Metalepsis, or Transumptiō, when by a certaine number of degrees we go beyond that wee intend in troth, and haue meaning to speake of, as to saie: Accursed soile that bred my cause of woe, when we might as well crie out on the parties selfe that hath don the wo, & not to go so far off as to the soile that bred him, or as Penelope bewaling her husbandes ouerlong absence from her, exclaimed in her Epistle to Vlysses, on Paris that had raped Helena, wishing that he and all his fleet had perished, ere the rape had bin committed, intending that by that rape, the Grecians were drawn to the warres, and so the siege for tenne yeares space continued, and ten yeeres after that, her husband forced by many landes and seas to haue wandered. Of the originall cause whereof her iust complaint was deriued.
Tropes of sentences, are
ALlegoria, a kinde of inuerting or change of sence, as when we shew one thing in wordes & signifie another in meaning, a Trope most vsuall amongst vs euen in our common speaking, as when we saie, Bow the With while it is greene, meaning to correct children whilest they bee yong: or, There is no fire without smoake: meaning that there is no ill conceipt without occasion: or, I smell a Rat, that is, I know your meaning, for other applications you haue the same diuerslie quoted in our Epistles to bee seene in their margents.
Ænigma, a darke sentence, or as we ordinarilie say, a riddle, rather vsed in high and déepe mysteries, otherwise conueied sometime in pleasant fancies, then accustomed in other writings.
Parœmia, called amongst vs an Adage or common saying, as thus: Who so toucheth pitch shall bee defiled therewith: It earlie pricketh that wil be a thorn: many hands make light worke, &c.
Ironia, a scoffe or flout, as when wee saie, Alas good man, or to one that hath set debate or contention, you haue spun a faire thred: or to him that hath made a long speach to no purpose, you haue brought forth a mighty mole-hil, or to a lewd person, you are an honest man.
Sarcasmus, a bitter bob as wee saie, or enuious derision, as of one arraigned for fellonie, to twit him, that hee had like to haue knockt his head against the gallowes, or of one suffering for treason to saie, that it made him hop headlesse.
Asteismus, a smooth, as we call it, as when one tels a thing repugnant to the present matter or companie, to saie, I had as lieue he told me it snew, when neither the time of the yeare, or present weather admitteth it snowe. Or when one misseth of a number, to bid him take a sticke and tell it, or telling a lie, to bid him take the haire from his lips.
Antiphrasis, when a word scornefullie deliuered, is vnderstoode by his contrarie, as of a dwarfe, to saie in iest, what a gyant haue we here, or of him that telleth a matter ordinarie for strange, to saie, what a wonder telleth he, or to say, the man hath a sharpe wit, when we intend he hath a verie blunt capacitie, or of a blacke Moore woman, to saie, Will ye see a faire pigion.
Charientismus, as when we scoffe a man in his threatning mood to say, O good words, I pray you, or kill vs not at the first dash, or, Bite not my nose off I pray you, and such like.