"rous is not discovered immediately at the be ginning of his Poem in its fulleft fplendor: "it grows in the progrefs both upon himself and others, and becomes on fire, like a cha "riot-wheel, by its own rapidity. Exact difpo "sition, juft thought, correct elocution, po «lifhed numbers, may have been found in a << thousand, but this poetical fire, this vivida vis "animi, in a very few. Even in works where all thofe are imperfect or neglected, this can "overpower Criticism, and make us admire, even while we difapprove. Nay, where this appears, though attended with abfurdities, it brightens all the rubbish about it, till we fee "nothing but its own fplendor. This fire is difcerned in VIRGIL, but difcerned as through "a glass reflected from HOMER, more fhining than fierce, but every where equal and con"ftant. In LUCAN and STATIUS, it burfts our «in fudden, short, and interrupted flafhes. In MILTON it glows like a furnace, kept up to "an uncommon ardor by the force of art. In "SHAKESPEAR it ftrikes before we are aware, like an accidental fire from heaven: but in "HOMER, and in him only, it burns every where "clearly, and every where irresistibly +." $6. I fhall conclude with two pafsages; one from the Prince of at least the Roman Órators, and the other from the Prince of Critics. Every topic, fays CICERO, is often transiently touched Preface to HOMER, p. 3. Octavo edition. "touched upon in pleading, that the Orator's art may be concealed. In proving our point, "we collect approved examples, and range them "in an artificial form: but afterwards in plead ing, this art is to be disguised by the skill of "the Orator, that it may not break out, and, "be difcovered by all his audience *.” LonGINUS tells us, that a too frequent and elabo"rate ufe of Figures draws upon us the suspi"cion of fhare, design, and deceit, especially "when we are pleading before a Judge, from whofe fentence there lies no appeal; as Ty"rants, Monarchs, and perfons invefted with fupreme power. Such a Judge kindles into rage at once, if, like a foolish boy, he finds "himself played with by the Figures of the art"ful Rhetorician.---A Figure is then in its per"fection, when it is not difcerned to be a Fi“gure †.” In dicendo leviter unufquifque locus plerumque tangitur, ne ars appareat. In præcipiendo exprefsè confcripta ponere oportet exempla, ut in artis formam convenire poffint; & poft in dicendo, ne poffit ars eminere, & ab omnibus videri, facultate oratoris occultatur. CICER. ad HERENNIUM, lib. iv. § 7. ταυθα ** Υποπλού εσιν ιδίως το δια χημάτων πανέργεια, και προσο βάλλον υπονοιαν ένεδρας, επιβέλης, παραλογισμό και ταυ όταν η πρώ κριτην κυριον ο λόγΘ, (μαλιςα δε προς τυραννες, Βασιλέας, ηγεμόνας εν υπεροχαίς) αγανακτει γὰρ εὐθὺς, ει, ως τρεις άφρων, υπο τεχνιτα ῥητορα χηματίοις κατασοφίζεται κατά Διοπερ και τοτε αρισον δοκει το σχημα, όταν αυτο τοτο διαλαι. Davn, 081 grua 854. LONGIN, de Sublimitate, § 17. § 1. The definition of an Ecphonefis. § 2. InStances of this Figure from MILTON, OVID, CICERO, and SOPHOCLES. $ 3. Upon what occafions the Ecphonefis is used in Scripture, with examples. § 4. Remarks, and directions as to the Ecphonefis. * SI. AN Ecphonefis is a Figure, that by an exclamation fhews fome ftrong and vehement passion. It is exprefsed by fuch Interjections, as, O! Ob! Ab! Alas! and the like, which may be called the signs of this Figure. $2. Inftances of this Figure might be given in great variety: the following may fuffice, EVE, being made acquainted that she must leave paradife, fays, O unexpected ftroke! worse than of death +. From ExQwvew, I cry out. + MILTON's Paradise Loft, book xi. line 266. In In like manner PENELOPE, in OVID's Epiftles, says to her husband ULYSSES; O had th' adult'rer, when he fought the shore, CICERO furnishes us with an example of this Figure, when he concludes the narrative he had given of the punishment of a Roman citizen: "O delightful name of liberty! O glorious pri 66 vilege of Rome! O thou Portian, and ye Sem"pronian laws! O thou tribunitial power, fo "ardently desired by the Roman people, and at "laft reftored to them +." We have a very lively inftance of this Figure in the Oedipus Tyrannus of SOPHOCLES; where that unfortunate Prince, overwhelmed with his calamities, is introduced as faying, 8 Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Alas! Alas! I am undone : Where am I, miferable wretch? Where is my voice scatter'd that now fails me? O Fortune, whither art thou filed? O this cloud of night, Deteftable, oppreffive, Horrible, O utinam tum cum Lacedæmona claffe petebat, OVID. Epift. i. ver. 5, 6. + O nomen dulce libertatis! O jus eximium noftræ civita. tis! Olex Portia, legefque Sempronia! O graviter defiderata, & aliquando reddita plebi Romanæ tribunitia poteftas! In VERREM, Orat. x. § 63. K Horrible, hopeless, and malignant! Wo is me, and wo is me again *. L And the fame Figure, and to a like purpose, is made use of by our famous MILTON, in the speech he ascribes to SAMSON, at once blind, and in the power of his enemies: Olofs of fight! of thee I moft complain; Blind among enemies: O! worfe than chains, Light, the prime work of GOD, to me is extinct, Annulf'd, which might in part my grief have cas'd. Of man or worm; the vileft here exéel me. In pow'r of others, never in my own; Irrecoverably dark, total eclipfe, Without all hope of day!-t 崇 Ai, al, al, al. Φευ, φευ, δυσανα εγω που γας [Φερομαι τλάμων; τα μοι φθογία Διαπεταλαι φοράδην ; Ω δαίμον, κ' εξηλα; Και δυσερισον οι μοι, Οι μοι μάλ' αύθις SOPHOCL. Oedip. Tyran. ver. 1330. + Samfon Agonifles, line 67. |