Personification or Prosopopoeia, is that figure by which we attribute life and action to inanimate objects. The use of this figure is very natural and extensive there is a wonderful proneness in human nature, under emotion, to animate all objects. When we say, "the ground thirsts for rain," or, "the earth smiles with plenty ;" when we speak of "ambition's being restless," or, a disease's being deceitful;" such expressions show the facility with which the mind can accommodate the properties of living creatures to things that are inanimate, or to abstract conceptions of its own forming. The following are striking examples from the Scriptures: "When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Judah from a people of strange language; the sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back! The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. What ailed thee, O thou sea! that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob."

"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."

Milton thus describes the immediate effects of eating the forbidden fruit. Terror produces the figure.

Earth trembled from her entrails, as again

In pangs, and nature gave a second groan;
Sky low'r'd, and, mutt'ring thunder, some sad drops
Wept, at completing of the mortal sin.

The impatience of Adam to know his origin, is supposed to prompt the personification of all the objects he beheld, in order to procure information.

Thou sun, said I, fair light!

And thou enlighten'd earth, so fresh and gay!
Ye hills and dales, ye rivers, woods, and plains,
And ye that live and move, fair creatures, tell,
Tell, if you saw, how came I thus, how here?

We shall give a remarkably fine example of this figure, from bishop Sherlock. He has beautifully personified Natural Religion and we may perceive, in the personifi

cation, the spirit and grace which the figure, when well conducted, bestows on discourse. The author is comparing together our Saviour and Mahomet. "Go (says he) to your Natural Religion: lay before her Mahomet, and his disciples, arrayed in armour and blood, riding in triimph over the spoils of thousands who fell by his victorious sword. Show her the cities which he set in flames, the countries which he ravaged and destroyed, and the miserable distress of all the inhabitants of the earth. When she has viewed him in this scene, carry her into nis retirement; show her the Prophet's chamber; nis concubines and his wives; and let her hear him allege revelation, and a Divine command, to justify his adultery and lust."

"When she is tired with this prospect, then show her the blessed Jesus, humble and meek, doing good to all the sons of men. Let her see him in his most retired privacies; let her follow him to the mount, and hear his devotions and supplications to God. Carry her to his table, to view his poor fare; and hear his heavenly discourse. Let her attend him to the tribunal, and consider the patience with which he endured the scoffs and reproaches of his enemies. Lead her to his cross; let her view him in the agony of death, and hear his last prayer for his persecutors; Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.'-When Natural Religion has thus viewed both, ask her, which is the Prophet of God? But her answer we have already had, when she saw part of this scene, through the eyes of the Centurion, who attended at the cross. By him she spoke, and said, Truly this man was the Son of God.' This is more than elegant; it is truly sublime. The whole passage is animated; and the Figure rises at the conclusion, when Natural Religion, who, before, was only a spectator, is introduced as speaking by the Centurion's voice.

This figure of speech is sometimes very improperly and extravagantly applied. A capital error in personifying objects, is, to deck them with fantastic and trifling circumstances. A practice of this sort dissolves the potent charm, which enchants and deceives the reader; and either leaves him dissatisfied, or excites, perhaps, his risi bility.

Another error, frequent in descriptive personifications, consists in introducing them, when the subject of discussion is destitute of dignity, and the reader is not prepared to relish them. One can scarcely peruse, with compo sure, the following use of this figure. It is the language of our elegant poet Thomson, who thus personifies and connects the bodily appetites, and their gratifications.

Then sated Hunger bids his brother Thirst
Produce the mighty bowl:

Nor wanting is the brown October, drawn
Mature and perfect, from his dark retreat
Of thirty years: and now his honest front
Flames in the light refulgent.

It is to be remarked, concerning this figure, and short metaphors and similes, which also have been allowed to be the proper language of high passion, that they are the proper expression of it, only on those occasions when it is so far moderated as to admit of words. The first and highest transports seem to overwhelm the mind, and are denoted by silence or groans: next succeeds the violent and passionate language, of which these figures constitute Cach avitation however, cannot ing con a great part. 'tinue; the passions having spent their force, the mind soon subsides into that exhausted and dispirited state, in which all figures are improper.

Apostrophe is a turning off from the regular course of the subject, to address some person or thing; as, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory ?"

The following is an instance of personification and apostrophe united: "O thou sword of the Lord! how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put thyself up into thy scabbard, rest and be still! How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Askelon, and against the sea-shore? there hath he appointed it." See also an extraordinary example of these figures, in the 14th chapter of Isaiah, from the 4th to the 19th verse, where the prophet describes the fall of the Assyrian empire.

A principal error, in the use of the Apostrophe, is, to deck the object addressed with affected ornaments; by which authors relinquish the expression of passion, and substitute for it the language of fancy.

Another frequent error is, to extend this figure to too great length. The language of violent passion is always concise, and often abrupt. It passes suddenly from one object to another. It often glances at a thought, starts from it, and leaves it unfinished. The succession of ideas is irregular, and connected by distant and uncommon relations. On all these accounts, nothing is more unnatural than long speeches, uttered by persons under the influence of strong passions. Yet this error occurs in several poets of distinguished reputation.

The next figure in order, is Antithesis. Comparison is founded on the resemblance; antithesis, on the contrast or opposition of two objects. Contrast has always the effect, to make each of the contrasted objects appear in the stronger light. White, for instance, never appears so bright as when it is opposed to black; and when both are viewed together. An author, in his defence of a friend against the charge of murder, expresses himself thus: "Can you believe that the person whom he scrupled to slay, when he might have done so with full justice, in a convenient place, at a proper time, with secure impunity; he made no scruple to murder against justice, in an unfavourable place, at an unseasonable time, and at the risk of capital condemnation ?"

The following examples further illustrate this figure. Tho' deep, yet clear; tho' gentle, yet not dull; Strong, without rage; without o'erflowing, full. "If you wish to enrich a person, study not to increase his stores, but to diminish his desires."

"If you regulate your desires according to the standard of nature, you will never be poor; if according to the standard of opinion, you will never be rich."

A maxim, or moral saying, very properly receives the form of the two last examples; both because it is supposed to be the fruit of meditation, and because it is designed to be engraven on the memory, which recalls it more easily by the help of such contrasted expressions. But where such sentences frequently succeed each other; where this becomes an author's favourite and prevailing manner of expressing himself, his style appears too much studied and laboured; it gives us the impression of an author attending more to his manner of saying things. than to the things themselves.

The following is a beautiful example of Antithesis. "If Cato may be censured, severely indeed, but justly, for abandoning the cause of liberty, which he would not, however, survive; what shall we say of those, who embrace it faintly, pursue it irresolutely, grow tired of it when they have much to hope, and give it up when they have nothing to fear?"-The capital antithesis of this sentence, is instituted between the zeal of Cato for liberty, and the indifference of some others of her patrons. But, besides the leading antithesis, there are two subordinate ones, in the latter member: "Grow tired of it, when they have much to hope: and give it up, when they have nothing to fear."

The eloquent Burke has exhibited a fine instance of this figure, in his eulogium of the philanthropic Howard. "He has visited all Europe,-not to survey the sumptuousness of palaces, or the stateliness of temples; not to make accurate measurements of the remains of ancient grandeur, nor to form a scale of the curiosity of modern arts; nor to collect medals, or collate manuscripts :-but to dive into the depths of dungeons; to plunge into the infection of hospitals; to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain; to take the gage and dimensions of misery, depression, and contempt; to remember the forgotten, to attend to the neglected, to visit the forsaken, and compare and collate the distresses of all men, in all countries."

The next figure concerning which we are to treat is called Hyperbole or Exaggeration. It consists in magnifying an object beyond its natural bounds. In all languages, even in common conversation, hyberbolical expressions very frequently occur as swift as the wind; as white as the snow; and the like; and the common forms of compliment, are almost all of them extravagant hyperboles. If any thing be remarkably good or great in its kind, we are instantly ready to add to it some exaggerating epithet, and to make it the greatest or best we ever saw. The imagination has always a tendency to gratify itself, by magnifying its present object, and carrying it to excess. More or less of this hyperbolical turn will prevail in language, according to the liveliness of imagination among the people who speak it. Hence young people deal much in hyperboles. Hence the lan