BOOK II. 66 proper upon every occasion: a man, when "cool and sedate, is not disposed to poeti"cal flights, nor to sacrifice truth and reality to the delusive operations of the imagination: far less is he so disposed, when oppressed with care, or interested in some important transaction that occupies him totally. On the other hand, it is obser"vable, that a man, when elevated or ani"mated by any passion, is disposed to ele"vate and animate all his objects: he avoids "familiar terms, exalts objects by circum"locution and metaphor, and gives even "life and voluntary action to inanimate beings. In this warmth of mind, the high"est poetical flights are indulged, and the "boldest similes and metaphors relished. "But without soaring so high, the mind is པ frequently in a tone to relish chaste and "moderate ornament; such as comparisons "that set the principal object in a strong point of view, or that embellish and di"versify the narration. In general, when "by any animating passion, whether plea 66 sant or painful, an impulse is given to the imagination, we are in that condition dis"posed to every sort of figurative expres 1 ❝sion, and in particular to comparisons. "Love, for example, in its infancy, rousing “the imagination, prompts the heart to display itself in figurative language and in "similes: "Troilus. "love, Tell me, Apollo, for thy Daphne's "What Cressid is, what Pandar, and what we? "The dread of a misfortune, however imminent, involving always some doubt "and uncertainty, agitates the mind, and "excites the imagination : "I've touch'd the highest point of all my greatness; "And from that full meridian of my glory, "I haste now to my setting. I shall fall, "Like a bright exhalation in the evening, "And no man see me more. 66 Henry VIII. Act . Sc. 4. CHAP. BOOK II. "But it will be a better illustration of "the present head, to give examples where "comparisons are improperly introduced. "I have already had occasion to observe, "that similes are not the language of a man in his ordinary state of mind, dispatching his daily and usual work: for "that reason, the following speech of a gar"dener to his servants is extremely impro66 per: 66 "Go, bind thou up yon dangling apricots "Which, like unruly children, make their sire "That look too lofty in our commonwealth : "Richard II. Act . Sc. 7. • The author's observation is perfectly just as a general proposition, and the illustration, if applied to it as such, is sufficiently happy: but the poet is not censurable here on the score of impropriety. He meant to shew, that in the period represented in this drama, such was the state of the times, that the miserable disorders of the realm were the universal theme of conversation, and engrossed the attention of the IV. "The fertility of Shakespeare's vein be- CHAP. trays him frequently into this error. "There is the same impropriety in another "simile of his : "Hero. "lour: Good Margret run thee into the par "There shalt thou find my cousin Beatrice : Whisper her ear, and tell her, I and Ursula "Walk in the Orchard, and our whole discourse "Is all of her say that thou overheard'st us; the lowest of the people. The Queen, on seeing the gar dener in conversation with his servants, says to her atten dant, And the servant, in reply to the gardener's figurative speech, answers with equal propriety, 66 Why should we, in the compass of a pale, Keep law, and form and due proportion, Showing as in a model our firm state, "When our sea-walled garden, the whole land "" BOOK II. 66 "And bid her steal into the pleached bow'r "Forbid the sun to enter; like to favourites "Made proud by princes, that advance their pride "Rooted grief, deep anguish, terror, remorse, despair, and all the severe, dis piriting passions, are declared enemies, "perhaps not to figurative language in ge"neral, but undoubtedly to the pomp and "solemnity of comparison.-Nothing appears more out of place, nor more awk"wardly introduced than the following si"mile: "Lucia. Farewell, my Portius, "Farewell, though death is in the word, For-ever ! "Portius. Stay, Lucia, stay; what dost thou say, "for-ever! "Lucia. Have I not sworn? If Portius thy suc 66 cess "Must throw thy brother on his fate, farewell, “Oh, how shall I repeat the word, For-ever ! "Portius. Thus, o'er the dying lamp, the un "steady flame "Hangs quiv'ring on a point, leaps off by fits, "And falls again, as loth to quit its hold. |