The Greek for the soul of man means 'wind'; and the Hebrew, 'breath.'

Again, the spirit, its desires and emotions, are named from the various parts of the body in which they were once believed to reside. In Hebrew, the mind and understanding are named from the heart, the liver, and the kidneys. The bowels' signifies mercy; 'the flesh,' lust; 'the nose,' anger-long of nose,' patient, 'short of nose,' irritable. In Greek, the diaphragm is used for the understanding; the liver, for feeling; the nostrils, for contempt; the stomach and the bile, for anger; the breast, for courage. In Latin, the nostrils are applied to taste and refinement; the nose, to satire; the eyebrow, to disdain; the throat, to gluttony. Similarly, we use the blood for passion (young blood'), the phlegm for dulness, the spleen for envy. 'Sanguine hopes' means literally bloody hopes, and 'a melancholy man' means properly a man whose bile is black.

Some of the metaphors in use among savage races are highly picturesque. The Kaffirs denote great dexterity by 'flying ant'; a dependant by inja, 'dog'; death by quanka, 'to be snapped asunder'; pride by 'to eat one's self.' The Malays signify affront by 'charcoal on the face'; malice by 'rust of the heart'; impudence by 'face of board'; sincerity by 'white heart.'

Scarcely less ingenious are the metaphors of the Chinese. Capriciousness is expressed by 'three mornings four evenings'; cunning speech by 'convenient hindteeth'; persuasive speech by convenient front-teeth'; disagreement by you east-I west.'

Utility. If figures are a necessity, it is needless to add — except, perhaps, to emphasize it — that they are in a high degree serviceable. This, indeed, has been said and insisted upon repeatedly, and is copiously illustrated by the examples. Their preeminent value appears in the

conveyance of moral and religious instruction; for things of a spiritual nature, as observed above, cannot be conceived except by borrowing our notions of them from things visible or familiar to the senses. In adapting such instruction to simple understandings, whose words are few and of material import, the more striking the figure, the more impressive the lesson; for the figure communicates an idea by an image-gives to the thought a shape. This consideration, coupled with the paucity of words in the Hebrew language, accounts largely for the extensive use of figures by the sacred writers. Iniquity, or guilt, is expressed pictorially by a spotted garment'; vain pursuits, by feeding on ashes'; a sinful life, by 'a crooked. path'; misery, by drinking the cup of astonishment'; prosperity, by the candle of the Lord shining on our head.' In the book of Job,' says Renan, God puts sins in a sack, seals it, and flings it behind his back '— all which means to forget. Christ is 'the true vine,' 'the branch,' the Lamb that was slain,' 'the Lion of the tribe of Judah.'

The point here to be distinctly noticed is, that figures not only express thought that plain language cannot express, but in other instances, express thought more forcibly than literal language can express it. Consider, also, the following:

'The news was a dagger to his heart.'

'Canst thou minister unto a mind diseased
Pluck from the heart a rooted sorrow?'

A fine lady is a squirrel-headed thing, with small airs and small notions about as applicable to the business of life as a pair of tweezers to the clearing of a forest.-George Eliot.

What point and force does Macaulay give to his plea for thorough study by the use of the following simile!

'Rumford, it is said, proposed to the Elector of Bavaria a scheme for feeding his soldiers at a much cheaper rate than formerly. His

plan was simply to compel them to masticate their food thoroughly. A small quantity thus eaten would, according to that famous projector, afford more sustenance than a large meal hastily devoured. I do not know how Rumford's proposition was received; but to the mind, I believe it will be found more nutritious to digest a page than to devour a volume.'

Pleasure. Again, figures may be employed not to explain or enforce a thought, but to adorn it, though it may be doubted whether a thought can ever be adorned without also being rendered more effective for the purpose in hand. As ornament, they are the bright gems in the rough rock, the foliage and bloom of thought. They charm us by the delightful visions which they present to our imagination. Without them, thought would be spiritless and impoverished, as would be our minds without taste, fancy, and affection. The following are rich in imaginative beauty:

'Full many a glorious morning have I seen
Flatter the mountain tops with sovereign eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green.'

I've dreamed of sunsets when the sun supine
Lay rocking on the ocean like a god,
And threw his weary arms far up the sky,

And with vermilion-tinted fingers

Toy'd with the tresses of the evening star.-Holland.

Now morn, her rosy steps in the eastern clime
Advancing, sow'd the earth with orient pearl.-Milton.

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers

From the seas and the streams;

I bear light shade for the leaves when laid

In their noon-day dreams.

From my wings are shaken the dews that waken

The sweet buds every one,

When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,

As she dances about the sun.

I wield the flail of the lashing hail,

And whiten the green plains under.

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'With rosy fingers unbarr'd the gates of light.'

'Each purple peak, each flinty spire

Was bathed in floods of living fire.'

'A dazzling deluge reigns.'

The western waves of ebbing day

Roll'd o'er the glen their level way.'

The sanguine sunrise, with his meteor eyes,

And his burning plumes outspread.'

But yonder comes the powerful king of day
Rejoicing in the east.'

3. They give new beauty to language. This statement needs no further illustration.

4. They give impressiveness to language, by presenting the object of thought in a clearer and more striking view than literal terms could give. The following, among innumerable instances, will serve to illustrate —

'As night to stars, woe lustre gives to man.'

'I'll use you for my mirth when you are waspish.'
'Thoughts rush in stormy darkness through the soul.'
'It broke the Sabbath stillness round.'

'You say that Ireland is a millstone about our necks.'

A heart boiling with passion will always send up infatuating fumes to the head.'

5. They give elevation and dignity to thought when used judiciously. Compare,

'Thou'rt purpling now, O Sun, the vines of Canaan,

And crowning with rich light the cedar tops of Lebanon,' with

'The sun is shining on the vines of Canaan and the cedar tops of Lebanon.'

6. They condense thought, enabling us to express much in little. This is seen whenever we attempt to render figurative terms into plain ones—the result is a multiplication of words. We recall the ingenious device of a