The Arte of English Poesie Part 13

In stead of [_fortunes frowning face_.] One praysing the Neapolitans for good men at armes, said by the figure of Twynnes thus.

_A proud people and wise and valiant, Fiercely fighting with horses and with barbes: By whole prowes the Romain Prince did daunt, Wild Affricanes and the lawlesse Alarbes: The Nubiens marching with their armed cartes, And sleaing a farre with venim, and with dartes._

Where ye see this figure of Twynnes twise vsed, once when he said _horses and barbes_ for barbd horses: againe when he saith with _venim_ and with _dartes_ for venimous dartes.

_CHAP. XVII._

_Of the figures which we call Sensable, because they alter and affect the minde by alteration of sence, and first in single wordes._

The eare hauing receiued his due satisfaction by the _auricular_ figures, now must the minde also be seured, with his naturall delight by figures _sensible_ such as by alteration of intendments affect the courage, and geue a good liking to the conceit. And first, single words haue their sence and vnderstanding altered and figured many wayes, to wit, by transport, abuse, crosse-naming, new naming, change of name. This will seeme very darke to you, vnlesse it be otherwise explaned more particularly: and first of _Transport_.

[Sidenote: Metaphora, or the Figure of transporte.]

There is a kinde of wresting of a single word from his owne right signification, to another not so naturall, but yet of some affinitie or conueniencie with it, as to say, _I cannot digest your vnkinde words_, for I cannot take them in good part: or as the man of law said, _I feele you not_, for I vnderstand not your case, because he had not his fee in his hand. Or as another said to a mouthy Aduocate, _why barkest thou at me so sore?_ Or to call the top of a tree, or of a hill, the crowne of a tree or of a hill: for in deede _crowne_ is the highest ornament of a Princes head, made like a close garland, or els the top of a mans head, where the haire windes about, and because such terme is not applyed naturally to a tree or to a hill, but is transported from a mans head to a hill or tree, therefore it is called by _metaph.o.r.e_, or the figure of _transport_. And three causes moue vs to vse this figure, one for necessitie or want of a better word, thus: _As the drie ground that thirstes after a showr Seems to reioyce when it is well wet, And speedely brings foorth both gra.s.se and flowr, If lacke of sunne or season doo not let._

Here for want of an apter and more naturall word to declare the drie temper of the earth, it is said to thirst & to reioyce, which is onley proper to liuing creatures, and yet being so inuerted, doth not so much swerue from the true sence but that euery man can easilie conceiue the meaning thereof.

Againe, we vse it for pleasure and ornament of our speach, as thus in an Epitaph of our owne making, to the honourable memorie of a deere friend, Sir _Iohn Throgmorton_, knight, Iustice of Chester, and a man of many commendable vertues.

_Whom vertue rerde, enuy hath ouerthrowen And Iudged full low, vnder this marble stone: Ne neuer were his values so well knowen, Whilest he liued here, as now that he is gone.

Here these words, _rered, overthrowen_, and _lodged_, are inuerted, & _metaphorically_ applyed, not vpon necessitie, but for ornament onely, afterward againe in these verses.

_No sunne by day that euer saw him rest Free from the toyles of his so busie charge, No night that harbourd rankor in his breast, Nor merry moode made reason runne at large._

In these verses the inuersion or metaph.o.r.e, lyeth in these words, _saw, harbourd, run:_ which naturally are applyed to liuing things, & not to insensible: as the _sunne_, or the _night_: & yet they approach so neere, & so conueniently, as the speech is thereby made more commendable. Againe, in moe verses of the same Epitaph, thus.

_His head a source of grauitie and sence, His memory a shop of ciuill arte, His tongue a streame of sugred eloquence, Wisdome and meekenes lay mingled in his harte,_

In which verses ye see that these words, _source, shop, find, sugred_, are inuerted from their owne signification to another, not altogether so naturall, but of much affinitie with it.

Then also do we it sometimes to enforce a sence and make the word more significatiue: as thus, _I burne in loue, I freese in deadly hate I swimme in hope, and sinke in deepe dispaire._

These examples I haue the willinger giuen you to set foorth the nature and vse of your figure metaph.o.r.e, which of any other being choisly made, is the most commendable and most common.

[Sidenote: _Catachresis_, or the Figure of abuse]

But if for lacke of naturall and proper terme or worde we take another, neither naturall nor proper and do vntruly applie it to the thing which we would seeme to expresse, and without any iust inconuenience, it is not then spoken by this figure _Metaph.o.r.e_ or of _inuersion_ as before, but by plaine abuse as he that bad his man go into his library and set him his bowe and arrowes, for in deede there was neuer a booke there to be found, or as one should in reproch say to a poore man, thou raskall knaue, where _raskall_ is properly the hunters terme giuen to young deere, leane & out of season, and not to people: or as one said very pretily in this verse.

_I lent my loue to losse, and gaged my life in vaine._

Whereas this worde _lent_ is properly of mony or some such other thing, as men do commonly borrow, for vse to be repayed againe, and being applied to loue is vtterly abused, and yet very commendably spoken by vertue of this figure. For he that loueth and is not beloued againe; hath no lesse wrong, that he that lendeth and is neuer repayde.

[Sidenote: _Metonimia_, or the Misnamer]

Now doth this vnderstanding or secret conceyt reach many times to the only nomination of persons or things in their names, as of men, or mountaines, seas, countries and such like, in which respect the wrong naming, or otherwise naming of them then is due, carieth not onely an alteration of sence but a necessitie of intendment figuratiuely, as when we cal loue by the name of _Venus_, fleshly l.u.s.t by the name of _Cupid_, bicause they were supposed by the auncient poets to be authors and kindlers of loue and l.u.s.t: _Vulcane_ for fire, _Ceres_ for bread: _Bacchus_ for wine by the same reason; also if one should say to a skilfull craftesman knowen for a glutton or common drunkard, that had spent all his goods on riot and delicate fare.

_Thy hands they made thee rich, thy pallat made thee poore._

It is ment, his trauaile and arte made him wealthie, his riotous life had made him a beggar: and as one that boasted of his housekeeping, said that neuer a yeare pa.s.sed ouer his head, that he drank not in his house euery moneth foure tonnes of beere, & one hogshead of wine, meaning not the caskes, or vessels, but that quant.i.tie which they conteyned. These and such other speaches, where ye take the name of the Author for the thing it selfe, or the thing conteining, for that which is contained, & in many other cases do as it were wromg name the person or the thing. So neuerthelesse as it may be vnderstood, it is by the figure _metonymia_, or misnamer.

[Sidentote: _Antonomasia_, or the Surnamer.]

And if this manner of naming of persons or things be not by way of misnaming as before, but by a conuenient difference, and such as is true or esteemed and likely to be true, it is then called not _metonimia_, but _antonomasia_, or the Surnamer, (not the misnamer, which might extend to any other thing aswell as to a person) as he that would say: not king Philip of Spaine, but the Westerne king, because his dominion lieth the furdest West of any Christen prince: and the French king the great _Vallois_, because so is the name of his house, or the Queene of England, _The maiden Queene_, for that is her hiest peculiar among all the Queenes of the world, or as we said in one of our _Partheniades_, the _Bryton mayde_, because she is the most great and famous mayden of all Brittayne: thus, _But in chaste stile, am borne as I weene To blazon foorth the Brytton mayden Queene._

So did our forefathers call _Henry the first, Beauclerke, Edmund Ironside, Richard coeur de lion: Edward the Confessor_, and we of her Maiestie _Elisabeth_ the peasible.

[Sidenote: _Onomatopeia_, or the New namer.]

Then also is the sence figuratiue when we deuise a new name to any thing consonant, as neere as we can to the nature thereof, as to say: _flas.h.i.+ng of lightning, clas.h.i.+ng of blades, clinking of fetters, c.h.i.n.king of money_: & as the poet _Virgil_ said of the sounding a trumpet, _ta-ra-tant, taratantara_, or as we giue special names to the voices of dombe beasts, as to say, a horse neigheth, a lyon brayes, a swine grunts, a hen cackleth, a dogge howles, and a hundreth mo such new names as any man hath libertie to deuise, so it be fittie for the thing which he couets to expresse.

[Sidenote: _Epitheton_, or the Quallifier, otherwise the figure of Attribution.]

Your _Epitheton_ or _qualifier_, whereof we spake before, placing him among the figures _auricular_, now because he serues also to alter and enforce the sence, we will say somewhat more of him in this place, and do conclude that he must be apt and proper for the thing he is added vnto, & not disagreable or repugnant, as one that said: _darke disdaine_ and _miserable pride_, very absurdly, for disdaine or disdained things cannot be said darke, but rather bright and cleere, because they be beholden and much looked vpon, and pride is rather enuied then pitied or miserable, vnlessse it be in Christian charitie, which helpeth not the terme in this case. Some of our vulgar writers take great pleasure in giuing Epithets and do it almost to euery word which may receiue them, and should not be so, vea though they were neuer so propre and apt, for sometimes wordes suffered to go single, do giue greater sence and grace than words quallified by attributions do.

[Sidenote: _Metalepsis_, or the Farreset.]

But the sence is much altered & the hearers conceit strangly entangled by the figure _Metalepsis_, which I call the fa.r.s.et, as when we had rather fetch a word a great way off then to vse one nerer hand to expresse the matter aswel & plainer. And it seemeth the deuiser of this figure had a desire to please women rather then men: for we vse to say by manner of Prouerbe: things farreset and deare bought are good for Ladies: so in this manner of speach we vfe it, leaping ouer the heads of a great many words, we take one that is furdest off, to vtter our matter by: as _Medea_ cursing hir first acquaintance with prince _Iason_, who had very vnkindly forsaken her, said: _Woe worth the mountaine that the maste bare Which was the first causer of all my care._

Where she might aswell haue said, woe worth our first meeting, or woe worth the time that _Iason_ arriued with his s.h.i.+p at my fathers cittie in _Colchos_, when he tooke me away with him, & not so farre off as to curse the mountaine that bare the pinetree, that made the mast, that bare the sailes, that the s.h.i.+p sailed with, which caried her away. A pleasant Gentleman came into a Ladies nursery, and saw her for her owne pleasure rocking of her young child in the cradle, and sayd to her: _I speake it Madame without any mocke, Many a such cradell may I see you rocke._

G.o.ds pa.s.sion hourson said she, would thou haue me beare mo children yet, no _Madame_ quoth the Gentleman, but I would haue you liue long, that ye might the better pleasure your friends, for his meaning was that as euery cradle signified a new borne childe, & euery child the leasure of one yeares birth, & many yeares a long life: so by wis.h.i.+ng her to rocke many cradels of her owne, he wished her long life. _Virgill_ said: _Post multas mea regna videns murabor aristas._

Thus in English.

_After many a stubble shall I come And wonder at the sight of my kingdome._

By stubble the Poet vnderftoode yeares, for haruests come but once euery yeare, at least wayes with vs in Europe. Thus is spoken by the figure of farre-set _Metalepsis_.

[Sidenote: _Emphasis_, or the Renforcer.]

And one notable meane to affect the minde, is to inforce the sence of any thing by a word of more than ordinary efficacie, and neuertheles is not apparant, but as it were, secretly implyed, as he that laid thus of a faire Lady.

_O rare beautie, o grace, and curtesie_.

And by a very euill man thus.

_O sinne it selfe, not wretch, but wretchednes_.

Whereas if he had said thus, _O gratious, courteous and beautifull woman_: and, _O sinfull and wretched man_, it had bene all to one effect, yet not with such force and efficacie to speake by the denominatiue, as by the thing it selfe.

[Sidenote: _Liptote_, or the Moderatour.]

As by the former figure we vse to enforce our sence, so by another we temper our sence with wordes of such moderation, as in appearaunce it abateth it but not in deede, and is by the figure _Liptote_, which therefore I call the _Moderator_, and becomes us many times better to speake in that sort quallified, than if we spake it by more forcible termes, and neuertheles is equipolent in sence, thus.

_I know you hate me not, nor wish me any ill._

Meaning in deede that he loued him very well and dearely, and yet the words doe not expresse so much, though they purport so much. Or if you would say; I am not ignorant, for I know well inough. Such a man is no foole, meaning in deede that he is a very wise man.

[Sidenote: _Paradiastole_, or the Curry-fauell.]

But if such moderation of words tend to flattery, or soothing, or excusing, it is by the figure _Paradiastole_, which therfore nothing improperly we call the _Curry-fauell_, as when we make the best of a bad thing, or turne a signification to the more plausible sence: as, to call an vnthrift, a liberall Gentleman: the foolish-hardy, valiant or couragious: the n.i.g.g.ard, thriftie: a great riot, or outrage, an youthfull pranke, and such like termes: moderating and abating the force of the matter by craft, and for a pleasing purpose, as appeareth by these verses of ours, teaching in what cases it may commendably be vsed by Courtiers.

[Sidenote: _Meiosis_, or the Disabler.]

But if you diminish and abbase a thing by way of spight or malice, as it were to depraue it, such speach is by the figure _Meiosis_ or the _disabler_ spoken of hereafter in the place of _sententious_ figures.

_A great mountaine as bigge as a molehill, A heauy burthen perdy, as a pound of fethers._

[Sidenote: _Tapinosis_, or the Abbaser.]

But if ye abase your thing or matter by ignorance or errour in the choise of your word, then is it by vicious maner of speach called _Tapinosis_, whereof ye shall haue examples in the chapter of vices hereafter folowing.

[Sidenote: _Synecdoche_, or the Figure of quick conceite.]

Then againe if we vse such a word (as many times we doe) by which we driue the hearer to conceiue more or lesse or beyond or otherwise then the letter expresseth, and it be not by vertue of the former figures _Metaph.o.r.e_ and _Abase_ and the rest, the Greeks then call it _Synecdoche_, the Latines _sub intellectio_ or vnderftanding, for by part we are enforced to vnderstand the whole, by the whole part, by many things one thing, by one, many, by a thing precedent, a thing consequent, and generally one thing out of another by maner of contrariety to the word which is spoken, _aliudex alio_, which because it seemeth to aske a good, quick, and pregnant capacitie, and is not for an ordinarie or dull wit so to do, I chose to call him the figure not onely of conceit after the Greeke originall, but also of quick conceite. As for example we will giue none because we will speake of him againe in another place, where he is ranged among the figures _sensable_ apperteining to clauses.