How oft, amidst Thick clouds and dark, does Heaven's all-ruling Sire Circles his throne. Par. Lost, Book II. 263. 394. OBSCURITY, we are farther to remark, is not unfavourable to the sublime. Though it render the object indistinct, the impression, however, may be great; for as an ingenious author has well observed, it is one thing to make an idea clear, and another to make it affecting to the imagination; and the imagination may be strongly affected, and, in fact, often is so, by objects of which we have no clear conception. Illus. Thus we see, that almost all the descriptions given us of the appearances of supernatural beings, carry some sublimity, though the conceptions which they afford us be confused and indistinct. Their sublimity arises from the ideas, which they always convey, of superior power and might, joined with an awful obscurity. Example. We may see this fully exemplified in the following noble passage of the Book of Job: "In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: it stood still; but I could not discern the form thereof; an image was before my eyes; there was silence; and I heard a voice-shall mortal man be more just than God ?”* Scholium. No ideas, it is plain, are so sublime as those taken from the Supreme Being; the most unknown, but the greatest of all objects; the infinity of whose nature, and the eternity of whose duration, joined with the omnipotence of his power, though they surpass our conceptions, yet exalt them to the highest. In general, all objects that are greatly raised above us, or far removed from us, either in space or in time, are apt to strike us as great. Our viewing them as through the mist of distance or antiquity, is favourable to the impressions of their sublimity. $95. As obscurity, so disorder too, is very compatible with grandeur; nay, frequently heightens it. Few things that are strictly regular, and methodical, appear sublime. Illus. We see the limits on every side: we feel ourselves confined; there is no room for the mind's exerting any great effort. Exact proportion of parts, though it enters often into the beautiful, is much disregarded in the sublime. A great mass of rocks, thrown together by the hand of nature, with wildness and confusion, strike the mind with more grandeur than if they had been adjusted to one another with the most accurate symmetry. Obs. In the feeble attempts which human art can make towards producing grand objects, (feeble, doubtless, in comparison with the physical powers of nature,) greatness of dimensions always constitutes a principle part. No pile of building can convey any idea of sublimity, pnless it be ample and lofty. There is, too, in architecture, what is * Jok iv. 13. called greatness of manner; which seems chiefly to arise from presenting the object to us in one full point of view; so that it shall make its impression whole, entire. and undivided upon the mind. A Gothic cathedral raises ideas of grandeur in our minds, by its size, its height, its awful obscurity, it strength, its antiquity, and its durability. 396. There still remains to be mentioned one class of sublime objects, which may be called the moral, or sentimental sublime; arising from certain exertions of the human mind; from certain affections, and actions, of oùr fellow creatures. Illus. These will be found to be all, or chiefly of that class, which comes under the head of magnauimity, or heroism; and they produce an effect extremely similar to what is produced by the view of grand objects in nature; filling the mind with admiration, and elevating it above itself. Example 1.-Somerset. Ah! Warwick. Warwick, wert thou as we are The Queen From France hath brought a puissant power Third Part of Henry VI. Act V. Scene 2. Analysis. Such a sentiment from a man expiring of his wounds is truly heroic; and must elevate the mind to the greatest height that can be done by a single expression. Example 2. Porus, taken prisoner by Alexander, after a gallant defence, and asked, How he wished to be treated? answered, “Like a king." 3. Cæsar chiding the pilot, who was afraid to set out with him in a storm, "Quid times? Cæsarem vehis;" is another good instance of this sentimental sublime. Corol. Wherever, in some critical and high situation, we behold a man uncommonly intrepid, and resting upon himself; superior to passion and to fear; animated by some great principle to the contempt of popular opinion, of selfish interest, of dangers, or of death; there we are struck with a sense of the sublime. (See Scholia 2. Art. 419.) 397. High virtue is the most natural and fertile source of this moral sublimity. However, on some occasions, where virtue either has no place, or is but imperfectly displayed, yet if extraordinary vigour and force of mind be discovered, we are not insensible to a degree of grandeur in the character; and from the splendid conqueror, or the daring conspirator, whom we are far from approving, we cannot withhold our admiration. Example. The sublime in natural, and the sublime in moral objects, are brought before us in one view, and compared together, in the fol Jowing beautiful passage of Akenside's Pleasures of the Imagination Look then abroad through nature; to the range Scholia 1. We have now enumerated a variety of instances, both in inanimate objects and in human life, where the sublime appears. all these instances, the emotion raised in us is of the same kind, although the objects that produce the emotion be of widely different kinds. 2. A question next arises, whether we are able to discover some one fundamental quality, in which all these different objects agree, and which is the cause of their producing an emotion of the same nature in our minds? Various hypotheses have been formed concerning this. 3. Some have imagined that amplitude or great extent, joined with simplicity, is either immediately, or remotely, the fundamental quality of whatever is sublime; but we have seen that amplitude is confined to one species of sublime objects; and cannot, without violent straining, be applied to them all. 4. Again, terror has been supposed the source of the sublime, and that no objects have this character but such as produce impressions of pain and danger. It is indeed true, that many terrible objects are highly sublime and that grandeur does not refuse an alliance with the idea of danger. But then this seems to stretch the theory too far; for the sublime does not consist wholly in modes of danger, or of pain. The proper sensation of sublimity appears to be distinguishable from the sensation of either of these; and, on several occasions, to be entirely separated from them. 5. In many grand objects, there is no coincidence with terror at all; as in the magnificent prospect of wide extended plains, and of the starry firmament; or in the moral dispositions and sentiments, which we view with high admiration; and in many painful and terrible objects also, it is clear, there is no sort of grandeur. The amputation of a limb, or the bite of a snake, are exceedingly terrible; but are destitute of all claim whatever to sublimity. 6. Mighty force or power, whether accompanied with terror or not, whether employed in protecting or in alarming us, has perhaps a better title than any thing that has yet been mentioned, to be the fundamental quality of the sublime; as, after the review which we have taken, there does not occur any sublime object, into the idea of which, power, or strength, or force, does not enter, either directly, or, at least, intimately associated with the idea, by leading our thoughts to some as tonishing power, as concerned in the production of the object. CHAPTER V. THE SUBLIME IN WRITING. $98. HAVING treated of grandeur or sublimity, in external objects, the way seems now to be cleared, for treating, with more advantage, of the description of such objects; or, of what is called the sublime in writing. The foundation of the sublime in composition, must always be laid in the nature of the object described. Illus. 1. Unless it be such an object as, if presented to our eyes, if exhibited to us in reality, would raise ideas of that elvating, that awful, and magnificent kind, which we call sublime; the description, however finely drawn, is not entitled to come under this class. This excludes all objects that are merely beautiful, gay, or elegant. 2. In the next place, the object must not only, in itself, be sublime, but it must be set before us in such a light as is most proper to give us a clear and full impression of it; it must be described with strength, with conciseness, and simplicity. This depends principally, upon the lively impression which the poet, or orator, has of the object which hẹ exhibits; and upon his being deeply affected, and warmed, by the sublime idea which he would convey. If his own feeling be languid, he can never inspire us with any strong emotion. Instances, which are extremely necessary on this subject, will clearly shew the importance of all the requisites which we have just now meationed. 399. It is, generally speaking, among the most ancient authors, that we are to look for the most striking instances of the sublime. The early ages of the world, and the rude unimproved state of society, are peculiarly favorable to the strong emotions of sublimity. Illus. The genius of men is then much turned to admiration and astonishment. Meeting with many objects, to them new and strange, their imagination is kept glowing, and their passions are often raised to the utmost. They think, and express themselves boldly, and without restraint. In the progress of society, the genius and manners of men undergo a change more favourable to accuracy, than to strength or sublimity. (See Art. 31 and 32.) 400. Of all writings, ancient or modern, the sacred Scriptures afford us the highest instances of the sublime. The descriptions of the Deity, in them, are wonderfully noble; both from the grandeur of the object, and the manner of representing it. Example 1. What an assemblage, for instance, of awful and sublime ideas is presented to us, in that passage of the 18th Psalm, where an appearance of the Almighty is described ? 2. "In my distress I called upon the Lord; he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills were moved; because he was wroth. He bowed the heavens and came down, and darkness was under his feet; and he did ride upon a cherub, and did fly; yea, he he did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters, and thick clouds of the sky." Analysis. Here, agreeably to the principles established in Chapter IV. (Art. 304.) we see with what propriety and success the circum stances of darkness and terror are applied for heightening the sublime. Example 3. So, also, the prophet Habakkuk, in a similar passage: "He stood and measured the earth; he beheld, and drove asunder the nations. The everlasting mountains were scattered; the perpetual hills did bow; his ways are everlasting. The mountains saw thee; and they trembled. The overflowing of the water passed by. The deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high." 4. There is a passage in the Psalms, which deserves to be mentioned under this head: "God stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumults of the people." Analysis. The joming together two such grand objects, as the raging of the waters, and the tumults of the people, between which there is so much resemblance as to form a very natural association in the fancy, and the representing them both as subject, at one moment, to the command of God, produces a noble effect. 401. Homer is a poet, who, in all ages, and by all critics, has been greatly admired for sublimity; and he owes much of his grandeur to that native and unaffected simplicity, which characterises his manner. Illus. His descriptions of hosts engaging; the animation, the fire, and rapidity, which he throws into his battles, present to every reader of the Iliad, frequent instances of sublime writing. His introduction of the gods, tends often to heighten, in a high degree, the majesty of his warlike scenes. Example 1. Hence Longinus bestows such high and just commendations on that passage in the 15th Book of the Iliad, where Neptune, when preparing to issue forth into the engagement, is described as shaking the mountains with his steps, and driving his chariot along the ocean, 2. Minerva, arming herself for fight, in the 5th Book; and Apollo, in the 15th, leading on the Trojans, and flashing terror with his ægis on the face of the Greeks; are similar instances of great sublimity added to the description of battles, by the appearances of those celestial beings. 3. In the 20th Book, where all the gods take part in the engagement, according as they severally favour either the Grecians or the Trojans, the poet's genius is signally displayed, and the description rises into the most awful magnificence. All nature is represented as in commotion. Jupiter thunders in the heavens; Neptune strikes the earth with his trident; the ships, the city, and the mountains shake; the earth trembles to its centre; Pluto starts from his throne, in dread, lest the secrets of the infernal regions should be laid open to the views of mortals. 402. The works of Ossian abound with examples of the sublime. The subjects of which that author treats, and the manner in which he writes, are particularly favourable to it. Illus. He possesses all the plain and venerable manner of the ancient times. He deals in no superfluous or gaudy ornaments; but throws forth his images with a rapid conciseness, which enables them to strike the mind with the greatest force. Among poets of more polished |