APOSTROPHE-INTERROGATION-INNUENDO-MEIOSIS. § 482. In the four figures thus grouped together, the opposition to the literal truth is oblique, and not direct. There is no assertion of what is not literally true, but there is in each case, something implied, which is at variance with the facts. § 483. In Apostrophe the figurative element consists in the address of the sentence or passage. If it occurs in a discourse addressed to a certain party, this figure involves i turning away from that party to address another, sometimes present, but more generally absent or dead, and for the time ideally conceived as a person present. But apostrophe does not always occur in a discourse; some times it constitutes the whole discourse. In such case, the figure consists in directing the address to an object that is not literally capable of receiving it. Christ's address to Jerusalem, in Matt. xxiii., 37-39, is a wellknown instance of Apostrophe. So also St. Paul's address to Death and the Grave in 1 Cor. xv., 55. Cicero's First Oration against Catiline opens with an apostrophe to Catiline himself. Also Satan's Soliloquy, found in the first part of Book Fourth of Paradise Lost, begins with an apostrophe to the sun; and Milton himself in the opening of Book Third makes an apostrophe to Light;-both celebrated as among the finest passages of that noble poem. The wellknown piece of Halleck's called Marco Bozzaris, ends with the following apostrophe. "Bozzaris, with the storied brave Greece nurtured in her glory's time, E'en in her own proud clime. We tell thy doom without a sigh; For thou art Freedom's now, and Fame's- That were not born to die." § 484. The figure of Interrogation consists in asking a question (in form), not for the purpose of gaining information, but of more strongly asserting the answer which the questioner evidently expects the hearer mentally to make. The expectation of the questioner is indicated by his use or omission of the negative adverb qualifying the verb: if an affirmative answer is expected, the negative particle is used; as, "And does not Fame speak of me too?" But if a negative answer is expected, then the question is without the negative adverb; as, "Hast Thou eyes of flesh? or seest Thou as man seeth?" A kind of negative answer is likewise expected, when a figurative interrogation uses an interrogative word, such as how, where, when, why, or what. EXAMPLES. "Why stand we here idle?"-Implying there is no good reason for it.- "What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have?”— Implying that they can not easily tell what they wished to have.— Then follows that remarkably thrilling interrogation,-" Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery." § 485. Innuendo consists in suggesting a thought indirectly, sometimes by the assertion of what would logically lead to the unexpressed meaning, at other times, by the bare allusion of some circumstance which the author expressly declines to enlarge upon. In the former case it is called Insinuation; in the latter, Apophasis. EXAMPLES. Fuller said of Camden, the antiquarian,-"He had a number of coins of the Roman Emperors, and a good many more of the later English kings;"-meaning that he was rich. This is Insinuation. "Your idleness, not to mention your impertinence and dishonesty, disqualifies you for the situation." This is Apophasis. § 486. Meiosis consists in suggesting a fact or truth by asserting what falls far short of the actual case. Thus to say "He was not without a good opinion of his own abilities," is to assert by implication that he had a high opinion of his own abilities. "Rome was not built in a day," implies that it took a long time to build the great city. EXERCISE. Compose apostrophes to the following objects, embracing in each one either an interrogation, an innuendo, or a meiosis. These are the two remaining figures, left thus to the last, because they could not without some violence be included in any of the foregoing groups of figures. § 487. Onomatopeia consists in using a word or group of words to express an object of sound or motion, the very utterance of which tends, by similarity, to suggest the object it signifies. "Loud sounds the ax, redoubling strokes on strokes, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows. The hoarse, rough verse should, like the torrent, roar." "Next Anger rushed, his eyes on fire, In lightnings owned his secret stings; In one rude clash he struck the lyre, And swept with hurried hand the strings." "With woeful measures wan Despair Low sullen sounds his grief beguiled; A solemn, strange, and mingled air, 'Twas sad by fits, by starts 't was wild." § 488. Climax consists in so arranging the words of a series, or the parts of a sentence, that the least impressive shall stand first, and the successive members of the series or sentence grow in strength unto the last. EXAMPLES. "Sensualists, by their frequent indulgences and gross excesses, enfeeble their bodies, wear out their spirits, and debase their minds." "It is an outrage to bind a Roman citizen; to scourge him is an atrocious crime; to put him to death is almost a parricide; but to CRUCIFY him-what shall I call it ?" "The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Having now learned the nature and form of all the principal figures used in discourse, let the pupil be required to point out the various figures that occur in his reading lessons, and also to produce instances of the different kinds of figure, searched out by himself from such books and periodicals as he may have access to. CHAPTER XXXIII. CRITICISM. At this stage of the pupil's progress he will be prepared to engage in the most difficult and test-affording exercise of Criticism. It is not to be expected that the immature minds of youth can perform any very searching analysis of a literary work or extract, or form judgments upon it that would be acknowledged as authoritative. Nevertheless it is well for each one to be trained to independence of thought, to close scrutiny of language and reasoning, and to the formation of opinions, and the support of them by argument, concerning what they read. As introductory to this exercise, it is recommended that the teacher first lead the minds of the pupils by questions concerning any selected piece; requiring these questions to be answered in a critical essay on the given piece. The following model will show what is recommended. EXTRACT FROM CARLYLE. 1. Curious is it to consider how different appearance is from reality, and under what different shape and circumstances the truly most important man of any given period might be found. Little can we |