ed this figure, not without warmth and dignity. Their works are exceedingly worthy of being confulted, for inftances of this, and of feveral other ornaments of style. Indeed the vivacity and ardour of the French genius, is more fuited to this bold fpecies of oratory, than to the more correct, but lefs animated genius of the Britih, who, in their profe works, very rarely attempt any of the high figures of eloquence*. So much for perforifica tions or profopopia, in all its different forais.

In the "Oraifons Funebres de M. BoTuet," which I confider as one of the mafter pieces of modern eloquence, apof trophes and addrefles to perfonified objects, frequently occur, and are fupported with much fpirit. Thus, for inftance, in the funeral oration of Mary of Auftria, queen of France, the author addreffes Algiers, in the profpect of the advantage which the arms of Louis XIV, were to gain over it: "Avant lui, la France, prefque fans vaifleaux, tenoit en vain aux deux mers. Maintenant, on les voit couvertes depuis le Levan ju qu'au couchant de nos flottes victorieufes; & la hardiefle Françoile port par tout la terreur avec le nom de Louis. Tu cederas, tu tomberas fous ce vainqueur, Alger! riche des depouilles de la chretienté. Tu difois en ton cœur avare, je tiens fe mer fous mes loix, et les nations font ma proie. La legereté de tes vaifleaux te donnoit de la confiance. Mais tu te verras attaqué dans tes murailles, comme un oifeau raviflant qu'on iroit chercher parmi fes rochers, & dans fon nid, où il partage fon butin a fes petits. Tu rends deja tes efclaves. Louis a brifé les fers, dont tu accablois fes fujets," &c. In another paffage of the fame oration, he thus apoftrophizes the ifle of plea fants, which had been rendered famous by being the fcene of thofe conferences, in which the treaty of the Pyrenees between France and Spain, and the marriage of this princefs with the king of France, were concluded. "Ifle pacifique, où fe doivent terminer les differends de deux grands empires a qui tu fers de limites: ifle eternellement memorable par les conferences de deux grands minifters.-Augufte journée ou deux fieres nations, long tems ennemis, et alors reconciliés par Marie Therefe, s'avancent fur leur confins, leur rois a leur tete, non plus pour fe combattre, mais pour s'einbrafler.-Fetes facrées, mariage fortuné, voile nuptial, benediction, facrifice, puis-je meler aujourdhui vos ceremonies, et vos pompes, avec ces pompes funebres, et le comble des grandeurs avec leur roines!" In the funeral oration of l'en. rietta, queen of England (which is, perhaps, the nobleft of all

Apoftrophe is a figure fo much of the fame kind, that it will not require many words. It is an address to a real perfon, but one who is either abfent or dead, as if he were prefent, and listening to us. It is fo much allied to an addrefs to inanimate objects perfonified, that both these figures are fometimes called apoftrophes. However, the proper apof trophe is in boldnefs one degree lower than the addrefs to perfonified objects; for it certainly requires a leis effort of imagination to suppose perfons prefent who are dead or abfent, than to animate infenfible beings, and direct our difcourfe to them. Both figures are subject to the fame rule of being prompted by paffion, in order to render them natural; for both are the language of paffion or ftrong emotions only. Among the poets, apoftrophe is frequent; as in Virgil:

-Pereunt Hypanifque Damafque

Confixi a fociis'; nec te, tua plurima, Pantheu,
Labentem pietas, nec Apollinis infula texit* !

The poems of Offian are full of the most beau tiful inftances of this figure: "Weep on the rocks "of roaring winds, O maid of Inistore; bend thy "fair head over the waves, thou fairer than the "ghost of the hills, when it moves in a funbeam

at noon over the filence of Morven ! he is "fallen! thy youth is low; pale beneath the

his compofitions), after recounting all fhe had done to fupport her unfortunate husband,, he concludes with this beautiful apostrophe: "O mere! O femme! O reine admirable, et digne d'une meilleure fortune, fi les fortunes de la terre etoient quelque chofe! Enfin il faut ceder a votre fort. Vous avez affez foutenu l'etat, qui eft attaqué par une force invincible et divine. Il ne refte plus deformais, fi non que vous teniez ferme parmi fes ruines."

Nor Pantheus! thee, thy mitre, nor the bands
Of awful Phoebus fav'd from impious hands.

DRYDEN.

..

"fword of Cuchullin+ !" Quintilian affords us a very fine example in profe; when, in the beginning of his fixth book, deploring the untimely death of his fon, which had happened during the courfe of the work, he makes a very moving and tender apoftrophe to him. Nam quo ille animo, CC qua medicorum admiratione, menfium octo va"letudinem tulit! ut me in fupremis confolatus "eft! quam etiam jam deficiens, jamque non nofter, ipfum illum alienatæ mentis errorem circa folas literas habuit! Tuofne ergo---O meæ "fpes inanes!---labentes oculos, tuum fugientem fpiritum vidi? tuum corpus frigidum, exangue, "complexus, animam recipere, auramque com

munem haurire amplius potui? Tene, confulari "nuper adoptione ad omnium fpes honorum pa"tris admotum-te, avunculo prætori generum "deftinatum-te, omnium fpe Attica eloquentiæ "candidatum, parens fuperftes tantum ad pœnas "amifi* !" In this paffage, Quintilian fhows the true genius of an orator, as much as he does "elfewhere that of the critic.

For fuch bold figures of difcourfe, as ftrong

Fingal, B. I.

*With what fpirit, and how much to the admiration of the phyficians did he bear, throughout eight months, his lin gering diftrefs? With what tender attention did he study, even in the laft extremity, to comfort me? And, when no longer himself, how affecting was it to behold the difordered efforts of his wandering mind, wholly employed on fubjects of literature? Ah! my frustrated and fallen hopes! have i then beheld your clofing eyes, and heard the last groan iffue from your lips? After having embraced your cold and breathlefs body, how was it in my power to draw the vital air, or continue to drag a miferable life? When I had just beheld you raifed by confular adoption to the profpect of all your father's honours-destined to be fon-in-law to your uncle the prætor-pointed out by general expectation as the fuccessful candidate for the prize of Attic eloquence, in this moment of your opening honours, muft I lofe you forever, and remain an unhappy parent, furviving only to fuffer woe?"

perfonifications, addreffes to perfonified objects, and apostrophes, the glowing imagination of the ancient Oriental nations was particularly fitted. Hence, in the facred fcriptures, we find fome very remarkable inftances: "O thou fword of the "Lord! how long will it be ere thou be quiet? 66 put thy felf up into thy fcabbard; reft, and be "ftill! How can it be quiet, feeing the Lord hath

given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against "the fea-fhore! there hath he appointed it*." There is one paffage, in particular, which I must not omit to mention, because it contains a greater affemblage of fublime ideas, of bold and daring figures, than is perhaps any where to be met with. It is in the fourteenth chapter of Ifaiah, where the prophet thus describes the fall of the Affyrian empire: "thou fhalt take up this proverb against the "king of Babylon, and fay, how haft the oppreffor "ceafed! the golden city ceafed the Lord hath "broken the ftaff of the wicked, and the fceptre "of the rulers. He who fmote the people in wrath "with a continual ftroke-he that ruled the na"tions in anger, is perfecuted, and none hindereth. "The whole earth is at reft, and is quiet: they "break forth into finging. Yea the fir-trees re"joice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, fay"ing, fince thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. Hell from beneath is moved for

thee, to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of "the earth it hath raised up from their thrones' "all the kings of the nations. All they fhall speak, "and fay unto thee, art thou alfo become weak (( as we art thou become like unto us? thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the "noife of thy viols: the worm is spread under

Jer. xlvii. 6, 7.

"thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou "fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, fon of the "morning! how art thou cut down to the grourd, "which didft weaken the nations! for thou hait "faid in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven ; I "will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I "will fit alfo upon the mount of the congrega❝tion, in the fides of the north. I will afcend "above the heights of the clouds; I will be like "the most high. Yet thou fhalt be brought down. 66 to hell, to the fides of the pit. They that fee re thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and confider

thee, faying, is this the man that made the earth "to tremble, that did shake kingdoms? that made "the world as a wildernefs, and deftroyed the "cities thereof? that opened not the houfe of his "prifoners all the kings of the nations, even all 66 of them lie in glory, every one in his own house. "But thou art caft out of thy grave, like an abo"minable branch and as the raiment of thofe "that are flain, thruft through with a fword, that

go down to the ftones of the pit, as a carcafe "trodden under feet." This whole paffage is full of fublimity. Every object is animated; a variety of perfonages are introduced: we hear the Jews, the fir-trees, and cedars of Lebanon, the ghosts of departed kings, the king of Babylon himself, and those who look upon his body, all fpeaking in their order, and acting their different parts without confufion.