Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

"Do not overlook this transgression of your laws: for "if such transgressors were punished, this man would " not now have acted as he hath done; nor will ano"ther do so afterwards, if he should be condemned "on this occasion *." The argument is the same, though much less forcibly, and even less naturally expressed. But if the enthymeme is often cast into the form of antithesis, we may say of the dilemma, a species of argument in like manner frequent with orators, that it is hardly susceptible of another form, as in that given by Cicero: " If he is a bad man, why do you as"sociate with him? if he is a good man, why do you accuse him ." Nor are these the only sorts of argument that may be used in this manner. There is hardly any which may not in some cases derive both light and energy from this figure. What can be more cogently urged, or better adapted for silencing contradiction, than the answer which Balaam gave Balak, who used various expedients to induce him to turn the blessing he had pronounced on Israel into a curse. Yet the prophet's reply runs wholly in antitheses. "God is not a man, that he should lie; . . neither the son of

66

66

De inventione, lib. i. As the antithesis in the words is more perfect, and the expression more simple in the Latin, than it is possible to render them in a translation into any modern tongue; so the argument itself appears more forcible. "Si improbus est, cur "uteris; sin probus cur accusas ?

[ocr errors]

* Περί Ερμ. ΛΑ. Μη επιτρεπείε τοις τα παρανμα γράφεσιν ει γαρ ε λύοντο, εκ αν νιν ὗτος ταυία εγραψεν εδ' έτερος επί γραψει, τετε νυν αλωντας,

[ocr errors]

man,

Of vivacity as depending on the arrangement of the words.

"shall he not do it?

that he should repent. Hath he said || and .or hath he spoken, || and "shall he not make it good* ?" In the same antithetic form the psalmist disposeth his argument in support of the Divine knowledge. "He that plant

"ed the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed "the eye, || shall he not see?" He argues from the effect to the cause, the only way in which we can argue intelligibly concerning the Divine attributes. But it would not be easy, I imagine, to give, in so few words, either a more perspicuous or a more persuasive turn to the reasoning. It is not then every kind of antithesis that either savours of artifice, or is unsuited to persuasion.

ONE thing to which it seems agreed on all sides that this figure is particularly adapted, is, the drawing of characters. You hardly now meet with a character, either in prose or in verse, that is not wholly delineaed in antitheses. This usage is perhaps excessive. Yet the fitness of the manner can scarce be questioned, when one considers that the contrasted features in this moral painting serve to ascertain the direction and boundaries of one another with greater precision than could otherwise be accomplished. It is too nice a matter, without the aid of this artifice, for even the most copious and expressive language. For a specimen in this way take these lines of Pope,

Numb. xxiii. 19.

+ Psalm xciv. 9.

[blocks in formation]

Should such a man, too fond to rule alone,
Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne,
View him with scornful yet with jealous eyes,
And hate for arts that caused himself to rise;
Damn with faint praise, || assent with civil leer,
And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer;
Willing to wound, || and yet—afraid to strike,
Just hint a fault, || and-hesitate dislike;
Alike reserv'd to blame, or to commend,
A tim'rous foe, and-a suspicious friend;
||
Dreading ev'n fools, || by flatterers besieged,
And so obliging, || that he ne'er obliged *.

With what a masterly hand are the colours in this picture blended; and how admirably do the different traits thus opposed, serve, as it were, to touch up and shade one another! I would not be understood by this to signify my opinion of its likeness to the original. I should be sorry to think that it deserves this praise. The poet had received, or fancied he had received, great provocation. And perfect impartiality in one under the influence of resentment, is more than can be expected from human nature. I only speak of the character here exhibited, as one who, speaking of a portrait, without knowing the person for whom it was drawn, says, it is well painted, and that there is both life and expression in the countenance.

If there be any style of composition which excludes antithesis altogether, (for I am not positive that there

Prologue to the Satires.

Of vivacity as depending on the arrangement of the words.

is,) it is the pathetic. But the true reason which hath induced some critics immoderately to decry this figure is, that some authors are disposed immoderately to employ it. One extreme naturally drives those who perceive the error to the opposite extreme. It rarely leaves them, even though persons of good sense and critical discernment, precisely where they were before. Such is the repulsive power of jarring tastes. Nay, there is a kind of mode, which, in these as well as in other matters, often influences our censures without our knowing it. It is this which sometimes leads us to condemn as critics, what as authors we ourselves practise. Witness the following reproach from the author just now quoted :

I see a chief who leads my chosen sons,

All arm'd with points, antitheses, and puns †.

On the other hand, it is certain, that the moré agreeable the apposite and temperate use of this figure is, the more offensive is the abuse, or, which is nearly the same, the immoderate use of it. When used moderately, the appearance of art, which it might otherwise have, is veiled, partly by the energy of the expression, which doth not permit the hearer at first to attend critically to the composition, and partly by the simplicity, or at least the more artless structure, both of the preceding sentences and of the following. But if a discourse run in a continued string of antithesis, it

+ Dunciad.

[blocks in formation]

is impossible the hearer should not become sensible of this particularity. The art is in that case quite naked. Then indeed the frequency of the figure renders it insipid, the sameness tiresome, and the artifice unsufferable.

THE only original qualities of style which are excluded from no part of a performance, nay, which ought, on the contrary, to pervade the whole, are purity and perspicuity. The others are suited merely to particular subjects and occasions. And if this be true of the qualities themselves, it must certainly be true of the tropes and figures which are subservient to these qualities. In the art of cookery, those spiceries which give the highest relish must be used the most sparingly. Who then could endure a dish, wherein these were the only ingredients? There is no trope or figure that is not capable of a good effect. I do not except those which are reckoned of the lowest value, alliteration, paronomasia, or even pun. But then the effect depends entirely on the circumstances. If these are not properly adjusted, it is always different from what it was intended to be, and often the reverse.

THE antithesis in particular gives a kind of lustré and emphasis to the expression. It is the conviction of this that hath rendered some writers intemperate in the use of it. But the excess itself is an evidence of its value. There is no risk of intemperance in using a liquor which has neither spirit nor flavour. On the

« PreviousContinue »