DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48955#0044
38 • FIGURES. Ch. XX.
expression , till the reader be warmed and prepa-
red. For that reason, a hyperbole in the be-
ginning of a work can never be in its place. Ex-
ample :
Jam pauca aratro jugera' regi®
Moles relinquent.
Horat. Carm. lib. 2. ode 15.
The nicest point of all , is to ascertain the natu-
ral limits of a'hyperbole, beyond which being
overslrained it hath a bad effefi. Longinus , in
the above-cited chapter , with great propriety of
thought, enters a caveat against a hyperbole of
this kind : he compares it to a bow-siring, which
relaxes by overstraining , and produceth an effect
diressly opposite to what is intended. To ascer-
<taih any precise boundary , would be difficult , if
not impracticable.' Mine shall be a humbler talk,
which is, to give a specimen of what I reckon
overflrained hyperboles ; and I shall be brief upon
them , because examples are -to be found every
where: no fault is more common among writers
of inferior rank ; and irissances are found even
among classical writers; witness the following hy-
perbole , too bold even for a Hptspur.
Hotspur , talking of Mortimer :
In Engle opposition hand to hand.
He did confound the belt part of an hour
expression , till the reader be warmed and prepa-
red. For that reason, a hyperbole in the be-
ginning of a work can never be in its place. Ex-
ample :
Jam pauca aratro jugera' regi®
Moles relinquent.
Horat. Carm. lib. 2. ode 15.
The nicest point of all , is to ascertain the natu-
ral limits of a'hyperbole, beyond which being
overslrained it hath a bad effefi. Longinus , in
the above-cited chapter , with great propriety of
thought, enters a caveat against a hyperbole of
this kind : he compares it to a bow-siring, which
relaxes by overstraining , and produceth an effect
diressly opposite to what is intended. To ascer-
<taih any precise boundary , would be difficult , if
not impracticable.' Mine shall be a humbler talk,
which is, to give a specimen of what I reckon
overflrained hyperboles ; and I shall be brief upon
them , because examples are -to be found every
where: no fault is more common among writers
of inferior rank ; and irissances are found even
among classical writers; witness the following hy-
perbole , too bold even for a Hptspur.
Hotspur , talking of Mortimer :
In Engle opposition hand to hand.
He did confound the belt part of an hour