Namque aliqui exercent vim duram, & rebus iniqui
Nativam eripiunt formam, indignantibus ipfis,
Invitafque jubent alienos fumere vultus.
Haud magis imprudens mihi erit, & luminis expers,
Qui puero ingentes habitus det ferre gigantis,
Quàm fiquis ftabula alta Lares appellet equinos,
Aut crines magnæ genetricis gramina dicat.
Præftiterit verò faciem fpolia & fua cuique
Linquere, & interdum propriis rem prodere verbis,
Indiciifque fuis, ea fint modò digna camœnis.

VID. Poetic. lib. ii. line 44.

THE VARIOUS KINDS OF

TA R O P E S

VERSIFIED:

FI

WITH

SUITABLE EXAMPLES under each of them.

A

TROPE a fov❜reign pow'r o'er language fhows,
And upon words a foreign sense bestows.
GOD is a Rock, and guards his Saints from ill;
HEROD's a Fox, and will be cruel ftill.

A METAPHOR Compares without the fign:
Virtue's a fun, and shall for ever shine.

An ALLEGORY in a length of chain
Will the reiterated Trope detain.

A vine from Egypt, by JEHOVAH's hand,
"Was refcu'd and remov'd to Canaan's land.
"To give the ftranger room the noxious thorn,
"And baleful hemlock from the foil were torn:
"Fenc'd round by Heav'n the plant in fafety grew,
"Bleft the full beam, and drank th' enliv'ning dew:
"Deep in the earth it struck its thriving root,
"Enlarg'd with foliage, and enrich'd with fruit:

The

The wide-extended fhade the hills admir'd, "And cedar-like to Heav'n its boughs afpir'd: "But now with hungry rage and lawless pow'r, "The mountain-bull and forest-boar devour: "Inclosures, clufters, boughs their fury tares, "And fire confumes what brutal havock fpares. "Look, gracious GOD, on this thy mournful vine, "And let thy guardian care atteft it thine!".

A METONYMY will, for kindred's fake, The name of one thing for another take. Caufes effects intend. His fin will find

Th' offender out, and rack his conscious mind *.
Effects the caufe denote. Pale death destroys
Gay giddy youth, and blasts its blooming joys.
Subjects for adjuncts fland. Friends, take the cup,
And thankful for its bleffings drink it up †. ...
Adjuncts the fubjects mean. Mankind despise
Virtue alive, but wail her when she dies.

IMA

4.

A METALEPSIS throng'd with Tropes appears.
The spikes of corn denote the golden ears:
The ears the crop, the crop the fummer means,
Summer the year in all its various fcenes.

SYNECDOCHE our ftile diverfifies,

And at her call a thousand beauties rise.

..

Numb. xxxii. 23.

The whole intends a part. To quench the flames
Of raging thirst we drank the filver Thames.

A part denotes the whole. At Blenheim's field,
How did great MARLBOROUGH Britain's thunder wield,
Sweep down the Gallic ranks, and fill the plain
With purple currents, and with heaps of flain!

I

+ Matt, xxvi. 27...

Genus

Genus for fpecies ftands. New life proclaim
To ev'ry creature in IMMANUEL's name
Species a genus means. The east-wind raves,
And heaves th Atlantic in a thousand waves.

ANTONOMASIA for a common name
A proper ufes. Tow'ring into fame,

See that young CAESAR! By revers'd command,

A common for a proper name shall stand.

How fhone the Orator† in that great hour,
は

When the world's Monarch + fhook beneath his pow'r!

An

Mark xvi. 15.

+ CICERO.

CESAR.

The ftory here referred to is thus related by Dr WARD, in his Latin Oration prefixed to his Syftem of Oratory, which I fhall take the liberty to tranflate. "But I cannot, fays the "Doctor, reftrain myself from mentioning how this most emi“nent man (CICERO) obtained the Kiberty of his friend, ac"cused of a capital offence; an occasion in which, if ever, the utmost ftrength of his eloquence exerted isfelf. The "civil war between CASAR and POMPEY being ended, and "the fovereignty of Rame being now in the hands of CSARI

1

QUINTUS LIGARIUS was accufed by Q. TUBERO of being
in arms againft Cæsar in Africa. CICERO undertook Li-
GARIUS's defence. Upon CESAR's being made acquainted
with it, he cries, W’by fauld zwa bear what CICERO has to
"Jay? The man is guilty schafe caufe be pleads, and is unquef
“* tionably a wicked enemy againfi us. But when CICERO be-
"gan to speak, his oration appeared fo admirable for its pa
* thos and various elegance, that it wonderfully wrought.
"upon CÆSAR, which he at first discovered by a confused
"countenance, and the frequent change of colour; but in a
« while he was thrown into fuch perturbation, that his whole

66

body trembled, and he dropped fome parchments out of his "hand. In the end CICERO carried his caufe, and LIGA

RIUS was fet free. Thus the Sovereign of fo many nations

"

An IRONY in fmooth mellifluent phrase Its poifon fhoots, and wounds with deep difgrace. "Ye are the men of all mankind most wife, "And when ye die, no doubt all wisdom dies."

SARCASM is Irony in its excess.

King of the Jews, thee humbly we addrefs; "Low at thy feet we bend fubmiffive down, "Revere thy reed, and hail thy thorny crown †.”

HYPERBOLE the truth will oft' neglect

By bold excefs, and by as bold defect.

Mark how it rifes. "Yon tall mountain fhrowds "Its height in heav'n, and tow'rs above the clouds." Again it finks. "Shall man his grandeur boast! "An atom of an atom-world at most !”

A CATACHRESIS thro' the want of words Or fond of charms which novelty affords, Boldly bounds o'er expreffion's wonted fence, And makes the Reader tremble for the fenfe. "How swift thofe cranes, exulting in the gale, "Thro' the cerulean gulphs of Æther fail? "For me the wheat's fat kidneys crown the plains, "And mine's the blood the mellow grape contains t."

"was overcome by the force of Eloquence; and he who had " carried his victorious arms to almoft every part of the globe, "was himself at length vanquished by more powerful weapons. "An illustrious victory indeed! in which CICERO might well "boaft, that arms had yielded to the gown,"

↑ Matt. xxvii, 29,

↑ Deuts

• Job xii. 2. xxxii. 14.