All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?

Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!" Is. xiv, 4-12.

What a succession of bold poetic strokes we have here; the fir-trees and cedars of Lebanon breaking forth into exultation over the fall of the tyrant; as if their bleeding trunks had felt the blow of his battle-ax, when it smote down the warriors of Judah! Hell from beneath moved up to meet him—and the dead kings introduced as commiserating with mock pity the fall of one whose magnificence and victories had eclipsed their own! That also is a bold personification in the book of Job, where inquiry being made about the place of wisdom, the deep is introduced as answering, "It is not in me," and the sea as replying, "It is not with me." How animated a picture the Psalmist raises when, not content to strike his harp alone, he summons to the choir, to join with him in his anthem, every thing that lives, or moves, or has a being! "Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: fire and hail; snow and vapor; stormy wind fulfilling his word: mountains and all hills; fruitful trees, and all ce

dars: beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl: kings of the earth, and all people; princes and all judges of the earth: both young men and maidens; old men and children: let them praise the name of the Lord; for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven." When any appearance or operation of the Almighty is concerned, the sacred writers are so filled with animated views of his majesty and power, that they represent all nature as if touched with a like animation-the pulses of life throbbing as if one great heart beat throughout creation. Take the following as an example of this: "Before him went the pestilence: the waters saw thee, O God, and were afraid; the mountains saw thee, and trembled. The overflowing of the water passed by; the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high." What a sublime stroke, whose parallel, I venture to say, will not be found in the entire compass of classic poetry, where it is said of Christ that, looking upon the tempestuous sea on rising from sleep, "He rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm!" To speak to the raging tempest-its rushing winds and its crusted waves-with the word of authority, as though Nature in her wildest moods could not fail to recognize the voice of her Lord; could a sublimer personification be conceived! As an example of this figure, where simplicity is combined with great beauty, the following may be cited: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the

firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard." Ps. xix. Addison has paraphrased this thought, with his usual felicity of diction, in his celebrated hymn, which first appeared in No. 465 of the Spectator. Nothing can be conceived more beautiful and sublime than the personification of wisdom which Solomon so frequently introduces. As for example, Prov. viii, 27-31: "When he prepared the heavens I was present; when he described a circle on the face of the deep: when he disposed the atmosphere above; when he established the fountains of the deep: when he published his decree to the sea, that the waters should not pass their bounds: when he planned the foundations of the earth: then was I by him as his offspring; and I was daily his delight; I rejoiced continually before him; I rejoiced in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men." Not less admirable is the Psalmist's personification of the Divine attributes: "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Where shall we find a bolder use of this figure, than where the prophet Habakkuk represents the pestilence as marching before Jehovah when he comes to vengeance, iii, 5; or where Job introduces death and destruction affirming of wisdom that her fame only had come to their ears, xxviii, 22; or where Isaiah, in his tremendous image of Hades,

figures her extending her throat and opening her insatiable and immeasurable jaws, v. 14.

APOSTROPHE.

This figure and the former are derived from the same principle. For the like impulse which, to gratify a plaintive passion, leads us to bestow a momentary sensibility upon an inanimate object, does also incline us to bestow a momentary presence upon a sensible being who is absent. The same desire for sympathy which leads us to address our sorrows to the ocean, on whose shores we are standing, also moves to utter them to the absent friend whom that ocean separates from us. The memory of our former companionship, when we exchanged our feelings, becomes so very lively as to change for the moment from a mere reminiscence into a conviction that the absent one is at our side.

This figure is sometimes joined with personification; things inanimate, to qualify them for listening to our apostrophic appeal, being not only conceived to be present but personified.

Examples of the apostrophe are numerous in the sacred writers, and the figure is often managed with great boldness.

"O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou art quiet? Put thyself up into the scabbard, rest, and be still. How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea-shore? there he hath appointed

it." Jer. xlvii, 6-7. "O death, I will be thy plagues! O grave, I will be thy destruction!" Hos. xiii, 14. "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 1 Cor. xv, 55.

"Descend, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the bare ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no longer be called the tender and the delicate." Is. xlvii, 1. "Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem; loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion." Isa. lii, 1-2.