T R O 



T R O 



beautifies and enlivens a difcourfe, fo an excefs of them 

 caufes obfcurity, by running it into abftrufe allegories and 

 riddles. Moreover, as one ufe of tropes is pleafure and en- 

 tertainment, we (hould endeavour to make ufe of fuch as 

 are fmooth and eafy ; and if it (liould be neceflary to ufe 

 a harfh trope, it is proper to foften it by fome precaution. 

 Finally, care fhould be taken how we transfer tropes from 

 one language into another. It was cuftomary for the Ro- 

 man foldiers to carry their money in their girdles ; hence it 

 was the fame thing with them to fay, a perjon had lojl his 

 girdle (Hor. Ep. lib. ii. ep. 2.), as that he had lojl his money. 

 And becaufe the Romans wore the toga in time of peace, 

 and a different garb when engaged in war, their writers 

 fometimes ufe the word toga to fignify peace. But as 

 neither of thefe cuftoms is in ufe among us, fo neither would 

 the tropes fuit our language, or be generally underflood by 

 us. There is alfo a beautiful trope in the account of St. 

 Paul's ftiipwreck, in the ufe of the word a-iTo^()a.Xf^-M 

 ( Afts, ch. xxvii. v. 15.) which we tranflate to bear vp into 

 the wind, but which properly fignifies to look or keep its eyes 

 againjl it : to this purpofe Plutarch fays of Demofthenes, 

 that he could not avTs^SaX/xEiv tu ao-yujii.', look againjl or refijl 

 the poiver of money. Ward's Orat. vol. i. left. 25. See 

 alfo on this fubjeft, Blair's Left. vol. i. left. 14. 



Befides the four capital tropes above-mentioned, there 

 are feveral inferior ones. When the trope is too bold, it is 

 called an hyperbole ; when continued, it is an allegory ; when 

 too obfcure, an enigma; when it (hocks us, or is too remote, 

 a catachrejts. 



Add to thefe, other tropes : as the metalepfis, antonomafia, 

 and litotes, or extenuation. See Metalepsis, &c. 



Some alfo refer the fix kinds of fcoffing, or derifion, to 

 the tropes ; iii-x.. the farcafm, diafyrm, charientifm, alteifm, 

 myfterifm, and mimefis ; but this without fufficient realon. 

 See Sarcasm, Irony, &c. 



TROPEA, in Geography, a town of Naples, in Calabria 

 Ultra, built on a rock near the fea-coaft, the fee of a bifhop, 

 fuffiragan of Reggio. It contains five parifh-churches, 

 eleven convents, and about 4000 inhabitants, of whom the 

 moft wealthy and the handicraftsmen refide within the walls, 

 whilft the hufbandmen and labourers dwell in the out(kirts, 

 on the lands which they cultivate. Its fituation is ad- 

 mirable, on the point of a lofty rock impending over the fea, 

 and joined to the main land by an ifthmus that is almoft cut 

 through at the gates, and thus leaves only a fmall palfage to 

 the town. A little to the N. lies a large idand, on which 

 fome (heep are turned to graze, and a fmall one, with a her- 

 mitage placed on its fummit, in a moft romantic pofition. 

 The ftreets of Tropea are narrow, the houfes high, and 

 built of ftone, with great folidity. Two gates give admit- 

 tance, one to thofe who come up the hill from the bay, 

 and the other to fuch as approach along the high plain, on 

 which is a pleafant walk near two miles long. This level 

 is half a mile broad between the fea and a chain of moun- 

 tains fo fteep and rugged, that they apparently cut off all 

 communication by land with the reft of Calabria. The 

 whole flat, and fides of the hills, yield abundance of grapes, 

 mulberries, olives, pulfe, vegetables, and garden-fruit. Co- 

 pious ftreams rufti from the mountains, and after watering 

 the orchards, are coUefted into one body, and turn a great 

 number of mills. In 1783, it fuffered greatly from an 

 earthquake ; 37 miles N.N.E. of Reggio. N. lat. 38° 40'. 

 E. long. l6° 13'. 



T ROPER, in our Old Writers, is ufed for a book of 

 alternate turns and refponfes in finging mafs. Lindewode 

 calls it liber fequeniiarum. 



TROPHIS, in Botany, from r^o^if, or i^o^k, food, fodder, 



&c. becaufe cattle feed on the leaves and young branches, 

 when there is a fcarcity of grafs, in the woody parts of 

 Jamaica. — Browne Jam. 357. Linn. Gen. 516. Schreb. 

 679. WiUd. Sp. PI. V. 4. 733. Mart. Mill. Dift. v. 4. 

 Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 5. 370. Jufl". 442. Lamarck lUuftr. 

 t. 806. (Bucephalon ; Plum. Gen. 52. t. 20. Linn. Gen. 

 575. ) — Clafs and order, Dioecia Tetrandria. Nat. Ord. Ca- 

 lycijloric, Linn. Uncertain, JulT. 



Gen. Ch. Male, Col. none. Cor. Petals four, obtufe, 

 fpreading. Stam. Filaments four, capillary, longer than 

 the petals ; anthers of two globular lobes. 



Female on a feparate tree, Cal. inferior, of one leaf, un- 

 divided or two-lobed. Cor. either wanting, or of four con- 

 cave, roundifti petals, clofely embracing the germen. Pijl. 

 Germen ovate, of four cells ; ftyle fhort, thread-fhaped ; 

 ftigmas two, awl-(haped, fpreading. Peric. Berry nearly 

 globular, corrugated, of one cell. Seeds from one to four, 

 roundifti, with a brittle ll<in. 



Eft". Ch. Male, Calyx none. Petals four. 



Female, Calyx of one leaf. Petals four, or none. 

 Stigmas two, awl-ftiaped. Berry fuperior. Seeds one to 

 four. 



Obf. Nothing can be more obfcure or uncertain than 

 the hiftory of this genus, nor do we feel, by any means, 

 confident that the plants affembled under it agree in natural, 

 or effential, charafters. We muft content ourfelves with 

 giving the beft account of them in our power, after having 

 fo far new-modelled the generic charafter as to avoid 

 palpable contradiftions. 



1. T. americana. Ramoon Tree of Jamaica, or Weft 

 Indian Trophis. Linn. Sp. PI. 1 451. Am. Acad. v. 5. 

 410. Willd. n. I. Ait. n. I. Swartz Obf. 372. (T. 

 foliis oblongo-ovatis glabris alternis, floribus mafculinis fpi- 

 catis ad alas ; Browne Jam. 357. t. 37. f. I. Bucephalon 

 racemofum ; Linn. Sp. PI. 1661. B. fruftu racemofo 

 rubro ; Plum. Ic. 55. t. 67. f. i.) — Thorns none. Leaves 

 ovate, pointed, entire, fmooth. Berry oval, furrowed, with 

 a fimple point, and folitary feed. — Native of dry expofed 

 fituations in the Weft Indies, flowering in fpring. Swartz. 

 A tree, about twenty feet high. Leaves alternate, on 

 ftiortifh furrowed ftalks ; rounded at the bafe ; about four 

 inches long, with one rib and feveral tranfverfe inter- 

 branching reticulated veins. Spikes axillary, llalked, foli- 

 tary, many-flowered, much (horter than the leaves, fome- 

 what downy, pale ; the female ones ftiorteft. Berries 

 fpiked, feflile, the fize of large grapes, oval, with four 

 furrows, and of a pleafant flavour. Swartz fays, the trunk 

 and branches, when wounded, difcharge a very white, 

 vifcid, milky juice. He, as well as Browne, affert the 

 foliage and young ftioots to afford an agreeable wholefome 

 fodder for all forts of cattle. 



2. T. laurifoUa. Laurel-leaved Trophis. Willd. n. 2 



Thorns none. Leaves elliptic-oblong, acute at each end, 

 fmooth, entire. Berry with two horns, and two or four 

 feeds. — Native of Quito and New Granada. A tree, with 

 thick, nearly round, branches. Leaves alternate, ftalked, 

 three inches or more in length, tapering at each end, coria- 

 ceous, fmooth on both fides ; ftiining above ; pale beneath. 

 Clujlers axillary, the length of the footjlalks. Fruit glo- 

 bofe, crowned with two diftant, awl-lhaped, inflexed horns, 

 rather longer than the fruit itfelf. Seeds obovate ; two 

 only, according to Willdenow ; four in a drawing fent by 

 Mutis to Linnseus, which the latter has marked Bucephalon, 

 and which anfwers fo exatlly to Willdenovv's defcription of 

 the plant gathered in Quito by Humboldt and Bonpland, j 

 that we can have no doubt of its being done from the fame I 

 fpecies. In contemplating Willdenow's fpecific charafters 



n of 



