that momentary conviction. A writer, taking advantage of this natural delusion, warms his description greatly by the hyperbole: and the reader, even in his coolest moments, relishes the figure, being sensible that it is the operation of nature upon a glowing fancy. It cannot have escaped observation, that a writer is commonly more successful in magnifying by a hyperbole than in diminishing. The reason is, that a minute object contracts the mind, and fetters its power of imagination; but that the mind, dilated and inflamed with a grand object, moulds objects for its gratification with great facility. Longinus, with respect to diminishing hyperbole, quotes the following ludicrous thought from a comic poet: "He was owner of a bit of "ground no larger than a Lacedemonian letter."* But, for the reason now given, the hyperbole has by far the greater force in magnifying objects; of which take the following examples: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Genesis, xiii. 15, 16. Illa vel intactæ segetis per summa volaret Eneid. vii. 808. * Chap. 31. of his Treatise on the Sublime. Atque imo barathri ter gurgite vastos Sorbet in abruptum fluctus, rursusque sub auras Erigit alternos, et sidera verberat undâ. Eneid. iii. 421. Horificis juxta tonat Ætna ruinis, Interdumque atram prorumpit ad æthera nubem, Eneid. iii. 571. Speaking of Polyphemus: Ipse arduus, altaque pulsat Sidera. Eneid. iii. 619. When he speaks, The air, a charter'd libertine, is still. Henry V. Act 1. Sc. 1. Now shield with shield, with helmet helmet clos'd, The following may also pass, though far stretched: E conjungendo à temerario ardire Gierusalem, cant. vi. st. 46. Quintilian* is sensible that this figure is natural : For," says he, "not contented with truth, we naturally incline to augment or diminish beyond it; "and for that reason the hyperbole is familiar even ❝ among the vulgar and illiterate" and he adds, very justly, "That the hyperbole is then proper, "when the subject of itself exceeds the common 66 measure." From these premises, one would not expect the following inference, the only reason he can find for justifying this figure of speech," Con"ceditur enim amplius dicere, quia dici quantum "est non potest: meliusque ultra quam citra stat "oratio." (We are indulged to say more than enough, because we cannot say enough; and it is better to be above than under.) In the name of wonder, why this childish reasoning, after observing that the hyperbole is founded on human nature? I could not resist this personal stroke of criticism ; intended not against our author, for no human creature is exempt from error, but against the blind veneration that is paid to the ancient classic writers, without distinguishing their blemishes from their beauties. Having examined the nature of this figure, and the principle on which it is erected, I proceed, as in the first section, to the rules by which it ought to be governed. And, in the first place, it is a capital fault to introduce an hyperbole in the description of any thing ordinary or familiar; for in such a case it is altogether unnatural, being destitute *L. 8. cap. 6. in fin. of surprise, its only foundation. Take the following instance, where the subject is extremely familiar, viz. swimming to gain the shore after a shipwreck : I saw him beat the surges under him, And ride upon their backs; he trode the water; The surge most swoln that met him: his bold head To th' shore, that o'er his wave-borne basis bow'd, Tempest, Act II. Sc. 1. In the next place, it may be gathered from what is said, that an hyperbole can never suit the tone of any dispiriting passion: sorrow in particular will never prompt such a figure; for which reason the following hyperboles must be condemned as unnatural: K. Richard. Aumerle, thou weep'st, my tender-hearted cousin! We'll make foul weather with despised tears: Our sighs and they shall lodge the summer corn, Richard II. Act III. Sc. 3. Draw them to Tyber's bank, and weep your tears Into the channel, till the lowest stream Do kiss the most exalted shores of all. Julius Cæsar, Act I. Sc. 1. Thirdly, A writer, if he wish to succeed, ought always to have the reader in his eye: he ought in particular never to venture a bold thought or expression, till the reader be warmed and prepared. For that reason, an hyperbole in the beginning of a work can never be in its place. Example: Jam pauca aratro jugera regiæ Moles relinquent. Horat. Carm. l. 1. ode 15. The nicest point of all, is to ascertain the natural limits of an hyperbole, beyond which being overstrained it hath a bad effect. Longinus, in the above cited chapter, with great propriety of thought, enters a caveat against an hyperbole of this kind: he compares it to a bow-string, which relaxes by overstraining, and produceth an effect directly opposite to what is intended. To ascertain any precise boundary, would be difficult, if not impracticable. Mine shall be an humbler task, which is, to give a specimen of what I reckon overstrained hyperbole; and I shall be brief upon them, because examples are to be found everywhere: no fault is more common among writers of inferior rank; and instances are found even among classical writers; witness the following hyperbole, too bold even for an Hotspur. Hotspur talking of Mortimer : In single opposition hand to hand, He did confound the best part of an hour In changing hardiment with great Glendower. Three times they breath'd, and three times did they drink, Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood, Who then affrighted with their bloody looks, |