in the following quotation from Demosthenes:-Men,' says he, 'profligates, miscreants, and flatterers, who having severally preyed upon the bowels of their country, at length betrayed her liberty, first to Philip, and now again to Alexander: who, placing the chief felicity of life in the indulgence of infamous lusts and appetites, overturned in the dust that freedom and independence which was the chief aim and end of all our worthy ancestors.' Aristotle and Theophrastus seem to think it is rather too bold and hazardous to use metaphors so freely, without interposing some mitigating phrase, such as, if I may be allowed the expression,' or some equivalent excuse. At the same time Longinus finds fault with Plato for hazarding some metaphors, which, indeed, appear to be equally affected and extravagant, when he says, 'the government of a state should not resemble a bowl of hot fermenting wine, but a cool and moderate beverage chastised by the sober deity,' -a metaphor that signifies nothing more than 'mixed or lowered with water.' Demetrius Phalereus justly observes, that though a judicious use of metaphors wonderfully raises, sublimes, and adorns oratory or elocution, yet they should seem to flow naturally from the subject; and too great a redundancy of them inflates the discourse to a mere rhapsody. The same observation will hold in poetry; and the more liberal or sparing use of them will depend in a great measure, on the nature of the subject. Passion itself is very figurative, and often bursts out into metaphors; but, in touching the pathos, the poet must be perfectly well acquainted with the emotions of the human soul, and carefully distinguish between those metaphors which rise glowing from the heart, and those cold conceits which are engendered in the fancy. Should one of these last unfortunately intervene, it will be apt to destroy the whole effect of the most pathetical incident or situation. Indeed, it requires the most delicate taste, and a consummate knowledge of propriety, to employ metaphors in such a manner as to avoid what the ancients call the rò expó, the frigid or false sublime. Instances of this kind were frequent even among the correct ancients. Sappho herself is blamed for using the hyperbole svxorépoi xióvos, whiter than snow. Demetrius is so nice as to be disgusted at the simile of swift as the wind; though, in speaking of a race-horse, we know from experience that this is not even an hyperbole. He would have had more reason to censure that kind of metaphor which Aristotle styles κατ' ἐνέργειαν, exhibiting things inanimate as endued with sense and reason; such as that of the sharp-pointed arrow, eager to take wing among the crowd: ὁ ξυβελὴς καθ ̓ ὅμιλον ἐπιπτέσθαι μενεαίνων. Not but that, in descriptive poetry, this figure is often allowed and admired. The cruel sword, the ruthlessdagger, the russian blast. are had the least reason to wish for death; but every motive which may be supposed to influence the mind of a young prince concurred to render life desirable,-revenge towards the usurper, love for the fair Ophelia, and the ambition of reigning. Besides, when he had an opportunity of dying without being accessary to his own death-when he had nothing to do but, in obedience to his uncle's command, to allow himself to be conveyed quietly to England, where he was sure of suffering death,—instead of amusing himself with meditations on mortality, he very wisely consulted the means of self-preservation, turned the tables upon his attendants, and returned to Denmark. But granting him to have been reduced to the lowest state of despondence, surrounded with nothing but horror and despair, sick of this life, and eager to tempt futurity, we shall see how far he argues like a philosopher. In order to support this general charge against an author so universally held in veneration, whose very errors have helped to sanctify his character among the multitude, we will descend to particulars, and analyse this famous soliloquy. Hamlet having assumed the disguise of madness as a cloak under which he might the more effectually revenge his father's death upon the murderer and usurper, appears alone upon the stage, in a pensive and melancholy attitude, and communes with himself in these words: To be, or not to be? that is the question:- We have already observed, that there is not any apparent cir cumstance in the fate or situation of Hamlet, that should prompt him to harbour one thought of self-murder; and therefore these expressions of despair imply an impropriety in point of character. But supposing his condition was truly desperate, and he saw no possibility of repose but in the uncertain harbour of death, let us see in what manner he argues on that subject. The question is, To be, or not to be;' to die by my own hand, or live and suffer the miseries of life. He proceeds to explain the alternative in these terms: whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer, or endure, the frowns of fortune, or to take arms, and, by opposing, end them.' Here he deviates from his first proposition, and death is no longer the question. The only doubt is, whether he will stoop to misfor tune, or exert his faculties in order to surmount it. This surely is the obvious meaning, and indeed the only meaning that can be implied in these words |