HYPE 
but that the mind, dilated and inflamed with a grand 
objeil, moulds objeifs for its gratification with great fa¬ 
cility. Longinus, with refpefl to a diminifhing hyperbole, 
cites the following ludicrous thought from a comic poet: 
“ He was owner of a bit of ground not larger than a La¬ 
cedemonian letter.” But, for the reafon now given, the 
hyperbole has by far the greater force in magnifying ob¬ 
jects; of which take the following examples.—For all the 
land which thou feeft, to thee will I give it, and to thy 
feed for ever. And I will make thy feed as the dull of 
the earth : fo that, if a man can number the duff of the 
earth, then fhall thyfeed alfobe numbered. Gr/z.xiii. 15, 16. 
When he fpeaks. 
The air, a charter’d libertine, is Hill. Shakefpcare. 
Now fhield with fhield, with helmet Jielmet clos’d. 
To armour armour, lance to lance oppos’d, 
Holt againft holt with fliadowy fquadrons drew. 
The founding darts in iron tempefts flew ; 
Viftor.s and vanquilh’d join’d promifcuous cries. 
And thrilling fhouts and dying groans arife; 
With ftreaming blood the flipp’ry fields are dy’d, 
And flaughter’d heroes fwell the dreadful tide. 
Iliad, iv. 508. 
Quintilian is fenfible that this figure is natural: “ For 
(fays he), not contented with truth, we naturally incline 
to augment or diminifh beyond it; and for that reafon the 
hyperbole is familar even among the vulgar and illite¬ 
rate and he adds, very jultly, “That the hyperbole is 
then proper, when the objeit of itfelf exceeds the com¬ 
mon meafure.” But, as Dr. Blair obferves, even in com¬ 
mon converfation, hyperbolical expreffions very frequently 
occur: as, fwift as the wind ; white as fnow ; and the 
like: and our common forms of compliment are almoft 
all of them extravagant hyperboles. If any thing be re¬ 
markably good or great in its kind, we are inftantly ready 
to add to it l'ome exaggerating epithet, and to make it 
the greateft or belt we ever faw. The imagination has 
always a tendency to gratify itfelf, by magnifying its pre- 
fent object, and carrying it to excels. More or lefs of 
this hyperbolical turn will prevail in language, according 
to the livelinefs of imagination among the people who 
(peak it. Hence young people deal always much in hy¬ 
perboles. Hence the language of the Orientals was far 
more hyperbolical than that of the Europeans, who are 
more phlegmatic, or, if you pleafe, of more correft ima¬ 
ginations. Hence, among all writers in early times, and 
.in the rude periods of fociety, we may expeft this figure to 
abound. Greater experience, and more cultivated foci¬ 
ety, abate the warmth of imagination, and chaften the 
manner of expreflion. The exaggerated expreffions to 
which our ears are accuftomed in converfation fcarcely 
(trike us as hyperboles; in an inftant we make the proper 
abatement, and underhand them according to their juft 
value; but, when there is fomething ftriking and unufual 
in the form of an hyperbolical expreflion, it then rifes into 
a figure of fpeech which draws our attention ; and here 
it is neceffary to obferve, that, unlefs the reader’s imagi¬ 
nation be in fuch a ftate as difpofes it to rife and fwell 
along with the hyperbolical expreflion, he is always hurt 
and offended by it; for a fort of difagreeable force is put 
upon him ; he is required to ftrain and exert his fancy, 
when he feels no inclination to make any fuch effort. 
Hence the hyperbole is a figure of difficult management; 
and ought neither to be frequently ufed, nor long dwelt 
upon. On fome occafions, it is undoubtedly proper, be¬ 
ing, as was before obferved, the natural ftyle of a fprightly 
and heated imagination; but when hyperboles are unfea- 
fonable, or too frequent, they render a compofition frigid 
and unaffefling. They are the refource of an author of 
feeble imagination ; of one, defcribing objects which ei¬ 
ther want native dignity in themfelves; or whofe dignity 
he cannot fliow by defcribing them Amply, and in their 
R B O L E. 643 
juft proportions, and is therefore obliged to reft upon tu¬ 
mid and exaggerated expreffions. 
Hyperboles are of two kinds: either fuch as are em¬ 
ployed in defcription, or fuch as are fuggefted by the 
warmth of paflion. The belt by far, are thole which are 
the elfeil of paflion ; for, if the imagination has a tendency 
to magnify its objeils beyond their natural proportion, 
paflion poflefles this tendency in a vaftly 1 (monger degree; 
and therefore not only excufes the molt daring figures, 
but very often renders them natural and juft. All paf- 
fions, without exception, love, terror, amazement, indig¬ 
nation, anger, and even grief, throw the mind into confu- 
fion, aggravate their objefts, and of courfe prompt an hy¬ 
perbolical ftyle. Hence the following fentiments of Sa¬ 
tan in Milton, as ftrongly as they are defcribed, contain 
nothing but what is natural and proper; exhibiting the' 
piflure of a mind agitated with rage and defpair s 
Me, miferable! which way fhall I fly 
Infinite wrath, and infinite defpair? 
Which way I fly is hell ; myjclf am hellI 
And in the lowelt depth, a lower deep, 
Still threat’ning to devour me, opens wide, 
To which the hell I fuffer feems a heaven ! Par.LoJl, iy. 73. 
In fimple defcription, though hyperboles are not ex¬ 
cluded, yet they muff; be ufed with more caution, and re¬ 
quire more preparation, in order to make the mind relilh 
them. Either the objefl defcribed mult be of that kind, 
which of itfelf feizes the fancy ftrongly, and difpofes it 
to run beyond bounds ; fomething vaft, furprifing, and 
new ; or the writer's art muft be exerted in heating the 
fancy gradually, and preparing it to think highly of the 
objedt which he intends to exaggerate. When a poet is 
defcribing an earthquake or a itorm, or when he has 
brought us into the midft of a battle, we can bear ftrong 
hyperboles without difpleafure. But when he is defcrib¬ 
ing only a woman in grief, it is impoflible not to be dif- 
gufted with fuch wild exaggeration as the following, in 
one of our dramatic poets: 
I found her on the floor 
In all the ftorm of grief, yet beautiful; 
Pouring forth tears at fuch a lavifti rate, 
That, were the world on fire, they might have drown’d 
The wrath of Heaven, and quench’d the mighty ruin. Lee, 
How far an hyperbole, fuppofingit properly introduced, 
may be fafely carried without overftretching it, what is 
the proper meafure and boundary of this figure, cannot, 
as far as we know, be afeertained by any precife rule. 
Good fenfe and juft tafte muft determine the point, be¬ 
yond which, if we pafs, we become extravagant. Lucan 
may be pointed out as an author apt to be exceflive in his 
hyperboles. . Among the compliments paid by the Ro¬ 
man poets to their emperors, it had become fafhionable to 
alk them, what part of the heavens they would choofe for 
their habitation after they fhould have become gods. 
Virgil had already carried this fufficientiy far in his ad- 
drel's to Auguftus : 
Tibi brachia contrahit in gens- 
Scorpius, & Cali jujla plus parte relinquit. Geor. I. 
The Scorpion, ready to receive thy laws, 
Yields half his region, and contrails his paws. 
But this did not fuffice Lucan. Refolved to outdo all 
his predeceflors, in a like addrefs to Nero, he very gravely 
befeeches him not to choofe his place near either of the 
poles, but to be fure to occupy juft the middle of the hea¬ 
vens, left, by going either to one fide or other, his weight 
fhould overfet the univerfe : 
Sed neque in ArEloo fedem tibi legeris orbe 
Nec polus adverji calidus qua mergitur auflri j ■ 
Aitheris immenji partem Ji prejferis unam 
Sentiet axis onus. Librati pondera Cesli 
Orbe tan medio. Pliarf, i, $%.,■ 
But* 
