EXPLANATIONS.
I. A Simile is a simple and express comparison; and is generally introduced by like, as, or so: as, "Such a passion is like falling in love with a sparrow flying over your head; you have but one glimpse of her, and she is out of sight."—Colliers Antoninus. "Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away; as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney."—Hosea, xiii.
"At first, like thunder's distant tone,
The rattling din came rolling on."—Hogg.
"Man, like the generous vine, supported lives;
The strength he gains, is from th' embrace he gives."—Pope.
OBS.—Comparisons are sometimes made in a manner sufficiently intelligible, without any express term to point them out. In the following passage, we have a triple example of what seems the Simile, without the usual sign—without like, as, or so: "Away with all tampering with such a question! Away with all trifling with the man in fetters! Give a hungry man a stone, and tell what beautiful houses are made of it;—give ice to a freezing man, and tell him of its good properties in hot weather;—throw a drowning man a dollar, as a mark of your good will;—but do not mock the bondman in his misery, by giving him a Bible when he cannot read it."—FREDERICK DOUGLASS: Liberty Bell, 1848.
II. A Metaphor is a figure that expresses or suggests the resemblance of two objects by applying either the name, or some attribute, adjunct, or action, of the one, directly to the other; as,
1. "The LORD is my rock, and my fortress."—Psal., xviii 1.
2. "His eye was morning's brightest ray."—Hogg.
3. "An angler in the tides of fame."—Id., Q. W.
4. "Beside him sleeps the warrior's bow."—Langhorne.
5. "Wild fancies in his moody brain Gambol'd unbridled and unbound."—Hogg, Q. W.
6. "Speechless, and fix'd in all the death of wo."—Thomson.
OBS.—A Metaphor is commonly understoood [sic—KTH] to be only the tropical use of some single word, or short phrase; but there seem to be occasional instances of one sentence, or action, being used metaphorically to represent an other. The following extract from the London Examiner has several figurative expressions, which perhaps belong to this head: "In the present age, nearly all people are critics, even to the pen, and treat the gravest writers with a sort of taproom familiarity. If they are dissatisfied, they throw a short and spent cigar in the face of the offender; if they are pleased, they lift the candidate off his legs, and send him away with a hearty slap on the shoulder. Some of the shorter, when they are bent to mischief, dip a twig in the gutter, and drag it across our polished boots: on the contrary, when they are inclined to be gentle and generous, they leap boisterously upon our knees, and kiss us with bread-and-butter in their mouths."—WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.
III. An Allegory is a continued narration of fictitious events, designed to represent and illustrate important realities. Thus the Psalmist represents the Jewish nation under the symbol of a vine: "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root; and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars."—Psalms, lxxx, 8-10.
OBS.—The Allegory, agreeably to the foregoing definition of it, includes most of those similitudes which in the Scriptures are called parables; it includes also the better sort of fables. The term allegory is sometimes applied to a true history in which something else is intended, than is contained in the words literally taken. See an instance in Galatians, iv, 24. In the Scriptures, the term fable denotes an idle and groundless story: as, in 1 Timothy, iv, 7; and 2 Peter, i, 16. It is now commonly used in a better sense. "A fable may be defined to be an analogical narrative, intended to convey some moral lesson, in which irrational animals or objects are introduced as speaking."—Philological Museum, Vol. i, p. 280.
IV. A Metonymy is a change of names between things related. It is founded, not on resemblance, but on some such relation as that of cause and effect, of progenitor and posterity, of subject and adjunct, of place and inhabitant, of container and thing contained, or of sign and thing signified: as, (1.) "God is our salvation;" i.e., Saviour. (2.) "Hear, O Israel;" i.e. O ye descendants of Israel. (3.) "He was the sigh of her secret soul;" i.e., the youth she loved. (4.) "They smote the city;" i.e., the citizens. (5.) "My son, give me thy heart;" i.e., affection. (6.) "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah;" i.e., kingly power. (7.) "They have Moses and the prophets;" i.e., their writings. See Luke, xvi, 29.
V. Synecdoche, (that is, Comprehension,) is the naming of a part for the whole, or of the whole for a part; as, (1.) "This roof [i.e., house] protects you." (2.) "Now the year [i.e., summer] is beautiful." (3.) "A sail [i.e., a ship or vessel] passed at a distance." (4.) "Give us this day our daily bread;" i.e., food. (5.) "Because they have taken away my Lord, [i.e., the body of Jesus,] and I know not where they have laid him."—John. (6.) "The same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls;" i.e., persons.—Acts. (7.) "There went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world [i.e., the Roman empire] should be taxed."—Luke, ii, 1.
VI. Hyperbole is extravagant exaggeration, in which the imagination is indulged beyond the sobriety of truth; as, "My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins."—2 Chron., x, 10. "When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil."—Job, xxix, 6.
"The sky shrunk upward with unusual dread,
And trembling Tiber div'd beneath his bed."—Dryden.
VII. Vision, or Imagery, is a figure by which the speaker represents the objects of his imagination, as actually before his eyes, and present to his senses; as,
"I see the dagger-crest of Mar!
I see the Moray's silver star
Wave o'er the cloud of Saxon war,
That up the lake comes winding far!"—Scott, L. L., vi, 15.
VIII. Apostrophe is a turning from the regular course of the subject, into an animated address; as, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death! where is thy sting? O Grave! where is thy victory?"—1 Cor., xv, 55.
IX. Personification is a figure by which, in imagination, we ascribe intelligence and personality to unintelligent beings or abstract qualities; as,
1. "The Worm, aware of his intent, Harangued him thus, right eloquent."—Cowper.
2. "Lo, steel-clad War his gorgeous standard rears!"—Rogers.
3. "Hark! Truth proclaims, thy triumphs cease!"—Idem.
X. Erotesis is a figure in which the speaker adopts the form of interrogation, not to express a doubt, but, in general, confidently to assert the reverse of what is asked; as, "Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?"—Job, xl, 9. "He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?"—Psalms, xciv, 9.
XI. Ecphonesis is a pathetic exclamation, denoting some violent emotion of the mind; as, "O liberty!—O sound once delightful to every Roman ear!—O sacred privilege of Roman citizenship!—once sacred—now trampled upon."—Cicero. "And I said, O that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest."—Psalms, lv, 6.
XII. Antithesis is a placing of things in opposition, to heighten their effect by contrast; as, "I will talk of things heavenly, or things earthly; things moral, or things evangelical; things sacred, or things profane; things past, or things to come; things foreign, or things at home; things more essential, or things circumstantial; provided that all be done to our profit."—Bunyan, P. P., p. 90.
"Contrasted faults through all his manners reign;
Though poor, luxurious; though submissive, vain;
Though grave, yet trifling; zealous, yet untrue;
And e'en in penance, planning sins anew."—Goldsmith.
XIII. Climax is a figure in which the sense is made to advance by successive steps, to rise gradually to what is more and more important and interesting, or to descend to what is more and more minute and particular; as, "And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity."—2 Peter, i, 5.
XIV. Irony is a figure in which the speaker sneeringly utters the direct reverse of what he intends shall be understood; as, "We have, to be sure, great reason to believe the modest man would not ask him for a debt, when he pursues his life."—Cicero. "No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you."—Job, xii, 2. "They must esteem learning very much, when they see its professors used with such little ceremony!"—Goldsmith's Essays, p. 150.
XV. Apophasis, or Paralipsis,[482] is a figure in which the speaker or writer pretends to omit what at the same time he really mentions; as, "I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it; albeit I do not say to thee, how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides."—Philemon, 19.
XVI. Onomatopoeia is the use of a word, phrase, or sentence, the sound of which resembles, or intentionally imitates, the sound of the thing signified or spoken of: as, "Of a knocking at the door, Rat a tat tat."—J. W. GIBBS: in Fowler's Gram., p. 334. "Ding-dong! ding-dong! Merry, merry, go the bells, Ding-dong! ding-dong!"—H. K. White. "Bow'wow n. The loud bark of a dog. Booth."—Worcester's Dict. This is often written separately; as, "Bow wow."—Fowler's Gram., p. 334. The imitation is better with three sounds: "Bow wow wow." The following verses have been said to exhibit this figure:
"But when loud surges lash the sounding shore,
The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar."
—Pope, on Crit., l. 369.
OBS.—The whole number of figures, which I have thought it needful to define and illustrate in this work, is only about thirty. These are the chief of what have sometimes been made a very long and minute catalogue. In the hands of some authors, Rhetoric is scarcely anything else than a detail of figures; the number of which, being made to include almost every possible form of expression, is, according to these authors, not less than two hundred and forty. Of their names, John Holmes gives, in his index, two hundred and fifty-three; and he has not all that might be quoted, though he has more than there are of the forms named, or the figures themselves. To find a learned name for every particular mode of expression, is not necessarily conducive to the right use of language. It is easy to see the inutility of such pedantry; and Butler has made it sufficiently ridiculous by this caricature:
"For all a rhetorician's rules
Teach nothing but to name his tools."—Hudibras, P. i, C. i, l. 90.
SECTION V.—EXAMPLES FOR PARSING.
PRAXIS XIV.—PROSODICAL.
In the Fourteenth Praxis, are exemplified the several Figures of Orthography, of Etymology, of Syntax, and of Rhetoric, which the parser may name and define; and by it the pupil may also be exercised in relation to the principles of Punctuation, Utterance, Analysis, or whatever else of Grammar, the examples contain.
LESSON I.—FIGURES OF ORTHOGRAPHY.
MIMESIS AND ARCHAISM.
"I ax'd you what you had to sell. I am fitting out a wessel for Wenice, loading her with warious keinds of prowisions, and wittualling her for a long woyage; and I want several undred weight of weal, wenison, &c., with plenty of inyons and winegar, for the preserwation of ealth."—Columbian Orator, p. 292.
"God bless you, and lie still quiet (says I) a bit longer, for my shister's afraid of ghosts, and would die on the spot with the fright, was she to see you come to life all on a sudden this way without the least preparation."—Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent, p. 143.
"None [else are] so desperately evill, as they that may bee good and will not: or have beene good and are not."—Rev. John Rogers, 1620. "A Carpenter finds his work as hee left it, but a Minister shall find his sett back. You need preach continually."—Id.
"Here whilom ligg'd th' Esopus of his age,
But call'd by Fame, in soul ypricked deep."—Thomson.
"It was a fountain of Nepenthe rare,
Whence, as Dan Homer sings, huge pleasaunce grew."—Id.
LESSON II.—FIGURES OF ETYMOLOGY.
APHÆRESIS, PROSTHESIS, SYNCOPE, APOCOPE, PARAGOGE, DIÆRESIS, SYNÆRESIS, AND TMESIS.
"Bend 'gainst the steepy hill thy breast,
Burst down like torrent from its crest."—Scott.
"'Tis mine to teach th' inactive hand to reap
Kind nature's bounties, o'er the globe diffus'd."—Dyer.
"Alas! alas! how impotently true
Th' aërial pencil forms the scene anew."—Cawthorne.
"Here a deformed monster joy'd to won,
Which on fell rancour ever was ybent."—Lloyd.
"Withouten trump was proclamation made."—Thomson.
"The gentle knight, who saw their rueful case,
Let fall adown his silver beard some tears.
'Certes,' quoth he, 'it is not e'en in grace,
T' undo the past and eke your broken years."—Id.
"Vain tamp'ring has but foster'd his disease;
'Tis desp'rate, and he sleeps the sleep of death."—Cowper.
"'I have a pain upon my forehead here'—
'Why that's with watching; 'twill away again.'"—Shakspeare.
"I'll to the woods, among the happier brutes;
Come, let's away; hark! the shrill horn resounds."—Smith.
"What prayer and supplication soever be made."—Bible. "By the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you ward."—Ib.
LESSON III.—FIGURES OF SYNTAX.
FIGURE I.—ELLIPSIS.
"And now he faintly kens the bounding fawn,
And [—] villager [—] abroad at early toil."—Beattie.
"The cottage curs at [—] early pilgrim bark."—Id.
"'Tis granted, and no plainer truth appears,
Our most important [—] are our earliest years."—Cowper.
"To earn her aid, with fix'd and anxious eye,
He looks on nature's [—] and on fortune's course."—Akenside.
"For longer in that paradise to dwell,
The law [—] I gave to nature him forbids."—Milton.
"So little mercy shows [—] who needs so much."—Cowper.
"Bliss is the same [—] in subject, as [—] in king;
In [—] who obtain defence, and [—] who defend."—Pope.
"Man made for kings! those optics are but dim
That tell you so—say rather, they [—] for him."—Cowper.
"Man may dismiss compassion from his heart,
But God will never [———-]."—Id.
"Vigour [—] from toil, from trouble patience grows."—Beattie.
"Where now the rill melodious, [—] pure, and cool,
And meads, with life, and mirth, and beauty crown'd?"—Id.
"How dead the vegetable kingdom lies!
How dumb the tuneful [——————]!"—Thomson.
"Self-love and Reason to one end aspire,
Pain [—] their aversion, pleasure [—] their desire;
But greedy that its object would devour,
This [—] taste the honey, and not wound the flower."—Pope.
LESSON IV.—FIGURES OF SYNTAX.
FIGURE II.—PLEONASM.
"According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense."—Isaiah, lix, 18. "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night."—Song of Sol., v, 2. "Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God."—Jer., xxxi, 18. "Consider the lilies of the field how they grow."—Matt., vi, 28. "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."—2 Cor., x, 17.
"He too is witness, noblest of the train That wait on man, the flight-performing horse."—Cowper.
FIGURE III.—SYLLEPSIS.
"'Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas:' which is, by interpretation a stone."—John, i, 42. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, 'Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.'"—Jer., xlix, 35. "Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."—Rom., ix, 33.
"Thus Conscience pleads her cause within the breast,
Though long rebell'd against, not yet suppressed."—Cowper.
"Knowledge is proud that he has learn'd so much;
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more."—Id.
"For those the race of Israel oft forsook Their living strength, and unfrequented left His righteous altar, bowing lowly down To bestial gods."—Milton, Paradise Lost, B. i, l. 432.
LESSON V.—FIGURES OF SYNTAX.
FIGURE IV.—ENALLAGE.
"Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself
Are much condemned to have an itching palm,
To sell and mart your offices for gold."—Shakspeare.
"Come, Philomelus; let us instant go,
O'erturn his bow'rs, and lay his castle low."—Thomson.
"Then palaces shall rise; the joyful son
Shall finish what the short-liv'd sire begun"—Pope.
"Such was that temple built by Solomon,
Than whom none richer reign'd o'er Israel."—Author.
"He spoke: with fatal eagerness we burn,
And quit the shores, undestin'd to return."—Day.
"Still as he pass'd, the nations he sublimes."—Thomson.
"Sometimes, with early morn, he mounted gay."—Id.
"'I've lost a day'—the prince who nobly cried, Had been an emperor without his crown."—Young.
FIGURE V.—HYPERBATON.
"Such resting found the sole of unblest feet."—Milton.
"Yet, though successless, will the toil delight."—Thomson.
"Where, 'midst the changeful scen'ry ever new,
Fancy a thousand wondrous forms descries."—Beattie.
"Yet so much bounty is in God, such grace,
That who advance his glory, not their own,
Them he himself to glory will advance."—Milton.
"No quick reply to dubious questions make;
Suspense and caution still prevent mistake."—Denham.
LESSON VI.—FIGURES OF RHETORIC.
FIGURE I.—SIMILE.
"Human greatness is short and transitory, as the odour of incense in the fire."—Dr. Johnson. "Terrestrial happiness is of short continuance: the brightness of the flame is wasting its fuel, the fragrant flower is passing away in its own odours."—Id. "Thy nod is as the earthquake that shakes the mountains; and thy smile, as the dawn of the vernal day."—Id.
"Plants rais'd with tenderness are seldom strong;
Man's coltish disposition asks the thong;
And, without discipline, the fav'rite child,
Like a neglected forester, runs wild."—Cowper.
"As turns a flock of geese, and, on the green,
Poke out their foolish necks in awkward spleen,
(Ridiculous in rage!) to hiss, not bite,
So war their quills, when sons of dullness write."—Young.
"Who can unpitying see the flowery race,
Shed by the morn, their new-flush'd bloom resign,
Before th' unbating beam? So fade the fair,
When fevers revel through their azure veins."—Thomson.
FIGURE II.—METAPHOR.
"Cathmon, thy name is a pleasant gale."—Ossian. "Rolled into himself he flew, wide on the bosom of winds. The old oak felt his departure, and shook its whistling head."—Id. "Carazan gradually lost the inclination to do good, as he acquired the power; as the hand of time scattered snow upon his head, the freeziny influence [sic—KTH] extended to his bosom."—Hawkesworth. "The sun grew weary of gilding the palaces of Morad; the clouds of sorrow gathered round his head; and the tempest of hatred roared about his dwelling."—Dr. Johnson.
LESSON VII.—FIGURES OF RHETORIC.
FIGURE III.—ALLEGORY.
"But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, 'Son, go work to-day in my vineyard.' He answered and said, 'I will not;' but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, 'I go, sir;' and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, 'The first.'"—Matt., xxi, 28-31.
FIGURE IV.—METONYMY.
"Swifter than a whirlwind, flies the leaden death."—Hervey. "'Be all the dead forgot,' said Foldath's bursting wrath. 'Did not I fail in the field?'"—Ossian.
"Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke."—Gray.
"Firm in his love, resistless in his hate,
His arm is conquest, and his frown is fate."—Day.
"At length the world, renew'd by calm repose,
Was strong for toil; the dappled morn arose."—Parnell.
"What modes of sight betwixt each wide extreme,
The mole's dim curtain and the lynx's beam!
Of hearing, from the life that fills the flood,
To that which warbles through the vernal wood!"—Pope.
FIGURE V.—SYNECDOCHE.
"'Twas then his threshold first receiv'd a guest."—Parnell.
"For yet by swains alone the world he knew,
Whose feet came wand'ring o'er the nightly dew."—Id.
"Flush'd by the spirit of the genial year,
Now from the virgin's cheek a fresher bloom
Shoots, less and less, the live carnation round."—Thomson.
LESSON VIII.—FIGURES OF RHETORIC.
FIGURE VI.—HYPERBOLE.
"I saw their chief, tall as a rock of ice; his spear, the blasted fir; his shield the rising moon; he sat on the shore, like a cloud of mist on the hill."—Ossian.
"At which the universal host up sent
A shout, that tore Hell's concave, and beyond
Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night."—Milton.
"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red!"—Shakspeare.
FIGURE VII.—VISION.
"How mighty is their defence who reverently trust in the arm of God! How powerfully do they contend who fight with lawful weapons! Hark! 'Tis the voice of eloquence, pouring forth the living energies of the soul; pleading, with generous indignation and holy emotion, the cause of injured humanity against lawless might, and reading the awful destiny that awaits the oppressor!—I see the stern countenance of despotism overawed! I see the eye fallen, that kindled the elements of war! I see the brow relaxed, that scowled defiance at hostile thousands! I see the knees tremble, that trod with firmness the embattled field! Fear has entered that heart which ambition had betrayed into violence! The tyrant feels himself a man, and subject to the weakness of humanity!—Behold! and tell me, is that power contemptible which can thus find access to the sternest hearts?"—Author.
FIGURE VIII.—APOSTROPHE.
"Yet still they breathe destruction, still go on,
Inhumanly ingenious to find out
New pains for life, new terrors for the grave;
Artificers of death! Still monarchs dream
Of universal empire growing up
From universal ruin. Blast the design,
Great God of Hosts! nor let thy creatures fall
Unpitied victims at Ambition's shrine."—Porteus.
LESSON IX.—FIGURES OF RHETORIC.
FIGURE IX.—PERSONIFICATION.
"Hail, sacred Polity, by Freedom rear'd!
Hail, sacred Freedom, when by Law restrain'd!
Without you, what were man? A grov'ling herd,
In darkness, wretchedness, and want, enchain'd."—Beattie.
"Let cheerful Mem'ry, from her purest cells,
Lead forth a godly train of Virtues fair,
Cherish'd in early youth, now paying back
With tenfold usury the pious care."—Porteus.
FIGURE X.—EROTESIS.
"He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?"—Psalms, xciv, 10. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil."—Jeremiah, xiii, 23.
FIGURE XI.—ECPHONESIS. "O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! O that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of way-faring men, that I might leave my people, and go from them!"—Jeremiah, ix, 1.
FIGURE XII.—ANTITHESIS.
"On this side, modesty is engaged; on that, impudence: on this, chastity; on that, lewdness: on this, integrity; on that, fraud: on this, piety; on that, profaneness: on this, constancy; on that, fickleness: on this, honour; on that, baseness: on this, moderation; on that, unbridled passion."—Cicero.
"She, from the rending earth, and bursting skies,
Saw gods descend, and fiends infernal rise;
Here fix'd the dreadful, there the blest abodes;
Fear made her devils, and weak hope her gods."—Pope.
LESSON X.—FIGURES OF RHETORIC.
FIGURE XIII.—CLIMAX.
"Virtuous actions are necessarily approved by the awakened conscience; and when they are approved, they are commended to practice; and when they are practised, they become easy; and when they become easy, they afford pleasure; and when they afford pleasure, they are done frequently; and when they are done frequently, they are confirmed by habit: and confirmed habit is a kind of second nature."—Inst., p. 246.
"Weep all of every name: begin the wo,
Ye woods, and tell it to the doleful winds;
And doleful winds, wail to the howling hills;
And howling hills, mourn to the dismal vales;
And dismal vales, sigh to the sorrowing brooks;
And sorrwing brooks, weep to the weeping stream;
And weeping stream, awake the groaning deep;
And let the instrument take up the song,
Responsive to the voice—harmonious wo!"—Pollok, B. vi, l. 115.
FIGURE XIV.—IRONY.
"And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, 'Cry aloud; for he is a god: either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in [on] a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked!' "—1 Kings, xviii, 27.
"After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years; and ye shall know my breach of promise."—Numbers, xiv, 34.
"Some lead a life unblamable and just,
Their own dear virtue their unshaken trust;
They never sin—or if (as all offend)
Some trivial slips their daily walk attend,
The poor are near at hand, the charge is small,
A slight gratuity atones for all."—Cowper.
FIGURE XV.—APOPHASIS, OR PARALIPSIS.
I say nothing of the notorious profligacy of his character; nothing of the reckless extravagance with which he has wasted an ample fortune; nothing of the disgusting intemperance which has sometimes caused him to reel in our streets;—but I aver that he has not been faithful to our interests,—has not exhibited either probity or ability in the important office which he holds.
FIGURE XVI.—ONOMATOPOEIA.
[Fist][The following lines, from Swift's Poems, satirically mimick the imitative music of a violin.]
"Now slowly move your fiddle-stick;
Now, tantan, tantantivi, quick;
Now trembling, shivering, quivering, quaking,
Set hoping hearts of Lovers aching."
"Now sweep, sweep the deep.
See Celia, Celia dies,
While true Lovers' eyes
Weeping sleep, Sleeping weep,
Weeping sleep, Bo-peep, bo-peep."