Onomatopoeia is a coinage of words from some natural sound; as in saying, "He hemmed and hawed before he spoke."

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Among the best specimens, perhaps, of Alliteration, are Burns' "Seest thou thy lover lowly,"-Akenside's "ghostly gloom of groves,"-Gray's nor cast one longing, lingering look behind,"-Thomson's "broad, brown, below, extensive harvests hang their heavy head," ,"-Milton's "Bohemoth, biggest born of earth,”"" their bare broad backs upheave," "faithful found among the faithless, faithful only he ;" and "the foolishness of fools is folly,"—" the treacherous dealer hath dealt treacherously," -"all her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are paths of peace," of Scripture composition.

But beautiful as alliterative metre is when tastefully and judíciously employed, it is necessary not to be profuse in its use, as by its quaint and studied adoption language may be deformed instead of being ornamented. The improper use of this figure is admirably ridiculed and exemplified by Churchill in his following well-known and remarkable verse:

"And apt alliteration's artful aid.”

Shakspeare has also given some admirable specimens of mock alliterative metre. Thus, the following on Cardinal Wolsey: "Begot by butchers, and by butchers bred,

How high his highness holds his haughty head."

Again in his burlesque tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe:

"With blade, with bloody, blameful blade,

He bravely broached his boiling bloody breast."

Also in his "Ercles' Vein," as he phrases it:

"The raging rocks,

With shivering shocks,
Shall break the locks

Of prison-gates;

And Phibbus' car
Shall shine from far,

And make and mar

The foolish fates."

And in his touching allusion to the melancholy lot of those who, while diffusing the rays of science and literature throughout the world, have been struck with blindness:

"Light seeking light,

Hath light of light beguiled,"

he affords a good specimen of this figure and of his play of words. We add the following specimen of an amusing and alliterative Title to a Book of Extracts from several authors:

Astonishing Anthology from Attractive Authors.
Broken Bits from Big Men's Brains.
Choice Chips from Chaucer to Canning.
Dainty Devices from Diverse Directions.
Eggs of Eloquence from Eminent Essayists.
Fragrant Flowers from Fields of Fancy.
Gems of Genius Gloriously Garnished.
Handy Helps from Head and Heart.
Illustrious Intellects Impertinently Interpreted.
Jewels of Judgment and Jests of Jocularity.
Kindling to Keep from the King to the Kitchen.
Loosened Leaves from Literary Laurels.
Magnificent Morsels from Mighty Minds.
Numerous Nuggets from Notable Noodles.
Oracular Opinions Officiously Offered.
Prodigious Points from Powerful Pens.
Quirks and Quibbles from Queer Quarters.
Rare Remarks Ridiculously Repeated.
Suggestive Squirts from Several Sources.
Tremendous Thoughts on Thundering Topics.
Utterances of the Uppermost Use and Unction.
Valuable Views in Various Voices.
Wisps of Wit in a Wilderness of Words.
Xcellent Xtracts Xactly Xpressed.

Yawnings and Yearnings for Youthful Yachtsmen.
Zeal and Zest from Zoroaster to Zimmerman.

LESSON CXXI.

CORRECTION OF FAULTY METAPHORICAL LANGUAGE.

In an excited state of mind, as far as we can command metaphorical language, we unavoidably use it whenever we try to communicate our emotions to others; such language suggesting itself as the natural interpreter between

soul and soul. On the other hand, the labored use of such language in an opposite state of the mind, is an evidence of bad taste; and it would contribute to the growth of such taste, were the pupil set to exercise his fancy in decorating plain sentences with metaphors, similes, and the other related tropes. There will be no tendency of this kind, if, instead of constructing metaphorical expressions before occasions arise for them, he prepare his judgment and taste for using them properly when occasions do arise, by correcting instances of faulty metaphorical language; which instances will be of three kinds; namely, such as err by vulgar or by conceited tropes when the occasion requires a plain style; such as err by dropping into plain expressions, when the figure once begun should have been maintained; and such as err by mingling figures that are inconsistent with each other. The following are instances of each kind.

"The enterprise was knocked at head by the rashness of the agents."

The figure, knocked at head, is rather vulgar; so that, if the style is meant to be, in any degree, raised above the merely colloquial, it will be better to say, brought to nothing, or ruined, or put to an end.

"Let the bark of my humble request float into the harbor of your heart, and find anchorage in the gentle sea of your kindness."

Any thing of this kind, in the modern intercourse of life, is far too oriental, or too affected, for the end in view, which will be better attained by more simple language; for example, " Admit my humble request, and entertain it with kindness.”

"He was all on fire with passion, but he soon became collected."

The metaphor with which this sentence begins is natural enough in itself, but the speaker or writer does not use it naturally, otherwise he would not, in the second member, have employed the plain word collected, which has nothing to do with being on fire, but would have been forced to say cool, or something to the same purpose.

We have said that he does not use the metaphor naturally; that is to say, in using the word fire he does not imagine the thing, but has before his mind only the plain fact, namely, a man excited; nor will any defect be perceived by the hearer, if he un derstands the former part of the sentence in the same prosaio way. Words cease, in this manner, to be figurative, which originally are so; we use them with the same effect as the plain words whose place they take.

Probably few persons will perceive a defect in one of the examples which follow for exercise: "He chatters senselessly, like an ass, as he is;" because we are so much in the habit of hearing the word ass used for fool, that the figure which went with that application at first, is, with most people, now lost. Revive the figure in the mind, and its inconsistency with the former member of the sentence will at once be evident; for an ass does not chatter, though a magpie may. If magpie does not suit the purpose, let the sentence be plain throughout by using fool.

'He was on all on fire with passion, but he soon became sober."

The metaphor in the latter member is unnatural, not by being wrong in itself, but because it would not be used by one who had naturally employed the metaphor in the former member. But if the speaker had said in the former member, "He was quite drunk with passion," the latter member would follow with perfect consistency.

LESSON CXXII.

EXERCISES ON METAPHORICAL LANGUAGE.

According to instructions in all the previous lessons on style and on figurative language, improve the style of the following passages: either by reducing metaphorical into plainer language, or by removing inconsistencies, inelegancies, and vulgarisms.

1. He was very dexterous in smelling out the views and designs of others. 2. If you do not mollify my vengeance by the oil of humility and prayer, it will reach you with unmitigated hardness and severity. 8. His

injury stands before his heart, as a jailer at the gate of a dungeon, and prevents his pity from coming forth. 4. Since the vessel of thy unbounded ambition was wrecked in the gulf of thy self-love, it is proper that thou take in the sails of thy temerity, and cast the anchor of repentance in the port of sincerity and justice, which is the port of safety. 5. He flew along the course with legs that outstripped the wind.

6. Having steered clear of that difficulty, our horses soon brought us to the end of our journey. 7. No human happiness is so serene as not to contain some alloy. 8. I cannot see my way ably in this important enterprise. 9. I cannot use my powers clearly in this important enterprise. 10. How comfortable is the calm that comes over the soul in the quiet of a summer's eve! 11. How soothing are the domestic arrangements of a winter's fireside in an amiable family! 12. There is a time when factions, by the vehemence of their fermentation, stun and disable one another. 18. His generosity was too great to be cooled by these prudential considerations. 14. Hope, the balm of life, darts a ray of light through the thickest gloom.

15. Men who are rich and avaricious, lose themselves in a spring which might have cherished all around them. 16. It is not from this world that any source of comfort can arise, to cheer the gloom of the last hour. 17. The warmth of my affection is such that time cannot set it aside. 18. He was a sword to his foes, and a defender of his friends. 19. His learning illuminates all he says, and removes the unintelligibility from every subject he treats. 20. What a cold heart she has! It nullifies me whenever I approach her.

21. An idle person placed in the midst of so many active, bustling people, seems a petrifaction. 22. Give me a resting-place for my fulcrum, and I will make an alteration in the globe. 23. He chatters senselessly, like an ass, as he is. 24. Laws are not intended to control the good, but to apply to the bad. 25. If you smile on me, I care not for the opposition of the rest of mankind. 26. Liberality, like the sun, spreads relief on all around. 27. Mercy is the brightest jewel that sovereigns can exercise. 28. Old father Thames is a very pleasant-looking river at this point.

29. The true motives of our actions, like the real pipes of an organ, are usually concealed, while we place in the front, for show, the deceiving and plausible pretexts. 30. Let us be attentive to keep our mouths as with a bridle, and to steer our vessel aright, that we may avoid the rocks and shoals which lie everywhere around us. 31. I bridle in my struggling muse with difficulty, who longs to launch into a bolder strain. 32. Erasmus curbed the wild torrent of a barbarous age. 33. The good man has his clouds that intervene; clouds that may dim his sublunary day, but cannot conquer. 34. Since the time that reason began to bud, and put forth her shoots, thought, during our waking hours, has been active in every breast, without a moment's suspension or pause. The current of ideas has been always moving. The wheels of the spiritual engine have exerted themselves with perpetual motion.