_Figurative language_ is that in which the ordinary names, qualities, and actions of things are ascribed to _other things_ with which they have been associated. As an example of the use of language which is _figurative_, we find _tears_, that are the _effects_ of grief, called by the name of the _cause_; thus: "Streaming _grief_ his faded cheek bedewed." On the contrary, we find the cause called by the name of the effects in this sentence: "And _hoary hairs_ received the reverence due." Here age is called by the name of one of its effects. The indiscriminate application of names to things which have been connected by _time_, _place_, or _resemblance_, abounds in figurative language. The following is an example where one object is called by the name of another with which it has been connected by _place_: "The _groves_ give forth their songs." Here birds are called by the name of the groves with which they have been so often united as it respects _place_. The following is an example where an object is called by the name of another with which it is connected by _time_: "And _night_ weighed down his heavy eyes." Here _sleep_ is called by the name of _night_, with which it has been so often united. The following is an example where one object is called by the name of another with which it has been connected by the principle of _resemblance_: "You took her up, a little, tender bud, Just sprouted on a bank." Here a young female is called by the name of an object with which she is connected by the association of resemblance. When one object is thus called by the name of another which it resembles, the figure of speech is called a _metaphor_. When dominion is called a _sceptre_; the office of a bishop, the _lawn_; the profession of Christianity, the _cross_; a dwelling is called a _roof_; and various expressions of this kind, one thing is called by the name of another of which it is a _part_, or with which it has been connected as a circumstance, cause, or effect. Not only do objects which have been united in our perceptions receive each other's _names_, but the _qualities_ of one are often ascribed to the other. The following are examples in which the qualities of the cause are ascribed to the effect, and the qualities of the effect are ascribed to the cause: "An impious mortal gave a _daring_ wound." Here the quality of the _cause_ is ascribed to the _effect_. "The _merry_ pipe is heard." Here the quality of the _effect_ is ascribed to the _cause_. The following is an example where the quality of one thing is ascribed to another connected with it by _time_: "Now _musing_ midnight hallows all the scene." The following is an example of the quality of one thing ascribed to another, connected with it by _place_: "when sapless age Shall bring thy father to his _drooping_ chair."