Throw death upon thy fovereign's enemies. Shall faulter under foul rebellious arms. Richard II. at 3. Sc. 2. Among the ancients, it was customary after a long voyage to falute the natal foil. A long voyage, was of old a greater enter-. prife than at prefent: the fafe return to one's country after much fatigue and danger, was a circumstance extremely delightful; and it was natural to give the natal foil a temporary life, in order to fympathise with the traveller. See an example, Agamemnon of Æfchilus, act 3. in the beginning. Regret for leaving a place one has been accustomed to, has the fame effect*. Terror produceth the fame effect. A man, to gratify this paffion, extends it to every thing around, even to things inani mate: Speaking of Polyphemus, Clamorem immenfum tollit, quo pontus et omnes Philoctetes of Sophocles, at the close. Intremuere Intremuere undæ penitufque exterrita tellus Italiæ. Eneid. iii, 672. As when old Ocean roars, And heaves huge furges to the trembling fhores. Iliad ii. 249. And thund'ring footsteps bake the founding fhore, Iliad ii. 549. Then with a voice that book the vaulted skies. Iliad v. 431. Racine, in the tragedy of Phedra, defcribing the sea-monfter that deftroy'd Hippolitus, conceives the sea itself to be infpired with terror as well as the fpectators; or more accurately transfers from the spectators their terror to the fea, with which they were connected : Le flot qui l''apporta recule epouvanté. A man alfo naturally communicates his joy to all objects around, animate or inani mate: As when to them who fail Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past Mozambic, Mozambic, off at fea north-east winds blow Sabean odour from the spicy fhore Of Araby the Bleft; with fuch delay Well pleas'd, they flack their course, and many a league Chear'd with the grateful smell old Ocean smiles. Paradife Loft, b. 4. I have been profufe of examples, to show what power many paffions have to animate their objects. In all the foregoing examples, the perfonification, if I mistake not, is fo complete as to be derived from an actual conviction, momentary indeed, of life and intelligence. But it is evident from numberless instances, that perfonification is not always fo complete. Perfonification is a common figure in descriptive poetry, understood to be the language of the writer, and not of any of his perfonages in a fit of paffion. In this cafe, it feldom or never comes up to a conviction, even momentary, of life and intelligence. I give the following examples. First in bis east the glorious lamp was feen, Invested Invested with bright rays; jocund to run His longitude through heav'n's high road: the gray Dawn, and the Pleiades before him danc'd, Shedding fweet influence. Lefs bright the moon His mirror, with full face borrowing her light Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day * Romeo and Juliet, act 3. fc. 7. But look, the morn, in ruffet mantle clad, It may, I prefume, be taken for granted, * The chastity of the English language, which in common. ufage distinguishes by genders no words but what fignify beings male and female, gives thus a fine opportunity for the profopopoeia; a beauty unknown in other languages, where every word is masculine or feminine. day, day, the morn, are here understood to be fenfible beings. What then is the nature of this perfonification? Upon confidering the matter attentively, I discover that this fpecies of perfonification must be referred to the imagination. The inanimate object is imagined to be a fenfible being, but without any conviction, even for a moment, that it really is fo. Ideas or fictions of imagination have power to raise emotions in the mind *; and when any thing inanimate is, in imagination, fuppofed to be a fenfible being, it makes by that means a greater figure than when an idea is formed of it according to truth. The elevation however in this case, is far from being fo great as when the perfonification arises to an actual conviction; and therefore must be confidered as of a lower or inferior fort. perfonification is of two kinds. The first or nobler, may be termed paffionate perfonification: the other, or more humble, defcriptive perfonification; because feldom or Thus *See appendix, containing definitions and explanation of terms. |