Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/826

 OBSERVATIONS.

Hyperbaton is the transposition of words; as, "He wanders earth around."&mdash;Cowper "Rings the world with the vain stir."&mdash;''Id. "Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you."&mdash;Acts'', xvii, 23. "&lsquo;Happy&rsquo;, says Montesquieu, &lsquo;is that nation whose annals are tiresome.&rsquo;"&mdash;Corwin, in Congress, 1847. This figure is much employed in poetry. A judicious use of it confers harmony, variety, strength, and vivacity upon composition. But care should be taken lest it produce ambiguity or obscurity, absurdity or solecism.

SECTION IV.&mdash;FIGURES OF RHETORIC.
A Figure of Rhetoric is an intentional deviation from the ordinary application of words. Several of this kind of figures are commonly called Tropes, i.e., turns; because certain words are turned from their original signification to an other.