RHETORIC. 73 



or Amplification, is an arrangement of ideas in an ascending series ; 

 the last step in which should be the most important. The reverse of 

 this, is called an Anticlimax; and sometimes used to con vert the sub- 

 lime into the ridiculous. 



A Metonymy, or change of name, is a substitution of cause for 

 effect ; of the container, for the thing contained ; the sign, for the thing 

 signified ; or the reverse of these : as when we say, " they are reading 

 Milton," meaning Milton's works. A Synecdoche, is a substitution of 

 the whole for a part, or a part for the whole: as, "a fleet of twenty 

 sail," for a fleet of twenty vessels. A Metalepsis, is an indirect mode 

 of expression ; as, in the phrase, " Troy was," to signify that Troy 

 exists no longer. Interrogation, is that figure by which we put in 

 the form of a question, what we intend most strongly to assert or 

 deny ; as, " Hath he said it, and shall he not do it? or hath he spo- 

 ken, and shall he not make it good?" Personification, or Prosopo- 

 peia, is an attribution of life and action to inanimate objects; as when 

 we speak of " smiling nature :" and an Apostrophe, is an address to 

 a person who is absent or dead, as if he were really present. Lastly, 

 Vision, one of the boldest figures, represents something past, or dis- 

 tant, as actually appearing or transpiring, before our eyes ; as when 

 Cicero says, "I seem to myself to behold this city, the light of the 

 world, and the citadel of all nations, suddenly involved in one general 

 conflagration." 



3. Taste, is the power of distinguishing, and appreciating, that 

 which is excellent, in nature of aft. It is allied to Genius, or the 

 power of planning and executing works of art ; but taste merely 

 judges of their merits, after they are planned or executed. We regard 

 taste and genius, as partly of spontaneous, and partly of cultivated 

 growth ; and their only sure model or standard, is the united sanction 

 of the best judges, in all ages and nations. Individuals, and even 

 nations, may differ in their estimate of qualities and merits ; but that 

 which has obtained the consentaneous approbation of the best judges, 

 in all ages and nations, may safely be deemed conformable to the prin- 

 ciples of our nature, and safely held up to view as a model, or stand- 

 ard, of excellence. Fine taste implies both delicacy and correctness ; 

 and the chief attributes on which it is exercised, are Sublimity, Beauty, 

 Congruity, Imitation, Wit and Novelty ; which were formerly called 

 reflex senses. To the study of the two first-named qualities, sub- 

 limity, and beauty, the Germans have applied the term, ^Esthetics ; 

 derived from a Greek word signifying perception. 



Sublimity, is that property, either in natural objects, or in works 

 of art, by which they seem to expand, or elevate, and solemnize the 

 mind. Large objects, or lofty, or boundless, or obscure ; as a moun- 

 tain, the ocean, the sky, or darkness, frequently inspire sublime emo- 

 tions. Mighty force, or motion, as the rolling of a torrent ; loud 

 or heavy sounds, as of thunder or battles ; and whatever is a source 

 of awe or mystery, are also sources of the sublime. Another source, 

 is Moral Sublimity* arising from daring, heroic, or magnanimous 

 actions ; and also from dignity, or elevation of character. Examples 

 of this may be found in the fabled self-immolation of Marcus Curtius, 

 in the yawning gulf at Rome ; and the real devotion of the early and 

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