vation, that things will appear to us according to the different tempers of our minds, a fact, which, as we have taken notice, opens the way to the Profopopeia, and indeed justifies it, we fhall cite the following pafsages from fome of the first Writers. HORACE fays to AUGUSTUS,

Thy light, dear foy'reign, to thy country give;
'Tis in the bleffings of that light we live.
Thy fmile's our spring: thy countenance benign,
When on thy people it vouchfafes to shine,
Makes their bright days ev'n more ferene and fair,
And the fun's beams a lovelier luftre wear *.

In like manner Mr ADDISON fays,

3.

O Liberty! thou goddess heav'nly bright,
Profufe of blifs, and pregnant with delight!
Eternal pleasures in thy prefence reign,
And smiling plenty leads thy wanton train:
Eas'd of her load subjection grows more light,
And poverty looks chearful in thy fight:
Thou mak'ft the 'gloomy face of nature gay,
Giv'ft beauty to the fun, and pleasure to the day †.

So in a copy of verfes inferted in the Spectator, COLIN, a fhepherd, is introduced as faying upon the abfence of his beloved PHEbe,

*Lucem redde tuæ, dux bone, patriæ.
Inftar veris enim vultus ubi tuus
Adfulfit populos, gratior it dies,
Et foles melius nitent.

When

HORAT. Carmin. lib. iv. od.

5. ver. 5. + ADDISON'S Mifcellaneous Works, vol. i. page 53. Octavo

edition.

When walking with PHEBE, what fights have I seen ?
How fair was the flower, how fresh was the green?
What a lovely appearance the trees and the fhade,
The corn-fields and hedges, and ev'ry thing made?
But now fhe has left me, tho' all are ftill there,
They none of them now fo delightful appear:
'Twas nought but the magic, I find, of her eyes,
Made fo many beautiful prospects arise.
Sweet mufic went with us both all the wood through,
The lark, linnet, throftle, and nightingale too; i
Winds over us whifper'd, flocks by us did bleat,
And chirp went the grafhopper under our feet.
But now she is abfent, tho' ftill they fing on,
The woods are but lonely, the melody's gone;
Her voice in the concert, as now I have found,
Gave every thing else its agreeable found *.

(3) When we perfonify inanimate and insensible beings we may give weight and grandeur to our fubject. Let a person think with himself, whether this is not the cafe when MILTON tells us, that nature fighed, and the fky wept fome fad drops upon our first parents eating the forbidden fruit; and let him alfo consider, whether when the Prophet HABAKKUK fays †, that at the prefence of Deity, the deep uttered his voice, and

$5

lifted up his hands on high," there is not an amazing vigour and fublimity in the Profopopeia. "The former part, fays an ingenious Writer, "of the defcription, where the Poet makes the "mountains fensible of the approach, and trem"ble at the prefence of JEHOVAH, is truly fublime,

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*Spectator, vol. viii. N° 603.

+ Hab. ii. 10.

«lime, as these effects give us an high idea of "the majefty and power of the Almighty; but "the latter part of it, where he gives voice and "action to the great deep, is remarkably grand;

and indeed is one of the moft ftriking and daring perfonifications to be met with, either in the facred or profane writings. It is by "fixing upon fuch great and uncommon cir "cumftances, that an

the fublimity of hishal Author discovers

genius; circumftances "that, at the fame time that they fhew the immensity of his conceptions, raife our admiration and aftonishment to the higheft de"gree

*""

5. We fhall conclude our consideration of the Profopopeia with what is obferved concerning either its general nature, or fome particular kinds of it by feveral Writers. TIBERIUS RHETOR, fpeaking of DEMOSTHENES, fays, "The Orator "every where mingles a reprefentation of man"ners, and the induction of a perfon, when he

brings in another as fpeaking. Thus, when "his purpose was to reprove the inactivity of his 66 countrymen, he speaks not in his own perfon, 66 but introduces the Greeks: If therefore the "Greeks fhould fend to you, and fhould fay, "Now, O ye Athenians, difpatch Ambaffadors

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to us, and let us know from them, how PHILIP "is plotting against us, and against all Greece. So again, in his fpeech against LEPTINES:

"Suppofe

• Effay on Genius, page 161.

66

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Suppose LEUCO should send to us, and should expoftulate with you for what crime, for what. “ fault you have deprived him of his immuniσε ties. By this induftion of perfons fpeaking, "the Orator gives an amazing strength to his "difcourfes *."

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“ There is no Figure perhaps, fays Dr WARD, "which ferves more or better purpose to an “ Orator than the Profopopeia : for by this means “ he is enabled to call in all nature to his affift"ance, and can afsign to every thing fuch parts σε as he thinks convenient. There is fcarce any thing fit to be faid, but may be introduced “ this way. When he thinks his own character "not of fufficient weight to affect his audience "in the manner he desires, he fubftitutes a per"fon of greater authority than himself to engage their attention: when he has fevere things to fay, and which may give offence, as coming 6 from himfelf, he avoids this by putting them 6 into the mouth of fome other perfon, from σε whom

66

ω

* ΜιΓνυσι δε πανταχε την τε ηθοποιίαν και την τά πρόσωπε υποβολην, όταν ετερω προσωπο περιβαλη λογον βελομεν παρεπιτιμησαι τοις αναΓκαιοις ως εις ραθυμίαν, εκ αφ' εαυτ ειπεν, αλλα τοις Έλλησι περιέθηκε τον λογον, Αν ουν οι Ελληνες μεμψωσι τραυμας και λεγωσαι, πεμπέλε, ω Αθηναίοι, προ μας εκας ολε πρεσβεις, και λεγετε ως επιβελευει Φιλιππς ημίν, και πασι τοις Έλλησι, και τα εξης. Και παλιν εν τω προ · Λεπίνην, Αν δε πεμψας ως ημάς Λεύκων εξωία τι έχοντες εΓκαλε σαι, και τι μεμφόμενοι την ατέλειαν αυτον αφαιρείσθε. Εν γαρ τελω τω λόγω λιαν ιχυροτερον τον τρόπον εκ το πρόσωπο των λεγονίων πεποίηκεν. TIBERIUS RHETOR de Schematibus DEMOSTHENIS, p. 187.

Κ

"whom they will be better taken; or makes in"animate nature bring a charge, or exprefs a "refentment to render it the more affecting: "and by the fame method, he sometimes chooses "to fecure himself from a fufpicion of flattery, "in carrying a compliment too high*."

"The Profopopeia, fays Mr BLACKWALL, ani"mates all nature; gratifies the curiosity of "mankind with a conftant feries and fuccefsion "of wonders; raises and creates new worlds and "ranks of rational creatures, to be monuments "of the Poet's wit, to espouse his caufe, and speak his pafsion. To difcern how much "force and fprightliness this Figure gives to a "fentence or exprefsion, we need but first set "down that line,

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"Aut conjurato defcendens Dacus ab Istro †

The Danube against Rome conjur'd pours down
The Dacians

"and then alter it thus,

"Aut conjuratus defcendens Dacus ab Iftro The Danube pours the Dacians down conjur'd Against our country

"and fo make a comparison. In the plain way, "it is not above the humble stile of PHÆDRUS; in the figurative, it rifes up to the loftinefs and majefty of VIRGIL."

The fame ingenious Writer alfo obferves, that

"there

*WARD's Syftem of Oratory, vol. ii. p. 105.

+ VIRGIL. Georgic. i. ver. 497.