from thence Rules for the conduct of Life. And Hiero the Syracufan thought them preferable even to Pindar's, by a judgment quite contrary to what is given here by Longinus. Dr. Pearce. 7lothe Chian.] A Dithyrambic Poet, who befide Odes, is faid to have compofed forty Fables; he |