197 
M E T 
The beauty of a metaphor is very ftrikingly exhibited 
5; V tlfe following paffages, extracted from lord Boling- 
broke’s Remarks on the Hiftory of England. Speaking 
of the behaviour of Charles I. to his laft parliament, he 
fays, “ About a month after their meeting, he difi'olved 
them; and, as foon as he had difi'olved them, he repented ; 
but he repented too late of his rafhnefs. Well might he 
repent; for the veil'd was now full, and this laft drop 
made the waters of bitternefs flow.” “ Here,” he adds, 
« vve draw the curtain, and put an end to our remarks.” 
Nothing, as- Dr. Bi-air obferves, could be more happily 
thrown oft'. The metaphor, we fee, is continued through 
leveral expreflions. The vejjel is put for the ftate or tem¬ 
per of the nation ; already full, that is, provoked to the 
high eft by former opprellions and wrongs; this lafl drop 
Hands for the provocation recently received by the 
abrupt diffolution of the parliament; and the overflowing 
of the waters of bitternefs, beautifully exprefies all the ef- 
fedts of refentment let’loofe by an exafperated people. _ 
There, is nothing young writers are more faulty in, 
than the indifereet ufe of metaphors: thofe who aft'edt 
the marvellous, are eternally on the metaphorical ftrain ; 
nor know any bounds or reftraint. They who under- 
ftand them belt, ufe them with the greateft referve. Mr. 
Addifon propofes it as a rule for writers, to imagine their 
metaphors actually painted before them, and to view and 
examine the juftnefs. of their application and aflemblage 
under thofe circumftances : throwing every thing out of 
the writing, but what might be retained in the pidture. 
A metaphor differs from a fimile in form only, not in 
fubftance; in a fimile, the two fubjedts are kept diftindt 
in the expreflion, as well as in the thought; in a meta¬ 
phor, the two fubjedts are kept diftindt in the thought 
only, not in the expreflion. A hero refembles a lion; and 
upon that refemblance many fimilies have been raifed by 
Homer and other poets. But, inftead of rel'embling a lion, 
let us take the aid of the imigination, and feign or figure 
the hero to be a lion ; by that variation the fimile is con¬ 
verted into a metaphor ; which is carried on by deferib- 
jug all the qualities of a lion that refemble thofe of the 
hero. The fundamental pleafurehere, that ofrelemblance, 
belongs to the thought. An additional pleafure arifes 
from the expreflion ; the poet, by figuring his hero to be 
a lion, goes on to deferibe the lion in appearance, but in 
reality the hero; and his defeription is peculiarly beau¬ 
tiful, by exprefling the virtues and qualities of the hero 
in new terms, which properly fpeaking, belong not to 
him; but to the lion. 
This will better be underftood by examples. A family 
connedted with a common parent, refembles a tree, the 
trunk and branches of which are connedted with a com¬ 
mon root; but let us fuppofe, that a family is figured, 
not barely to be like a tree, but to be a tree; and then 
the fimile will be converted into a metaphor, in the fol¬ 
lowing manner s 
Edward’s fev’n fons, whereof thyfelf art one, 
Were fev’n fair branches fpringing from one root; 
Some of thefe branches by the deft’nies cut 
But Thomas, my dear lord, my life, my Glo’fter, 
One flourifhing branch of his moft royal root, 
Is hack’d down, and his fummer leaves all faded, 
By Envy’s hand and Murder’s bloody axe. ■Shah. Rich, II. 
Figuring human life to be a voyage at fea: 
There is a tide in the affairs of men. 
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to Fortunes- 
Omitted, all the voyage of their life 
Is bound in fliallows and in naileries. 
On fuch a full fea are we now afloat; 
And we muft take the current when it ferves, 
Or lofe our ventures. Julius CceJ'ar, adt iv. fc. 5. 
Figuring glory and honour to be a garland of flowers : 
.Jloifpur. -Wou’d to heav’n 
Thy name in arms were now as great as mine! 
Vol, XV. No. 1035. 
MET 
Pr..Henry. I’ll make it greater ere I part from thee; 
And all the budding honours on thy creft 
I ’ll crop, to make a garland for my head. Henry IV, 
Figuring a man who hath acquired great reputation and 
honour to be a tree full of fruit.—I was a lovely tree in 
thy prefence, Olcar, with all my branches round me ; but 
thy death came like a blaft from the defert, and laid my 
green head low; the lpring .returned with its Ihowers^ 
but no leaf of mine arofe. Fingtd. 
-Gh, boys, this ftory: 
The world may read in me ; my body’s mark'd 
With Roman fwords; and my report was once 
Firft with the belt of note. Cymbeline lov’d me ; 
And, when a foldier was the theme, my name 
Was not far off; then was I as a tree, 
Whole boughs did bend with fruit. But in one night, 
A ftorm or robbery, call it what you will, 
Shook down my mellow hangings, nay, my leaves; 
And left me bare to wither. Cymbeline, aft iii. fc. 3. 
It will be needlefs fop us to multiply examples ; they 
will fuggeft themfelves to every reader of tafte. See alfo 
the word Comparison, vol. iv. p. 884, 5. 
METAPHOR'IC, or Metaphorical, adj. Not lite¬ 
ral ; not according to the primitive meaning of th« word ; 
figurative.—The words which were do continue ; the only 
difference is, that, whereas before they had a literal, they 
now have a metaphorical, ufe. Hooker. 
METAPHORICALLY, adv. Figuratively.—The vul¬ 
gar give the name of perception to that immediate know¬ 
ledge of external objects, which we have by our external 
fenles: this is its proper meaning in our language, though 
fometimes it may be applied to other things metaphori¬ 
cally. Reid. 
METAPHOR'ICALNESS, f. The ftate or quality of 
being metaphorical. 
MET'APHRASE, or Metaphra'si's, f. [from jxet a, 
Gr. againft, and <pgas<7K, a phrafe.] A mere verbal tranfla- 
tion of one language into another.—This tranflation is 
not fo loofe as paraphrafe, nor fo clofe as metaphrafe „ 
Dryden. 
MET'APHRAST, f. A literal tranflator; one who 
tranflates word for word from one language into another. 
METAPHRE'NUM, J'. in anatomy, the part of the 
back which lies below the midriff. 
METAPHYSICAL, adj. Verfed in metaphyfics 5 re¬ 
lating to metaphyfics; lupernatural or preternatural l. - 
Hie thee hither, 
To chaftrfe with the valour of my tongue 
All that impedes thee from the golden round. 
Which fate, and metaphyjical aid, doth feern 
To have thee crown'd withal. Shakej'peare's Macbeth. 
Metaphysical Sect; one of the two great fedts into 
which the philofophical world was divided about the be¬ 
ginning of the 17th century. This fedt followed the 
lyftem of Des Cartes, and confidered truth as attainable 
by abftradt reafoning; and from a fmall number of ab- 
ftradl truths deduced a long feries of propofitions, in 
order to arrive at a precife and accurate knowledge of 
God and nature, of body and fpirit. The metaphyficai 
philofophers, fuppofing that many things are known by 
man with the utmoft certainty, difeovered an undue pro- 
peniity to form their opinions and dodtrines into a regu¬ 
lar lyftem; The other fedt was the Mathematical. 
METAPHYSICALLY, adv. In a metaphyficai way.— - 
Political reafon is a computing principle, adding, fub- 
tradting, multiplying, and dividing, morally, and not 
metaphysically or mathematically, true moral denomina¬ 
tions. Burke. 
METAPHYSI'CIAN, f. One verfed in metaphyfics.— 
Anfelm, an acute metaphyfleian and theologift, was called 
from the government of the abbey of Bee in Normandy. 
T. Warlon. 
3 E 
[As 
