verlook, but
enough for our purpose. The sea had gone down, and the wind
was steady and kept the sails quiet; so that there was a
great stillness on the ship, in which I made sure I heard
the sound of muttering voices. A little after, and there
came a clash of steel upon the deck, by which I knew they
were dealing out the cutlasses, and one had been let fall;
and after that silence again."[34]

Comparisons.

The paragraph of comparisons tells what a thing is like and what a
thing is not like. It is much used in description and exposition. It
is often the clearest way to describe an object or to explain a
proposition. One thing may be likened to a number of things, drawing
from each a quality that more definitely pictures it; or it may be
compared with but one, and the likeness may be followed out to the
limit of its value. In the same manner it is often of value to tell
what a thing or a proposition does not resemble, to contrast it with
one or more ideas, and by this means exclude what might otherwise be
confusing. Note that after the negative comparison the paragraph
closes with what it is like, or what it is.

From Macaulay's long comparison of the writings of Milton and Dante,
one paragraph is enough to illustrate the use of contrast.

"Now let us _compare_ with the exact details of Dante the
dim intimations of Milton. We will cite a few examples. The
English poet has never thought of taking the measure of
Satan. He gives us merely a vague idea of vast bulk. In one
passage the fiend lies stretched out, huge in length,
floating many a rood, equal in size to the earth-born
enemies of Jove, or to the sea monster which the mariner
mistakes for an island. When he addresses himself to battle
against the guardian angels, he stands like Teneriffe or
Atlas; his stature reaches the sky. Contrast with these
descriptions the lines in which Dante has described the
gigantic spectre of Nimrod: 'His face seemed to me as long
and as broad as the ball of St. Peter's at Rome, and his
other limbs were in proportion; so that the bank, which
concealed him from the waist downwards, nevertheless showed
so much of him that three tall Germans would in vain have
attempted to reach to his hair.'" ("Essay on Milton.")

The following indicates the use of similarity.

"It is the character of such revolutions that