1798.] 
DaNGER being not an inherent qua- 
lity, but an external circumftance, it may 
be a doubt in what form it ought to be. 
perfonified. 
that of a dexgercus man prepared for, and 
meditating mifchief. 
With him went Danger, cloth’d in ragged 
weed, 
Made of bear’s fkin, that him more dreadfud 
made ; 
Yet his own face was dreadful, ne did need 
Strange horror to deform his griefly fhade : 
A net in th’ ene hand, and a rufty blade 
In th’ other was; this mifchief, that mif- 
hap: 
With th’ one his foes he threatened to in- 
vade 5 
With th’ other he his friends meant to en- 
wrap 3 
For whom he could not kill, he praétis’d to” 
entrap. F. Q. iil. 12. 
The difference between open and fecret 
Danger is aptly typified by a {word and a 
net; but there appears no reafon why the 
one fhould be employed againft foes, and 
the other againft friends. ‘Though the 
net isapplizd as an emblem, I quettion 
not but it was fuggelted to the poet by 
the retiarius of the Roman amphitheatre. 
Thomfon arms his Kaight of Arts and In- 
dujiry with both thefe weapons, and ex- 
prefsly alludes to the retiarius, in the ule 
of the net. 
In Spenfer’s beautiful allegory of the 
Temple of Venus, (F. Q. iv. 10.) another 
picture of Danger is given, under the form 
of a hideous giant itopping the entrance 
of the gate of Good-Defert. The defcrip- 
tion is wholly emblematical. Though fo 
fern and terrific ia appearance. he is 
made foon to give way when boldly af- 
failed. His hind parts are faid to be {till 
more ugly and deformed than his front: 
For hatred, murther, treafon and defpight, 
With many more, lay in ambufhment there, 
Awaiting to entrap the warelefs wight. 
In what manner thefe phantoms lay, is 
not eafily conceived; but the purpofe of 
this ition, to fignity that there 1s leis 
hazard in courageoufly facing danger, 
than in retreating from it, is tufficiently 
ebyious. Suckling has a pretty image 
of the fame import. 
Danger, thou dwarf dreft up in giant’s clothes, 
That fhow’ft far off ftill greater than thou art. 
Collins, who in his Ode to Fear has 
perfonified Danger, mixes the two ideas, 
of an author of danger, and a perfon ex- 
poied to it; and a degree of contufien is 
the neceflary refule. 
of Abftra&? Ideas in Poetry. 
Spenier ieprefents it under 
203 
Danger, whofe limbs of giant mold, 
What mortal eye gan fix’d behold? 
Who ftalks his round, a hideous form, 
Howling amidft the midnight ftorm ; 
Or throws him on the ridgy fteep 
Of fome ledfe hanging rock to ficep. 
Danger, as a gigantic figure, terrible 
to the fight and hearimg, is properly 
formed to excite the apprehenfions of 
fear; but he is not more an object of ter. 
ror for throwing hinrfelf on the ledge of 
a rock to fleep; on the contrary, any 
hazard to which de is expofed, takes off 
from the dread he infpires. | 
Pain is moft naturally reprefented un 
der the figure of a perfon fuffering ex- 
treme anguifh; and it is upon this idea 
in general, that the following highly po- 
etical defcription of this Being by Aken 
fide is formed; though an incongruous 
mixture may be obferved in it. 

Looking up, I view’d 
A vat gigantic fpeétre ftriding on 
Thro’ murmuring thunders, and a wafte of 
clouds, 
With dreadful a@tion. Black as night his 
brow 
Relentlefs frowns involv’d, His Savage 
limbs, 
With tharp impatience violent he writh’d, 
As thro’ convulfive anguifh ; and his hand, 
Arm’d with a fcorpion-lafh, full oft he 
rais’d 
In madnefs to his bofom; while his eyes 
Rain’d bitter tears, and bellowing loud he 
fhook 
The void with horror. Pleaf. of Image 
Eyes flowing with tears, and limbs 
writh’d in torture, give an expreflion 
very different from frowns and menacing 
geftures; for there is no proper connection, 
between the fuffering of pain, and the 
defire of infiSting it. ‘The allegory, in- 
deed, required not a paffive, but an active 
being; yet the natural reprefentation of 
Pain coincides rather with the former 
than the latter. It is in fuch a cafe that 
emblems are particularly ufeful, as by 
their means a figure may become inteili- 
gible, where it cannot properly be made 
the fubjec? of the quality or circumiftance 
perfonified. The fcorpion-lafh, in the 
preceding defeription, is an emblem, but 
not fufficient of itfelf to mark the charac- 
ter. It is obvioufly taken from the {peech 
of Death to Satan in ‘* Paradife Loi.” 
Le% with a whip of fcorpions I pyrlue 
Thy ling’ring. 
» bane 
ro 
{To be continued. ) 

