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§86 
figure, than to hunt after a great number of coincidences 
in minute points, merely to (hew how far the poet’s wit 
can (belch the refemblance. The objedl from which a 
comparifon is drawn, (hould never be an unkown objeft, 
or one of which few people can form clear ideas : Aci'in¬ 
fer en&am rebus lucem, fays Qvundtilian, riper tee funt fimili- 
tudir.esPracipue, igitur, eft cuPlodiendum ne id quodJimili- 
tudinis gratia afclvimus, aut obfeurum fit, aut ignotum. De¬ 
bet enim id quod illuftranda alterius rei gratia ajfumitur, 
ipfum ejfte clarius eo quod illuminatur. Comparifons have 
been introduced into difeourfe, for the fake of throwing 
light on the fubje'dt. We mud, therefore, be much on our 
guard, not to employ, as the gound of our fimile, any 
objedt which is either obfeure or unknown. That, furely, 
which is ufed for the purpofe of illnltrating fome other 
thing, ought to be more obvious and plain, than the thing 
intended to be illuftrated. Comparifons, therefore, found¬ 
ed on philofophical difeeveries, or on any thing with which 
perfons of a certain trade only, or a certain profefiion, 
are converfant, attain not their proper effedf. They (hould 
be taken from thofe illuftrious, noted objects, which mod 
of the readers either have feen, or can drongly conceive. 
In this refpedl modern poets are very apt to be guilty. 
The ancients took their fimilies from that.face of nature, 
and that clafs of objects, with which they and their readers 
■ were acquainted. Hence lions, and wolves, and ferpents, 
were fruitful and very proper fources of fimilies amonglt 
them ; and thefe having become a fort of confecrated ciaf- 
fical images, are very commonly adopted by the moderns; 
injudicioully, however, for the propriety of them is now 
in a great meafure lod. It is only at fecond hand, and 
by defeription, that we are acquainted with many of thofe 
objedts; and, to mod readers of poetry, it were more to 
the purpofe to deferibe lions, or ferpents, by fimilies taken 
from men, than to deferibe men by lions. We now can 
more eafiiy form the conception of a fierce combat be¬ 
tween two men, than between a bull and a tyger. Every 
country has a fcenery peculiar to itlelf; and the imagery 
of every good poet will exhibit it. In compofitions of a 
ferious or elevated kind, fimilies diould never be taken 
from low or mean objedls. Thefe are degrading; whereas 
fimiiies are commonly intended to embellifh and to dig¬ 
nify ; and, therefore, unlefs in burlefque writings, or 
where fimilies are introduced purpofely to vilify and di- 
minidi an objedt, mean ideas (hould never be prelented to 
us. Some of Homer’s comparifons have been taxed without 
reafon on this account. For it is to be remembered, that 
the meannefs or dignity.of objedls depends, in a great 
degree, on the ideas and manners of the age wherein we 
live. Many fimilies, therefore, drawn from the incidents 
•of rural life, which appear low to us, had abundance of 
dignity in thofe fimpler ages of antiquity. 
To COMPA'RT, ‘v. a. [compartir, Fr. from con and par- 
iior, Lat.] To divide; to mark out a general defign into 
its various parts and lubdivifions.—I make hafte to the 
calling and comparting of the whole work. Wotton. 
COMPAR'TIMENT, f. [_compartiment, Fr.] A divi- 
fion of a pidlure, or defign.— The circumference is divided 
into twelve compartments, each containing a complete 
pidlure. Pope. 
COMPARTI'TION,/. The ndl of comparting or di¬ 
viding.—I will come to the compartiticn, by which the 
authors of this art underftand a graceful and ufeful dif- 
tribution of the whole groundplot of an edifice, both for 
rooms of office and entertainment. Wotton. —The parts 
marked out, or (eparated; a feparate part.—Their tem¬ 
ples and amphitheatres needed no comp art it ions. Wotton. 
COMPART'MENT,/. [ compartment , Fr.] Divifion ; 
feparate part of a defign.—The fquare will make you 
ready for all manner of compartments, bafes, pedeltals, and 
buildings. Peach am. 
To COM'PASS, <v. a, [compaffer , Fr. compafj'are, Ital. 
paffihus Mitiri, Lat.] To encircle; to environ; to fur- 
round; to inclofe: it has fometimes around, or about, 
iidded —The fiiady trees cover him with their (hadow ; 
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the willows of the brook compafs him about. Job, xl. as.-* 
Obferve the crowds that compafs him around. Dry den. 
To dare that death, I will approach yet nigher; 
Thus wert thou compafted with circling fire. Dryden, 
To walk round'any thing: 
Old Chorineus compafs'd thrice the crew, 
And dipp’d an olive-branch in holy dew\ Dryden. 
To beleaguer; to befiege ; to block.—Thine enenves (hall 
call a trench about thee, and compafs thee round, and keep 
thee in on every fide. Lukey. ix.’ 43.—To grafp ; loinclole 
in the arms ; to feize. To obtain ; to procure ; to attain ; 
to have in the power.—The church of Rome createth ti¬ 
tular patriarchs of Conftantinople and Alexandria ; fo 
loth is the pope to lofe the remembrance of any title that 
he hath once cotnpaJJ'cd. Brere^ivood. 
In ev’ry work regard the writer’s end, 
Since none can compafs more than they intend. Pope. 
[In law.] To take meafures preparatory to any thing; 
as, io compafs the death of the king. 
COM'PASS,/. Circle; round: 
This day I breathed firft ; time is come round ; 
And where I did begin, there (hall I end : 
■ My life is run its compafs. Shakefpeare. 
Extent; reach; grafp.—Animals in their generation are 
wifer than the fons of men ; but their vvifdom is confined 
to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compafs. 
Addifon. 
O Juliet, I already know' thy grief; 
It lfrains me pall the compafs of my wits. Shakefpeare. 
Space; room ; limits, either of time or fipace.—You have 
heard what hath been here done for the poor, within the* 
compafs of one year, and towards the end of a long e:o 
penfive war. Atterbury. —Enclofure ; circumference : 
Old Rome from fuch a race deriv’d her birth, 
Which now on (even high hills triumphant reigns, 
And in that compafs all the world contains. Dryden. 
A departure from the right line; an indiredl advance; 
as, to fetch a compafs' round the camp. —Moderate ipace ; 
moderation; due limits.—Nothing is-likelier to keep a 
man within compafs, than the having conftantly before his 
eyes the (late of his affairs, in a regular courfe of account,, 
Locke. —The power or the voice to exprefs the notes of 
mufic: 
From harmony, from heavenly harmony. 
This univerfal frame began: 
From harmony to harmony 
Through all the compafs of the notes it ran, 
Tlie diapafon doling full in man. Dryden. 
[This is rarely ufed in the lingular.] The inftrument with 
which circles are drawn.—To fix one foot of their com¬ 
pafs wherever they think fit, and extend the other to fuch 
terrible lengths, without deferibing any circumference at 
ail, is to leave us and themfelves in a very uncertain (late. 
Swift. 
In his hand 
He took the golden compares, prepar’d 
In God’s eternal (tore, to circumfcribe 
This univeiTe, and all created things. Milton. 
The inftrument compofed of a needle and card, called the 
mariner’s compafs : 
Rude as their (hips was navigation then, 
No ufeful compafs or meridian known : 
Coafting they kept the land within their ken, 
And knew no north but when the pole-ftar (hone. Dryd. 
He that firft difeovered the ufe of the mariner’s compafs, 
fays Locke, did more for the fupply and increafe of ule- 
ful commodities, than thofe wdio built workhoufes.— 
This inftrument confills of a circular brafs box, which 
contains a paper card with the thirty-two points of the 
compafs, 
