XVI.

LECT. ftate as difpofes it to rise and swell along with the hyperbolical expreffion, he is always hurt and offended by it. For a fort of disagreeable force is put upon him; he is required to ftrain and exert his fancy, when he feels no inclination to make any fuch effort. Hence the Hyperbole is a Figure of difficult management; and ought neither to be frequently ufed, nor long dwelt upon. On fome occafions, it is undoubtedly proper; being, as was before obferved, the natural ftyle of a sprightly and heated imagination; but when Hyperboles are unfeasonable, or too frequent, they render a compofition frigid and unaffecting. They are the refource of an author of feeble imagination; of one, defcribing objects which either want native dignity in themselves; or whose dignity he cannot fhow by describing them fimply, and in their just proportions, and is therefore obliged to rest upon tumid and exaggerated expreffions.

HYPERBOLES are of two kinds; either fuch as are employed in defcription, or fuch as are fuggested by the warmth of paffion. The beft by far, are thofe which are the effect of paffion for if the imagination has a tendency to magnify its objects beyond their natural proportion, paffion poffeffes this tendency in a vastly stronger degree; and therefore not only excufes the most daring Figures, but very often

5

All LECT.

often renders them natural and juft.
paffions, without exception, love, terror,
amazement, indignation, anger, and even
grief, throw the mind into confusion, aggra-
vate their objects, and of course prompt a
hyperbolical ftyle. Hence the following fen-
timents of Satan in Milton, as ftrongly as
they are described, contain nothing but what
is natural and proper; exhibiting the picture
of a mind agitated with rage and despair:

Me, miferable! which way fhall I flie
Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?
Which way I flie is Hell, myself am Hell;
And in the loweft depth, a lower deep
Still threat'ning to devour me, opens wide,
To which the Hell I fuffer feems a Heaven.
B. iv. 1. 73.

IN fimple defcription, though Hyperboles. are not excluded, yet they must be used with more caution, and require more preparation, in order to make the mind relish them. Either the object described must be of that kind, which of itself feizes the fancy ftrongly, and difpofes it to run beyond bounds; fomething vaft, furprising, and new; or the writer's art must be exerted in heating the fancy gradually, and preparing it to think highly of the object which he intends to exaggerate. When a Poet is defcribing an earthquake or a storm, or when he has brought us into the midst of a battle, we can bear ftrong Hyberboles withDd 2

out

XVI.

LECT.

XVI.

out displeasure. But when he is defcribing only a woman in grief, it is impoffible not to be difgufted with fuch wild exaggeration as the following, in one of our dramatic Poets:

-I found her on the floor

In all the storm of grief, yet beautiful;
Pouring forth tears at such a lavish rate,
That were the world on fire, they might have drown'd
The wrath of Heaven, and quench'd the mighty ruin.
LEE.

THIS is mere bombaft. The perfon herself who was under the distracting agitations of grief, might be permitted to hyperbolize ftrongly; but the fpectator defcribing her, cannot be allowed an equal liberty for this plain reason, that the one is fuppofed to utter the fentiments of paffion, the other speaks only the language of description, which is always, according to the dictates of nature, on a lower tone: a diftinction, which, however obvious, has not been attended to by many writers.

How far a Hyperbole, fuppofing it properly introduced, may be fafely carried without overstretching it; what is the proper measure and boundary of this Figure, cannot, as far as I know, be ascertained by any precife rule. Good fenfe and juft tafte muft determine the point, beyond which, if we pafs, we become extravagant.

XVI.

extravagant. Lucan may be pointed out as LECT.
an author apt to be exceffive in his Hyper-
boles. Among the compliments paid by the
Roman Poets to their Emperors, it had be-
come fashionable to ask them, what part of
the heavens they would chufe for their habita-
tion, after they should have become Gods?
Virgil had already carried this fufficiently far
in his address to Auguftus:

-Tibi brachia contrahit ingens
Scorpius, & Cœli jufta plus parte relinquit *.
GEOR. L

But this did not fuffice Lucan. Refolved to
outdo all his predeceffors, in a like address
to Nero, he very gravely befeeches him not
to chufe his place near either of the poles,
but to be sure to occupy just the middle of
the heavens, left, by going either to one fide
or other, his weight fhould overfet the uni-
verse :

Sed neque in Arctoo fedem tibi legeris orbe
Nec polus adverfi calidus qua mergitur auftri;
Ætheris immenfi partem fi prefferis unam
Sentiet axis onus. Librati pondera Cœli
Orbe tene medio †.-

PHARS. I. 53

Such

*The Scorpion ready to receive thy laws,
"Yields half his region, and contracts his paws."

But, oh! whatever be thy Godhead great,
Fix not in regions too remote thy feat;

D d 3

Nor

XVI.

LECT. Such thoughts as thefe, are what the French call outrés, and always proceed from a falfe fire of genius. The Spanish and African writers, as Tertullian, Cyprian, Augustin, are remarked for being fond of them. As in that epitaph on Charles V. by a Spanish writer:

Pro tumulo ponas orbem, pro tegmine cœlum,
Sidera pro facibus, pro lacrymis maria.

Sometimes they dazzle and impose by their
boldness; but wherever reafon and good fenfe
are fo much violated, there can be no true
beauty. Epigrammatic writers are frequently
guilty in this refpect; refting the whole merit
of their epigrams on fome extravagant hyper-
bolical turn; fuch as the following of Dr.
Pitcairn's, upon Holland's being gained from
the ocean:

Tellurem fecere Dii; fua littora Belgæ;
Immenfæque molis opus utrumque fuit;
Dii vacuo fparfas glomerârunt æthere terras,
Nil ibi quod operi poffit obeffe fuit.
At Belgis, maria & cœli naturaque rerum
Obftitit; obftantes hi domuêre Deos.

Nor deign thou near the frozen Bear to shine,
Nor where the fultry fouthern ftars decline.
Prefs not too much on any part the sphere,
Hard were the task thy weight divine to bear;
Soon would the axis feel the unufual load,
And, groaning, bend beneath th' incumbent God;
O'er the mid orb more equal fhalt thou rife,
And with a jufter balance fix the fkies.

Rowe.

So