COMPARISON. 
8% 
called, concordant ideas; fo that the remembrance of the 
one, when recalled, lerves to ttrengthen the impieffion 
made by the other. To defcribe the nature of loft and 
melancholy niulic, Oflian fays, “ The mufic of Carry! 
■was, like the memory of joys that are pad, pleafant and 
mournful to the foul.” This is happy and delicate. Yet, 
furely, no kind of mufic has any reiemblance to a feeling 
ot the mind, fuch as the memory of paft joys. Had it 
been compared to the voice of the nightingale, or the 
murmur of the dream, as it would have been by fome or¬ 
dinary poet, the likenefs would have been more IrriiSt ; 
but, by founding his fimile upon the effedt which Carryl’s 
mufic produced, the poet, while he conveys a very tender 
image, gives us, at the fame time, a'much ftronger im- 
preliion of the nature and llrain of that mufic : “ Like 
the memory of joys that are paft, pleafant and mournful 
„to the foul.” 
In general, whether comparifons be founded on the 
fimilitude of the two objects compared, or on fome ana¬ 
logy and agreement in their eft'edts, the fundamental re¬ 
quisite of a companion is, that it (hall ierve to illuftrate 
the object, for the lake of which it is introduced, and to 
give us a ftronger conception of it. Some little excur¬ 
sions of fancy may be permitted, in purfuing the fimile ; 
but they muft never deviate far from the principal objedt. 
If it be a great and noble one, every circumftance in the 
comparifon mull tend to aggrandize it; if it be a beauti¬ 
ful one, to render it more amiable; if terrible, to fill us 
with more awe. But in the ufe of comparifons there are 
two rules to be oblerved : the propriety of their intro- 
dudlion, and the nature of the objedts whence they are 
taken. Firft, as to the propriety of their introdudlion, it 
mult be conlidered that comparifons. are not the language 
of ftrong pafiion. No; they are the. language of imagi¬ 
nation rather than of pafiion ; of an imagination fpright- 
ly, indeed, and warmed; hut undiftui bed by any violent 
or agitating emotion. Strong pafiion is too levere to ad¬ 
mit this play of fancy. It has no leifure to call about 
for relembling objedls; it dwells on that objedt which has 
leized and taken pofiefiion of the foul. It is too much 
occupied and filled by it, to turn its view aiide, or to fix 
its attention on any other thing. An author, therefore, 
can fcarcely commit a greater fault, than, in the midft of 
pafiion, to introduce a fimile. Metaphorical expreflion 
may be allowable in fuch a fituation ; though even this 
may be carried too far: but the pomp and foiemnity of 
a formal companion is altogether a ltranger to pafliqn. It 
changes the key in a moment; relaxes, and brings down 
the mind; and ftiews us a writer perfectly at his eafe, 
while lie is perfonating fome other, who is fuppofed to 
be under the torment of agitation. Our writers of trage¬ 
dies are. very apt to err here. In fome of Mr. Rowe's 
plays, tbefe flowers of fimilies have been ftrewed unfea- 
fion-ably. Mr. Adclifon’s Cato, too, is jufitly cenfurable in 
this refpedt : as, when Portius, juft after Lucia had bid 
him fa’rewel for ever, and when he fiiould naturally have 
been reprefented as in the molt violent anguilh, makes his 
reply in a itudied and aifedted companion; 
Thus o’er the dying lamp th 1 unfteady flame 
Hangs quiv’ring on a point, leaps off by fits. 
And fails agains, as loth to quit its hold. 
Thou muft not go ; my foul ltili hovers o’er thee, 
And can’t get loofe. Addifon. 
Every one muft be fenfible, that this is quite remote from 
the language of nature on fuch occafions. However, as 
comparilon is not the Ityle of ftrong pafiion, fo neither, 
when employed for embelhfhment, is it the language of 
a mind wholly unmoved. It is a figure of dignity, and 
always requiies fome elevation in the ihbjedi, in order to 
makeit proper : for it fuppofes the imagination to be un¬ 
commonly enlivened, though the heart be not agitated 
by pafiion. In a wowl, the proper place of comparifons 
lies in the middle region between the highly pathetic, 
and the very humble ftyle. This is. a wide, field, and 
Vol. IV. No. .246. 
gives-ample range'to the figure; which, however, muft 
be fparingly adopted, for it is a fparkling ornament, and 
all things that fparkle, dazzle and fatigue, if they recur 
too often. Similies fiiould, even in poetry, be ufed with 
moderation ; but, in prole writings, much mere : other- 
wife, the ftyle will become difagreeabiy florid, and the 
ornament lole its virtue and effeif. Neither muft compa¬ 
rifons be drawn from things, which have too near and 
obvious a refemblance to the objetft with which we com¬ 
pare them. The great pleafure of the a£t of comparing 
lies, in difeovering likenefles among things of different 
fpecies,'where we would not, at the firft glance, expeft a 
refemblance. There is little art or ingenuity in pointing 
out the refemblance of two ofcjefls, that are fo much a~ 
kin, or lie fo near to one another in nature, that every 
one fees they muft be alike. When Milton, in the fol¬ 
lowing lines, compares Satan’s appearance, after his fall, 
to that of the fun 1'ufFering an eciipfe, and affrighting the 
nations with portentous dnrknefs, we are firuck with the- 
happinefs and the dignity of the fimilitude: 
He, above the reft. 
In fliape and ftature proudly eminent, 
Stood like a tow’r; his form had not yet loft. 
All her original brightnefs, nor appear’d 
Lefs than archangel ruin’d, and th’ excefs 
Of glory obfeur’d : as when the fun new rifen 
Looks through the horizontal mifty air 
Shorn of his beams ; or, from behind the moon 
In dim eciipfe, dilaftrous twilight fiieds 
On half the nations, and with fear of change 
Perplexes monarchs. Faradtfe Loft. 
But when he compares Eve’s bower in Paradife, to the: 
arbour of Pomona ; or Eve herfelf, to a dryad, or wood- 
nymph, we. receive little entertainment: as every one 
fees, that one arbour muft, of courfe, in feveral refpefts, 
referable another arbour, and one beautiful woman ano¬ 
ther beautiful woman. 
Among fimilies faulty through too great obvioufnefs 
of the dikenefs, muff likewife be ranked thofe which are 
taken from objeffs become trite and familiar in poetical 
language. Such are the fimilies of a hero to a lion, of a 
perfon in forrow to a' flower drooping its head, of violent 
pafiion to a tempeft, of chaftity to f now, of virtue to the 
fun or the ftars, and many more of this kind, with which 
we are lure to find modern writers, of ftcond-r-ate genius, 
abounding plentifully; banded down from every writer 
of verfes to another, as by hereditary right. Thefe com¬ 
parifons were, at firft, perhaps, very proper for the pur- 
pofes to which they are applied. In the ancient original 
poets, who took them dire&ly from nature, not from 
their predeceftors, they had beauty. But they are now 
beaten'; our ears are fo accuftomed to them, that they 
give no amufement to the fancy. There is, indeed, no 
mark by which we can more readily diftinguifh a poet of 
true genius, from one of a barren imagination, than by 
the drain of their comparifon?.; All wno call tliemfelves ■ 
poets afi’eft them; but, whereas a mere verfifier copies 
no new image from nature, which appears, to his unin¬ 
ventive genius, exhaufted by thofe who have gone before 
him, and, therefore, contents himfelf with humbly fol¬ 
lowing their track; to an author of real fancy, nature 
feems to unlock, fpontaneoufly, her hidde/i ftores; and 
the eye, “ quick glancing from earth to heaven,” difeo- 
vers new fhapes and forms, new likenefles between ob- 
jefts unobferved before, which render his fimilies origi¬ 
nal, exprefiive, and lively. As comparifons ought not 
to be founded.on likenefles too obvious, ftiil lefs ought 
they to be founded on thofe which are too faint and re¬ 
mote. For thefe, inltead of allifting, ftfuin the fancy to 
comprehend them, and throw no light upon the fubjeft. 
It is aifo to be obferved, that a comparifon which, in t! e 
principal circumftances, carries a lufficicntly near refem- 
bian.ee, may become unnatural and obfeure, if pufhed 
too far. Nothing is more oppofite to the defign this 
