"As the eagle stirreth

up

her nest;

"Fluttereth over her young;

Expandeth her plumes, taketh them; "Beareth them upon her wings 33."

The same is observable also in that most elegant comparison of Job, which I formerly commended; and which, for this reason, Τ shall now quote entire by way of conclusion :

66

My brethren have dealt deceitfully like a "torrent,

"As the torrents of the valleys they are passed

away;

"Which are congealed 34 by means of the frost, "The snow hideth itself in their surface;

"As soon as they flow, they are dried up,

"When it is hot they are consumed from their place;

"The paths of their channels are diminished, They ascend in vapour, and are lost.

33 DEUT. Xxxii. 11.

34 Or, as Dr. Durell proposes, which STAND STILL; as though the original had been ", instead of p.-For this elegant emendation the learned Doctor is indebted to Father Houbigant, but he forgot to mention its author: Mr. Heath, however, had a better memory.

S. H.

"Look

"Look for them, ye troops of Tema;

"Ye travellers of Sheba, expect them earnestly. They made no haste; because they depended

"on them;

They came thither, then were they confound❝ed 35"

35 JOB, vi. 15-20.

"In the fifth line the word 127 ❝is one of those which only once occur in the Scripture. "In the Arabic and Chaldee, the proper force of the "verb is to flow, to flow off, or to overflow: thus the 66 sense will be, In the time in which they flow, or flow "off; that is, are dissolved by the melting of the ice." H. In the 20th verse it appears one should read the SYR. and CHALD.

Author's Note.

2, with

LECTURE XIII.

OF THE PROSOPOPOEIA, OR PERSONIFICATION.

Two kinds of Personification: when a character is assigned to fictitious or inanimate objects; and when a probable speech is attributed to a real person-Offictitious and inanimate characters; of real charactersThe Prosopopaia of the mother of Sisera (in the song of Deborah) explained: also the triumphal song of the Israelites concerning the death of the king of Babylon (in Isaiah), which consists altogether of this figure, and exhibits it in all its different forms.

THE last in order of those figures which I proposed to treat of, as being most adapted to the parabolic style, is the Prosopopœia, or Personification'. Of this figure there are

two

The passions of resentment and love have been very accurately traced by some late writers on the human mind, into the senses of pain and pleasure; the one arising from the habitual inclination to remove what is hurtful; the other from that of possessing what is a source of grateful sensations, and a mean of increasing pleasure. (See HARTLEY on Man, and a Dissertation prefixed to KING's Origin of Evil.) The strong expression of these passions is, however, chiefly directed to rational, or at least to animated beings; but this is the effect of reason and habit. The

passions

two kinds : one, when action and character are attributed to fictitious, irrational, or even inanimate objects; the other, when a probable but fictitious speech is assigned to a real character. The former evidently partakes of the nature of the Metaphor, and is by far the boldest and most daring of that class of figurés. Seasonably introduced, therefore, it has uncommon force and expression; and in no hands whatever is more successful in this respect than in those of the Hebrew writers: I may add also, that

passions are still the same, and will frequently display themselves in opposition to reason. A child turns to beat the ground, or the stone, that has hurt him (see Lord KAIMS' Elements of Criticism); and most men feel some degree of affection even for the old inanimate companions of their happiness, From these dispositions originates the figure which is the great and distinguishing ornament of poetry, the Prosopopoeia. This figure is nearly allied to the Metaphor, and still more to the Metonymy; it is to the latter, what the Allegory is to the Metaphor. Thus when we say Youth and beauty shall be laid in the ❝dust," for persons possessing youth and beauty, it is hard to determine whether it be a Metonymy or a Prosopopoeia. Lyric poetry, in which the imagination seems to have the fullest indulgence, and which abounds with strong figures, is most favourable to Personification, T.

66

none

none more frequently or more freely introduce it.

In the first place, then, with respect to fictitious characters, the Hebrews have this in common with other poets, that they frequently assign character and action to an abstract or general idea, and introduce it in a manner acting, and even speaking as upon the stage. In this, while they equal the most refined writers in elegance and grace, they greatly excel the most sublime in force and majesty. What, indeed, can be conceived apter, more beautiful, or more sublime, than that personification of Wisdom, which Solomon so frequently introduces ?

There is a very animated personification of this kind in one of Dr. Ogden's sermons, though by some it may perhaps be thought too bold for that species of composition. "Truth," says that elegant and sublime writer, "is indeed of an awful presence, and must not be af"fronted with the rudeness of direct opposition; yet will "she sometimes condescend to pass for a moment unre"garded, while your respects are paid to her sister Cha"rity." That of Bishop Sherlock, which our Author has quoted in his admirable Introduction to English Grammar-" Go to your Natural Religion, lay before her "Mahomet and his disciples," &c. is well known, and is one of the finest examples of this figure I have ever

seen.

T.

exhibiting