Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/834



FIGURE X.&mdash;EROTESIS.
"He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?"&mdash;Psalms, xciv, 10. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil."&mdash;Jeremiah, xiii, 23.

FIGURE XI.&mdash;ECPHONESIS.
"O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! O that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of way-faring men, that I might leave my people, and go from them!"&mdash;Jeremiah, ix, 1.

FIGURE XII.&mdash;ANTITHESIS.
"On this side, modesty is engaged; on that, impudence: on this, chastity; on that, lewdness: on this, integrity; on that, fraud: on this, piety; on that, profaneness: on this, constancy; on that, fickleness: on this, honour; on that, baseness: on this, moderation; on that, unbridled passion."&mdash;Cicero. "She, from the rending earth, and bursting skies,   Saw gods descend, and fiends infernal rise;    Here fix'd the dreadful, there the blest abodes;    Fear made her devils, and weak hope her gods."&mdash;Pope.

FIGURE XIII.&mdash;CLIMAX.
"Virtuous actions are necessarily approved by the awakened conscience; and when they are approved, they are commended to practice; and when they are practised, they become easy; and when they become easy, they afford pleasure; and when they afford pleasure, they are done frequently; and when they are done frequently, they are confirmed by habit: and confirmed habit is a kind of second nature."&mdash;Inst., p. 246. "Weep all of every name: begin the wo,   Ye woods, and tell it to the doleful winds;    And doleful winds, wail to the howling hills;    And howling hills, mourn to the dismal vales;    And dismal vales, sigh to the sorrowing brooks;    And sorrwing brooks, weep to the weeping stream;    And weeping stream, awake the groaning deep;    And let the instrument take up the song,    Responsive to the voice&mdash;harmonious wo!"&mdash;Pollok, B. vi, l. 115.

FIGURE XIV.&mdash;IRONY.
"And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, 'Cry aloud; for he is a god: either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in [on] a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked!' "&mdash;1 Kings, xviii, 27.

"After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years; and ye shall know my breach of promise."&mdash;Numbers, xiv, 34. "Some lead a life unblamable and just,   Their own dear virtue their unshaken trust;    They never sin&mdash;or if (as all offend)    Some trivial slips their daily walk attend,    The poor are near at hand, the charge is small,    A slight gratuity atones for all."&mdash;Cowper.

FIGURE XV.&mdash;APOPHASIS, OR PARALIPSIS.
I say nothing of the notorious profligacy of his character; nothing of the reckless extravagance with which he has wasted an ample fortune; nothing of the disgusting intemperance which has sometimes caused him to reel in our streets;&mdash;but I aver that he has not been faithful to our interests,&mdash;has not exhibited either probity or ability in the important office which he holds.