By _figurative expression_, I would be understood to mean, here, that which respects _the pictures or images of things_. And this sort of figurative expression is universally pleasing to us, because it tends to impress on the mind the most distinct and vivid conceptions; and truth of representation being of less account in this way of composition, than the liveliness of it, poetry, as such, will delight in tropes and figures, and those the most strongly and forceably expressed. And though the _application_ of figures will admit of great variety, according to the nature of the subject, and the _management_ of them must be suited to the taste and apprehension of the people, to whom they are addressed, yet, in some way or other, they will find a place in all works of poetry; and they who object to the use of them, only shew that they are not capable of being pleased by this sort of composition, or do, in effect, interdict the thing itself. The ancients looked for so much of this force and spirit of expression in whatever they dignified with the name of _poem_, that Horace tells us it was made a question by some, whether comedy were rightly referred to this class, because it differed only, in point of measure, from mere prose. Idcirco quidam, comoedia necne poema Esset, quaesivere: quod acer spiritus, ac vis, Nec _verbis_, nec rebus inest: nisi quod pede certo Differt sermoni, sermo merus— Sat. l. I. iv. But they might have spared their doubt, or at least have resolved it, if they had considered that comedy adopts as much of this _force and spirit of words_, as is consistent with the _nature_ and _degree_ of that pleasure, which it pretends to give. For the name of poem will belong to every composition, whose primary end is to _please_, provided it be so constructed as to afford _all_ the pleasure, which its kind or _sort_ will permit. II. From the idea of the _end_ of poetry, it follows, that not only figurative and tropical terms will be employed in it, as _these_, by the images they convey, and by the air of novelty which such indirect ways of speaking carry with them, are found most delightful to us, but also that FICTION, in the largest sense of the word, is essential to poetry. For its purpose is, not to delineate truth simply, but to present it in the most taking forms; not to reflect the real face of things, but to illustrate and adorn it; not to represent the fairest objects only, but to represent them in the fairest lights, and to heighten all their beauties up to the possibility of their natures; nay, to _outstrip_ nature, and to address itself to our wildest fancy, rather than to our judgment and cooler sense. Οὔτ’ ἐπιδερκτὰ τάδ’ ἀνδράσιν, οὔτ’ ἐπακουστὰ, Οὔτε νόῳ περίληπτα— As sings one of the profession[1], who seems to have understood his privileges very well.