286. 
This is an example, of which we fhall 
find many others ia this poet, and in 
Homer, whom he imitates, of that kind 
of fimile, in which, betides the circum- 
ftances on which the refemblance depends, 
others are introduced, merely for the fake 
of improving the pi€ture. Thus, the fi- 
gure of the Tufcan artift viewing the 
moon through his telefcope, and the 1ma- 
gined rivers and mountains defcried in its 
Spotty furface, have no direct reference to 
the fhield_ of Satan; but only ferve to 
render the appearance of this luminary 
more picturefque. Some faftidious critics 
have cenfured this exuberance as a vicious 
excefs, derogating from the fimplicity and 
unity requifite in every piece of art; and 
the French have ridiculed fuch fimiles by 
the appellation of /ong-tailed fimiles. But 
if it be confidered that the ufe of fimiles in 
poetry is perhaps rather to enliven and 
diverfify, than to elucidate or enforce a 
fubjeét, and thar fuch is the verfatility of 
“the mind as to enable it with great eafe to 
range from one objeét to another, and back 
again to the firft, wichout perplexity; we 
fhall be inclined to regard with indulgence, 
or rather with applaufe, every attempt to 
increafe our pleafures by varying agree- 
able irmages. He who would rigoroufly 
lop off every circumftance in a fimile 
which has not its exaét counterpart tn th 
original object, would beter confulr his 
genius by the ftudy of mathematics or 
philofophy, than of poetry. 
The moon appears a confpicuous objeé&t 
jn:a fimile of Homer’s, which has been 
ereatly and defervedly celebrated: for its 
poetical beauties : 
As when the fiars in all their luftre glow 
Around the radiant moon, when not a breath 
Difturbs the filent air, when every tower, 
High cliff, and grove, fhines forth, and ’mid 
the heavens 
Each confellation, while the fhepherd’s heart 
ad J 
a 
the ihips and Xanthus’ winding 
fiream, 
The Trojan fires appear’d. #, 
IL. vill. $51. 
This is, indeed, an exquifite piéture 3 
and, confidered fimply as a night-piece, 
has, perhaps, never been equalled; yet 
as a fimile it may be thought too grand 
and high-wrought for its object, which is 
a {cene of a fimilar kind, but greatly in- 
ferior. In charaéer, alfo, it 1s defeétive; 
as being a difplay of tranquil and bene- 
ficent majefty, ill-afforted with the ac- 
companyments of war and flaughter. The 
jntereftine fignre of the exulting fhep- 
Similes of Homer, Virgil, and Milton. 
[May 
herd, has nothing correfponding to it in 
the real fcene. 
Stars are frequent objeéts of comparifon 
in the works of the three great epic poets; 
as images both of beauty and of terror, 
The glitter of arms is very naturally re- 
fembled to the fparkling of a ftar. Thus 
Homer fays of Diomed : 
Fire flath’d unwearied from his helm and fhield, 
As bath’d in ocean’s waves th’? autumnal fer 
With brighteft luftre fhines. 5 : 
IL. v. 4. 
And of the {pear of Achilles : 
As in the darkfome night, amidft the ftars 
Fair Hefper fhines, the faireft light of heay’a, 
So fparkled the keen point. 
TL. Sail. 359. 
Aftyanax is compared to a ftar for his 
beauty (IL. vi. 401)3 a fimilitude which 
Virgil finely heightens and expands in 
applying it to the fon of Evander : 
as 

——s 

ipfe agmine Pallas 
In medio, chlamyde & pittis confpe€tus in 
armis : 
Qualis ubi Oceani perfufus Lucifer unda, 
Quam Venus ante alios afirorum diligit ignes, 
Extulit os facrum clo, tenebrafque refolvit. 
. EN. vill. 587. 
Young Pallas fhone confpicuous o’er the reft, 
Gilded his arms, embroider’d was his veit. 
So, from the feas, exerts his radiant head 
The ftar, by whom the lights of heav’n are led; 
Shakes from his rofy locks the pearly dews, 
Difpels the darknefs, and the day renews. 
DRYDEN. 
The circumftance of the planet’s lifting 
his head above the waves, and difpelling 
the darknefs, is imagined and expreffed 
with the elegance and dignity peculiar to 
this poet. The tranflation, though by 
no means correct, is highly beautiful in 
point of language. 
Brightnefs, but of a terrific and omi- 
nous kind, is the attribute of the ftar to 
which Heétor is compared, with the ad- 
ditional refembling circumftance of its 
fhining and difappearing by fits, as that 
warrior in his rapid motion now fhewed 
himfelf in the front, now in the rear : 
As burfting from the clouds, a ftar malign 
Now fparkles bright, anon in clouds again 
Plunges obfcur’d ; fo marfhalling his hoft 
Now in the van, now in the diftant rear, 
The hero fhines. - 
IL. xi. 62, 
In the following fimile, the baleful or 
malignant ftar is diftinguifhed by its name, 
and a reafon given why it is confidered as 
fuch. The. fubje& of comparifon 1s 
Achilles, 
