A L L 



TcurcJ or cclipfed by one an<)t}icr. Somi-times the obvioiu 

 or literal fenlc is fo promiiKiit and coiifpiciious, both in the 

 words uiid Iciitinn'iits, that the rcinotc ov ligurative fciife is 

 fcarccl)- permitted to ghmmcrthroiijrli it. On the other liaiul, 

 the fiijurative feiife is more frtcjiieiitly found to beam forth 

 with io much perfpieiiily iwd hillrc, that the hteral fenfe is 

 quite call into a diade, oi becomes indlfcerniblc. Sometimes 

 the principal or figurative idea is cxiiibited to the attentive 

 tye with a condant and ecjnal hght ; and fomctimes it un- 

 expeftedly glares upon ns, and breaki; forth with fudden and 

 allonifhing corrufcationii, like a flarti of lijrjilninj; b\n-lling 

 from the clouds. But the mode or form of this figure, which 

 pofreffes the chief beauty and elegance, is, when the two 

 images, equally confpicuous, run, as it were, parallel through 

 tlie wliole poem, mutually ilhillrating and correfpondent to 

 each other. The learned author has illuiliated thefe obfer- 

 vations by inftances Tekfted from the 2d and 72d Pfalms. 

 He adds, that the myilical allegory is, on account of the ob- 

 fcurity refulting from the nature of the figuie, and the llyle 

 of the compofition, fo agreeable to the nature of the pro- 

 phecy, that it is the form which it generally, and indeed 

 lawfully affumes, as bell adapted to the prediction of future 

 events. Itdefcribes events in a manner exadly conformable 

 to the intention of prophecy ; that is, in a dark, dlfguifed and 

 intricate manner, (Iciteliing out iu a general way tiieir form 

 and outline ; and ftldom defccnding to a minutenels of de- 

 fcription and exaftnefs of detail. On this fubjeft in its im- 

 mediate connection with the double fenfe of prophecy, which 

 fome eminent critics and commentators have not only dil- 

 puted, but abfolutely rtjeftcdas grouudlefs and fanciful, and 

 leading to great uncertainty of interpretation ; fee Pro- 

 phecy. 



Allegories were a favourite method of delivering inftruc- 

 tions in ancient times ; for what we call fables or parables, 

 are no other than allegories ; where, by words and aftions 

 attributed to beafts or inanimate objefts, the difpoiltlons of 

 men are figured ; and what we call the moral, io the un- 

 figured fenfe or meaning of the allegory. An xnigma or 

 riddle is alio a fpecies of allegory ; one thing reprcfented or 

 imaged by another ; but purpofely wrapt up under fo many 

 circuniftances as to be rendered obfcure. Where a riddle is 

 rot intended, it is always a fault iu allegoiy to be too dark. 

 The meaning fhould be eafily feeu through the figure em- 

 ployed to iliadow it. Plowever, the proper mixture of light 

 or fhade, in fuch compofitions, the exail adjuftment of all 

 the figurative circuniftances with the literal fenfe, fo as nei- 

 ther to lay the meaning too bare and open, nor to cover and 

 .wrap it up too much, has ever been found an affair of great 

 nicety ; and there are few fj)cele3 of compofition in wliich it 

 is more difficult to wiite, fo as to pleafe and command at- 

 tention than in allegories. In fome of the vifions of the 

 SpeClator, we have examples of allegories vciy happily exe- 

 cuted. In the right managemeiit oi' allegories, care ihould 

 be taken that the fame kind of trope be carried through the 

 whole, fo as to compofe one uniform and confillent fet of 

 ideas ; otherwife they drefs up a chimera, a thing that has 

 no exiflence, and of which the mind can form no conception. 

 Quiuclillan very jultly obferves (Inft. Orat. !. viii. c. 6.) that 

 " to begin with a tempeft and end with a fire, would be veiy 

 ridiculous and unnatural." It is llkewife very necelfary that 

 the allnfions be all plain and evident, efpecially where the 

 name of the thing alluded to is not exprefied. Thefe are 

 called pure allegories. But where the reference is not evi- 

 dent, it becomes a riddle, which is nothing elfe but an oh- 

 fcure iilligory. To avoid this the beft writers ufe what are 

 generally called mixni alL-gor'us, or fuch as exprefs tlie jiroper 



ALL 



nam? of the thing which the whole Hniilitudc rcfpcftj. Of 



this kind is that in the fpeech of Phihj), king of Macedoii, 

 given by Julliii (). xxix. c. 3.), where he fays, " I perceive 

 that cloud of a dreadful and bloody war arifing in Ifslv, an.? 

 a thunder-llorm from the well, which will iiil .ill place's witb 

 a large (liower of blood, wherever ihe tempeft of >idnrj' lliall 

 carry it." Tiie proper words " war," " blood," and "vic- 

 tory," being joined to the tropes " cloud," " ftiower," and 

 " temped," in this fentencc, render the fevcral parts of the 

 fimilitude plain and evident. Quinftiliaii thinks thofe allc- 

 gorits moll beautiful, where the whole fimilitude is ex- 

 preded, and thofe words, ■which in their proper fenfe relate 

 to one of tiie two things, between which the comparifon u 

 made, are allegorically apphed to the other : as when Cor- 

 nelius Ncpos fays of Atticus (cap. x.), " If that pilot gains 

 the greatell reputation, who prelerves iiis fiiip in a boifieroiis 

 and rocky fea ; ought not he to be thought a man of fingu- 

 lar prudence, who arrived in fafity tlirongh fo many and fo 

 great civil tempefts ?" Thefe are the allegories witli which 

 orators are chiefly concerned. See Ward's Oratoiy, vol. ii. 

 p. 27 — 31. Blair's Ledlures, vol. i. p. t^cjC — jgtj. 



The Old Tellament is fuppofed, by many, to be a per- 

 petual allegory, or typical reprefentation of the myfirricsot 

 the New. Mr. CoUins, in his " Grounds and Reafons of 

 the Chriilian Religion," pretends, that the Old Tellament, 

 literally underllood, no where ferves the purpofes of Chrif- 

 tianity ; but if it be of any ufe, it mull be underftood al!e- 

 goric.dly. lie firft recommends allegory, as the only mode 

 of rcafoiiing proper for bringing men to the faith of Cbrift ; 

 and then ridicides this allegorical interpretation as ab- 

 furd. p. 87, 90, 94, 160. In effea, allegories have entered 

 into mod; religions. — The Jews, we know, abound with 

 them. Philo Judxus has three books, of the allegories in 

 the hiftory of the fix days. Nor are the heathens without 

 allegories in their religion : it may be even fald, that the 

 ufe of them is of a much eariier ftanding in the Gentile 

 than in the Jewifii worid. — Some of their phllofophers, un- 

 dertaking to give a rationale of their faith, and to fltew the 

 reafon and feope of their fables, and the ancient hiftories of 

 their gods, found it neceffai-y to put another conftruCtion on 

 them ; and maintain, that they fignified fomething very dif- 

 ferent from what they fecmcd to exprefs. And hence came 

 the word allegory, or a difcourfe that, in Its natural fenfe, 

 aWo cfofEiji, fignifies fomething other than what fecms in- 

 tended by it. Tills flilft they had i-ecourfe to, in order to 

 prevent people from being fiiocked with thofe abfuidltles 

 which the poets had introduced into their religion ; and to 

 convince the worid, that the gods of Greece had not been 

 thofe v.le perfims which their liiilories reprefented them to 

 be. By thii means the hiftory, as well as r-llglon, of Greece, 

 was at once converted into allegoiy ; and the world left to 

 feek for them both in a heap of fables, few of whicli have 

 been fatisfaelorily folved, either by ancient or modern writers. 

 The Jews, finding the advantages of tiiis way of explaining 

 religion, made ufe of it to interpret the facred writings, fo as 

 to render them more palatable to the Pagans. The fame 

 method was adopted by the primitive writers of Chriftianitv. 

 Tlie practice of allegorical interpetatiou, which the Jews 

 had learned from the Egyptians, andwh4,-h, before the time 

 of Chriil, was common among them, the cajly converts to 

 Chriftianity brought out of the Je%vidi into the Chridian 

 church. Some traces of this method we find in the New 

 Tellament, particularly in St. Paul's argument againft the 

 Jewlfti advocates for tlie perpetual and univerfal obligation 

 of the Mofaic ritual, drawn from the hiiloiy of Abraham, 

 in the epillk to the Galatians, ch. iv. 22 ; aiid in the typical 

 4 '-' 2 applicatio* 



