inentur, tigribus agni--'

Hor.

If ordinary Authors would condescend to write as they think, they would
at least be allow'd the Praise of being intelligible. But they really
take Pains to be ridiculous; and, by the studied Ornaments of Style,
perfectly disguise the little Sense they aim at. There is a Grievance of
this Sort in the Common-wealth of Letters, which I have for some time
resolved to redress, and accordingly I have set this Day apart for
Justice. What I mean is, the _Mixture of inconsistent Metaphors_, which
is a Fault but too often found in learned Writers, but in all the
unlearned without Exception.

In order to set this Matter in a clear Light to every Reader, I shall in
the first Place observe, that a Metaphor is a Simile in one Word, which
serves to convey the Thoughts of the Mind under Resemblances and Images
which affect the Senses. There is not any thing in the World, which may
not be compared to several Things, if considered in several distinct
Lights; or, in other Words, the same thing may be expressed by different
Metaphors. But the Mischief is, that an unskilful Author shall run these
Metaphors so absurdly into one another, that there shall be no Simile,
no agreeable Picture, no apt Resemblance, but Confusion, Obscurity, and
Noise. Thus I have known a Hero compared to a Thunderbolt, a Lion, and
the Sea; all and each of them proper Metaphors for impetuosity, Courage
or Force. But by bad Management it hath so happened, that the
Thunder-bolt hath overflowed its Banks; the Lion hath been darted
through the Skies, and the Billows have rolled out of the _Libyan_
Desart.

The Absurdity in this Instance is obvious. And yet every time that
clashing Metaphors are put together, this Fault is committed more or
less. It hath already been said, that Metaphors are Images of things
which affect the Senses. An Image therefore, taken from what acts upon
the Sight, cannot, without Violence, be applied to the Hearing; and so
of the rest. It is no less an impropriety to make any Being in Nature or
Art to do things in its Metaphorical State, which it could not do in its
Original. I shall illustrate what I have said by an Instance which I
have read more than once in Controversial Writers. _The heavy Lashes_,
saith a celebrated Author, _that have dropped from your Pen_, &c. I
suppose this Gentleman having frequently heard of _Gall dropping from a
Pen_, and _being lashed in a Satyr_, he was resolved to have the