Page:Poetical Works of the Right Hon. Geo. Granville.djvu/75

Preſenting things impoſſible to view,45
They wander thro’ incredible to true:
Falſehoods thus mix’d, like metals are refin’d,
And truth, like ſilver, leaves the droſs behind.^{[Explanation 1]}
Thus poetry has ample ſpace to ſoar,
Nor needs forbidden regions to explore;50
Such vaunts as his who can with patience read
Who thus deſcribes his hero ſlain and dead;
“Kill’d as he was, inſenſible of death,
He ſtill fights on, and ſcorns to yield his breath.”^{[Explanation 2][1]}

1. Hyperboles are of diverſe ſorts, and the manner of introducing them is different: ſome are, as it were, naturalized and eſtabliſhed by a cuſtomary way of expreſſion; as when we ſay ſuch a one is as ſwift as the wind, whiter than ſnow, or the like. Homer, ſpeaking of Nereus, calls him beauty itſelf; Martial of Zoilus, lewdneſs itſelf. Such hyperboles lie indeed, but deceive us not; and therefore Seneca terms them lies that readily conduct our imagination to truths, and have an intelligible ſignification, though the expreſſion be ſtrained beyond credibility. Cuſtom has likewiſe familiarized another way for hyperboles, for example, by irony; as when we ſay of ſome infamous woman ſhe is a civil perſon, where the meaning is to be taken quite oppoſite to the letter. These few figures are mentioned only for example ſake; it will be underſtood that all others are to be uſed with the like care and diſcretion.
2. I needed not to have travelled ſo far for an extravagant flight; I remember one of Britiſh growth of the like nature:
   
   See thoſe dead bodies hence convey’d with care,
   Life may perhaps return—with change of air.
   But I chuſe rather to correct gently, by foreign examples, hoping that ſuch as are conſcious of the like exceſſes will take the hint, and ſecretly reprove themſelves. It may be poſſible for ſome tempers to maintain rage and indignation to the laſt gaſp; but the ſoul and body once parted, there muſt neceſſarily be a determination of action.
   
   Quodcunque oftendis mihi ſic incredulus odi.
   I cannot forbear quoting, on this occaſion, as an example for the preſent purpoſe, two noble lines of Jaſper Main’s, in the collection of the Oxford Verſes printed in the year 1643, upon the death of my grandfather Sir Bevil Granville, ſlain in the heat of action at the battle of Lanſdowne. The poet, after having deſcribed the fight, the ſoldiers, animated by the example oftheirleader, and enraged at his death, thus concludes,
   
   Thus he being ſlain, his action fought anew,
   And the dead conquer’d whilſt the living ſlew.
   This is agreeable to truth, and within the compaſs of nature: it is thus only that the dead can act.

1. Arioſto.