squares of the English. 6. A thought sometimes hits one. 7. He is as deaf. 8. He was as blind. 9. He is more puzzled. 10. The telegraph stretches its ugly length across the continent. II. Little troops of sparks, scattering as in fear, thread the tangled darks of the chimney. 12. Locomotives with their trains fly to and fro over the continent. 13. Webster's thoughts stand out as plainly to the sight. 14. In Sartor Resartus and in much of modern literature, pantheism gleams and glitters. 15. As we grow old we should grow sweet and mellow.

Direction.-Supply the words like, as, just as, or so, and convert each pair of sentences numbered below, into a single sentence:—

1. Odious habits fasten only on natures that are already enfeebled. Mosses and fungi gather on sickly trees, not on thriving ones. 2. One may speak and write in a style too terse and condensed. Hay and straw must be given to horses in order to distend the stomach. 3. Specific words are more effective than general terms. The edge of a sword cuts deeper than the back of it. 4. Till men are accustomed to freedom, they do not know how to use it. In climates where wine is a rarity, intemperance abounds. 5. Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow. The tortoise reached the goal before the hare. 6. When the presumption is on your side, you should not neglect the advantage. A body of troops able to defend a fortress, when inside of it, may be beaten if they sally forth, and fight in the open field. 7. Gentle means sometimes accomplish what harsh measures cannot. The sun made the traveller take off his coat when the wind failed to do it. 8 To adduce more than is needed to prove your conclusion is suicidal. If one strikes a wedge too violently, the elasticity of the wood throws it out.

LESSON 45.

THE COMPARISON.

Direction.-Bring into the class twenty-five rare comparisons, ten of which you shall have found in your reading, and fifteen shall be of your own coinage. Let some be like those last given in the Lesson

above.

LESSON 46.

THE

METAPHOR.

In the comparison, the relation of likeness between things is, as you have seen, pointed out or asserted. But this relation may be assumed. It being taken for granted that the reader or hearer sees the point of resemblance, the words like, as, just as, and so may be omitted, and the word or words which denote one of the things may be brought over and applied to the other. This assumption of likeness may be of different degrees. We may, for example, say, The stars are night's candles, or, presuming on the reader's or hearer's fuller knowledge of the likeness between the things, stars and candles, we may substitute the name of one for that of the other, and go on to say, Night's candles are burnt out, meaning, of course, that the stars have vanished in the dawn.

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which, assuming the likeness between two things, we apply to one of them the term which denotes the other. This figure is

In almost every

encountered everywhere in speech. sentence that drops from pen or tongue, there are words whose metaphorical significance has so faded out of them that we fail to detect it. Richter has called lan

guage "a dictionary of faded metaphors." Its rhetorical value is the same as that of the comparison, or simile. But the metaphor, briefer than the comparison, leaves more to the reader or hearer to detect and stimulates him to the detection, is a stronger figure, and often has more beauty. Metaphors may be changed into comparisons.

Direction.-Point out the metaphors in these sentences, substitute plain language for them, and note the loss of vividness and beauty :

sire.

1. The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks. 2. Sir James Mackintosh's mind was a vast magazine of knowledge. 3. Charles I. stopped and turned back the tide of loyal feeling. 4. The green corn hath rotted ere his youth attained a beard. 5. Stop my house's ears. 6. The valiant taste of death but once. 7. While trying to prop the fortunes of another, Bacon was in danger of shaking his own. 8. He baits his hook for subscribers. 9. His strong mind reeled under the blow. 10. Keep you in the rear of your affection, out of the shot and danger of deII. The compressed passions of a century exploded in the French Revolution. 12. Antony is but a limb of Cæsar. 13. This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit. 14. Dwell I but in the suburbs of your good pleasure? 15. He can scarcely keep the wolf from his door. 16. It was written at a white heat. 17. Lord Burleigh was a willow and not an oak. 18. Strike while the iron is hot. 19. Ought has deserted the service of the verb owe. 20. Fox winnowed and sifted his phraseology. 21. The fame of the elder Pitt has been overshadowed by that of the son. 22. If, gangrened by state jealousy, I get up here to abate the tithe of a hair from his just fame, may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. 23. Inflections are words that have lost their specific gravity. 24. Murray's eloquence never blazed into

sudden flashes, but its clear, placid, and mellow splendor was never overclouded. 25. We are to judge of a word by reference to its yoke-fellows in the sentence.

Direction.-Recast these sentences, using at least a single metaphor

in each:

I. I have hidden my look. 2. He was out of money. 3. I

know Cæsar would not be cruel but that he sees the Romans are gentle. 4. Talleyrand was cunning. 5. Marshal Ney was brave. 6. One may learn something from trees and brooks. 7. Pitt's fluency and personal advantages were noticed. 8. Keep the friends you have. 9. The common people of Rome were senseless. 10. Time passes. 11. I have forgotten that. 12. Everything favors your plan. 13. He was mild and gentle in his manners, but stern in disposition. 14. One is injured by evil associates. 15. He has committed himself to that policy. Direction. Bring into the class all the metaphors you have time to coin.

LESSON 47.

METAPHORS AND COMPARISONS.

Direction.-Point out the metaphors in the sentences of Lesson 44. Direction. Where you can, change the comparisons in that Lesson into metaphors, and note the effect.

Direction. Where you can, change the metaphors in the preceding Lesson into comparisons, and note the effect.

Let a

Direction. Bring into the class rare metaphors, a part of them gleaned from your reading, and a part of your own coining. few of these degrade their objects.

LESSON 48.

FADED METAPHORS-SO-CALLED MIXED METAPHORS.

Direction.-Restore the color to these faded metaphors by looking up the etymology of the words italicized:

I. The reason is obvious. 2. The objection is insuperable. 3. The impediments are many. 4. The plague was deadly. 5. Afflictions are needful. 6. The greeting was cordial. 7. His manners were polished. 8. He is ruminating. 9. Inculcate this lesson. 10. It is a salient point. II. It was a dainty gift. 12. His fortune is dilapidated. 13. Ponder my sayings. 14. He supports his mother. 15. God succors the weak, comforts the desponding, and corrects the erring. 16. I am astonished. 17. It is wrong to give such a man a farthing. 18. Books are a necessity. 19. He and I are rivals. 20. The exile attracts attention. 21. The town was besieged. 22. Quicksilver is heavy. 23. Pardon this digression. 24. He is a desultory reader. 25. The statement is extravagant. 26. We carry umbrellas. 27. The evil is exaggerated. 28. His health is robust.

Direction. Find and bring into the class faded metaphors, and point out the image in them.

SO-CALLED MIXED METAPHORS.--Whenever a metaphor runs through two or more words, it is always possible that the parts of it contained in the several words may not be of a piece-may not unite to form a homogeneous whole. The metaphor which is begun is not completed, but a fragment of another is added instead; what is begun in plain language ends metaphorically, or the metaphor begun is pieced out with plain language. Metaphors of this kind, if metaphors they may be called, are like the mythical mermaid what