2. Litotes (or Extenuation) is employed when we do not express so much as we mean, and which therefore forms a kind of synecdoche.

Thus, instead of saying, "I accept your kind offer," we say, "I do not reject your kindness;" or instead of saying, "I greatly blame you," we say, "I cannot commend you for that;" or instead of saying, "I have very disagreeable news to communicate," we say, "I fear that the news I have to communicate will not be very agreeable;" or instead of saying, "I disapprove of your conduct," we say, "I do not approve of it."

3. Communication uses the pronoun we or us instead of I and me, thus assuming the reader or hearer as partners with us in what is said. This figure, putting many for one, is a sort of synecdoche.

It is often a sign of the writer's modesty, and of respect for his readers. If a minister reproves his hearers for their sins, it indicates humility to say, "We must not be guilty," &c., instead of saying, "You," &c.; but if he is condemning a crime of which he cannot be supposed to be guilty, his politeness should not carry him so far as to make him speak of himself as an associate in their wickedness.

LESSON CIX.

THE CLIMAX, OR GRADATION.

While the purpose or effect of hyperbole is to exalt our conceptions of a subject beyond the truth, the design and effect of the Climax are to make the most impressive representation of the truth, by arranging the clauses or circumstances in an ascending series, each rising in importance above the preceding. Thus:

"The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,

Yea, all that it inherits, shall dissolve."

Adam, on first seeing Eve, gratefully exclaims:

"Thy perfect gift, so good,

So fit, so acceptable, so divine."

Of the marriage union, he says: "One flesh, one neart, one soul."

Tragedies furnish many examples:

"Can you raise the dead?

Pursue and overtake the wings of time!
And bring about again the hours, the days,
The years that made me happy?"

"They have given thee back

To earth, to light and life, to love and me." "I'll catch it ere it goes, and grasp her shade; 'Tis life, 'tis warm, 'tis she, 'tis she herself."

The "Pleasures of the Imagination" (Book I., 151-212), and Addison's "Spectator," No. 215, in relation to events in the West Indies, are fine specimens of the climax.

Mackenzie, a distinguished Scottish advocate, in addressing a jury upon the case of a young woman accused of the crime of infanticide, thus admirably uses the climax :

"Gentlemen, if one man had any how slain another, if an adversary had killed his opposer, or a woman had occasioned the death of her enemy, the criminal would have been capitally punished by the Cornelian law; but if this guiltless infant, who could make no enemy, had been murdered by his own nurse, what punishment would the mother have demanded! with what cries and exclamations would she have stunned your ears! What shall we say, then, when a woman, guilty of homicide-a mother, of the murder of her innocent child-has comprised all these misdeeds in one single crime? a crime in its own nature detestable; in a woman, prodigious; in a mother, incredible; and perpetrated against one whose age called for compassion, whose near relation claimed affection, and whose innocence deserved the highest favor."

The Anti-climax-a figure suited to burlesque writing or speaking, and adapted to depreciate or disparage an object-is the converse of the climax, placing first the most forcible expressions or clauses, instead of last.

Lord Bacon, Pope thus characterizes :

"The greatest, wisest, meanest of mankind."

LESSON CX.

THE ANTITHESIS, OR CONTRAST.

In this figure, objects and sentiments are placed in contrast and opposition to others of the same kind, so as to produce the stronger impression.

Thus Cicero: "On one side stands modesty, on the other impudence; on one fidelity, on the other deceit; here piety, there sacrilege; here continency, there lust," &c.

Again, in the defence of Milo, he employs this figure most eloquently:

"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 unfavorable place, at an unseasonable time, and at the risk of capital condemnation ?"

The same rule must here be observed as in good comparisons resulting from contrast; they must take place between things of the same species. Substantives must be set in opposition to substantives, attributes, qualities, or faculties of the same kind, to attributes, qualities and faculties.

EXAMPLES.-Speaking of the Thames, a writer says:

"Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull;
Strong, without rage; without o'erflowing, full."

Sometimes Antithesis brings together two contrasted truths: as, "Flattery brings friends; Truth brings foes."

Sometimes (as in Paradiastole) only part of a word is opposed to a part of another word; as, "Virtue may be overshadowed, but not overwhelmed;" forewarned, forearmed.

as,

When Antithesis is used in definition, it is called Antimetabole; "A Poem is a speaking picture; a picture is a mute Poem." Sometimes one case of a noun stands against another case; as "foot to foot; hand to hand."

Sometimes it opposes words having the same derivation; as, "I write friendly of friendship to a friend."

Sometimes a Proper Name is first used as the name of a person, and then to denote the qualities of that person; as, always be George."

'George will Sometimes a Common Noun also is used in the same way; as, "Home is home."

Sometimes (as in Antanaclasis) a word having one sense, is opposed to the same word having another sense; as, "Learn some craft when young, that you may do without craft when old."

There is still another form of Antithesis, where words similar in sound but unlike in sense are opposed; this is the Paronomasia, or Pun, and is only to be used in familiar and ludicrous writings: as,

"These men, for the gilt (i. e. the golden bribes) of France-oh! guilt indeed (i. e. oh, wickedness indeed)-have formed a conspiracy with fearful France." We give another example, also from Shakespeare:

Chief Justice. "Well! the truth is, Sir John, you live in great infamy." Falstaff. "He that buckles him in my belt cannot live in less. Chief Justice. "Your means are very slender, and your waste great." Falstaff. "I would it were otherwise: I would my means were greater, and my waist slenderer."

The frequent use of antithesis, especially when the opposition of the words is nice and quaint, becomes tiresome. Single sentences, however, may afford pleasure; such as the following from Seneca: "If you seek to make one rich, 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; it according to the standard of opinion, you will never be rich.”

A maxim, or moral saying, is properly presented in the antithetic form, because, being designed to be engraven on the memory, the contrasted expressions are adapted to such a design; e. g., “The wise shall inherit glory; but shame shall be the portion of fools,"" """A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger." The Proverbs of Solomon, and other portions of the Bible, abound in fine Antitheses, and antithetic forms of expression. Of the latter, we have instances in the ninety-fourth.alm:

"He that planted the ear, shall he not hear; he that formed the eye, shall he not see?"

Dr. Young was too fond of antitheses. Large passages like the following are often met with in his writings:

"The peasant complains aloud; the courtier in secret repines. In want, what distress? in affluence, what satiety? The great are under as much difficulty to expend with pleasure, as the mean to labor with success. The ignorant, through ill-grounded hope, are disappointed; the knowing, through knowledge, despond. Ignorance occasions mistake; mistake, disappointment; and disappointment is misery. Knowledge, on the other hand, gives true judgment; and true judgment of human things, gives a demonstration of their insufficiency to our peace."-There is too much glitter in such a style as this, to please long. We are fatigued, by attending to such quaint and artificial sentences often repeated.

There is another sort of Antithesis, the beauty of which consists in surprising us by the unexpected contrast of things which it brings together. Much wit may be shown in this; but it belongs wholly to pieces of professed wit and humor, and can find no place in grave compositions.

Mr. Pope, who is remarkably fond of antithesis, is often happy in this use of the figure. So, in his Rape of the Lock:

"Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law,

Or some frail china jar receive a flaw;
Or stain her honor, or her new brocade;
Forget her prayers, or miss a masquerade;

Or lose her heart, or necklace at a ball,

Or whether heaven has doom'd that shock must fall."

What is called the point of an epigrain, consists, for the most part, in some antithesis of this kind; surprising us with the smart and unexpected turn which it gives the thought; and in the fewer words it is brought out, it is always the happier.