variety produce in our minds the fenfation of beau-ty; any reason, we can affign, is extremely imperfect. Thofe first principles of internal fenfation nature ap pears to have ftudioufly concealed...

It is fome confolation however, that, although the efficient caufe is obfcure, the final cause of those sensa- · tions lies commonly more open; and here we muft ob-ferve the ftrong impreffion, which the powers of Tafte and Imagination are calculated to give us of the benevolence of our Creator. By these powers he hath widely enlarged the sphere of the pleasures of human life; and thofe too of a kind the most pure and innocent. The neceffary purposes of life might have been. anfwered, though our fenfes of feeing and hearing had only ferved to diftinguifli external objects, without giving us any of those refined and delicate sensations of beauty and grandeur, with which we are now fo much delighted.

The pleasure, which arifes from fublimity or gran-deur, deferves to be fully confidered; because it has a character more precife and diftinctly marked, than any other of the pleasures of the imagination, and because it coincides more directly with our main fubject. The fimpleft form of external grandeur is feen in the boundless profpects, prefented to us by nature; fuch, as widely extended plains, of which the eye, can find no limits; the firmament of heaven; or the boundless expanfe of the ocean.. All vaftnefs produces the impreffion

vaft and

of fublimity. Space however, extended in length, makes not so strong an impreffion, as height or depth. Though a boundless plain is a grand object; yet a lofty mountain, to which we look up, or an awful precipice or tower, whence we look down on objects below, is ftill more fo. The exceffive grandeur of the firmament arifes from its height, added to its boundless extent; and that of the ocean, not from its extent alone, but from the continual motion and irresistible force of that mass of waters. Wherever space is concerned, it is evident, that amplitude or greatnefs of extent in one dimenfion or other is neceffary to grandeur. Remove all bounds from any object, and you immediately render it fublime. Hence infinite fpace, endless numbers, and eternal duration fill the mind with great ideas.

The most copious fource of fublime ideas feems to be derived from the exertion of great power and force. Hence the grandeur of earthquakes and burning mountains; of great conflagrations; of the boisterous ocean; of the tempeftuous ftorm; of thunder and lightning; and of all the unusual violence of the elements. A stream, which glides along gently within its banks, is a beautiful object; but, when it rushes down with the impetuofity and noife of a torrent, it immediately becomes a fublime one. A race horse is viewed with pleasure ; but it is the war horfe, "whofe neck is clothed with "thunder," that conveys grandeur in its idea. The engagement of two powerful armies, as it is the highest exertion of human Arength, combines various fources of

the fublime; and has confequently been ever confidered, as one of the most striking and magnificent spectacles, which can be either presented to the eye, or exhibited to the imagination in defcription.

All ideas of the folemn and awful kind, and even bordering on the terrible, tend greatly to affift the fublime; fuch, as darkness, folitude, and filence. The firmament, when filled with ftars, fcattered in infinite numbers and with fplendid profufion, ftrikes the imagination with more awful grandeur, than when we behold it enlightened by all the fplendor of the fun. The deep found of a great bell, or the ftriking of a great clock, is at any time grand and awful; but, when heard amid the filence and ftillness of night, they become doubly fo. Darkness is very generally applied for adding fublimity to all our ideas of the Deity. "He maketh darkness his pavilion; he dwelleth in the "thick cloud." Thus Milton

-How oft amid

Thick clouds and dark does Heaven's allruling Sire

Choose to refide, his glory unobscured;

And with the majesty of darkness round
Circles his Throne-

Obfcurity is favorable to the fublime. The defcriptions, given us of appearances of fupernatural beings, carry fome fublimity; though the conception, which they afford us, be confufed and indiftin&t. Their fublimity arises from the ideas, which they always convey,

of fuperior power and might connected with awful ob feurity. No ideas, it is evident, are fo fublime, as thofe derived from the Supreme Being, the moft unknown, yet the greatest of all objects; the infinity of whofe nature and the eternity of whofe duration, added to the omnipotence of his power, though they furpafs our con. ceptions, yet exalt them to the highest.

Disorder is also very compatible with grandeur; nay, frequently heightens it. Few things, which are exactly regular and methodical, appear fublime. We fee the limits on every fide; we feel ourfelves confined; there is no room for any confiderable exertion of the mind. Though exact proportion of parts enters often into the beautiful, it is much disregarded in the fublime. A great mafs of rocks, thrown together by the hand of nature with wildnefs and confufion, ftrikes the mind with more grandeur, than if they had been adjusted to each other with the most accurate fymmetry.

There yet remains one class of Sublime Objects to be mentioned, which may be termed the Moral or Sentimental Sublime, arifing from certain exertions of the mind; from certain affections and actions of our fellow creatures. These will be found to be chiefly of that clafs, which comes under the name of Magnanimity or Heroism; and they produce an effect very fimilar to what is produced by a view of grand objects in nature, filling the mind with admiration, and raising it above itself. Wherever in fome critical and dangerous fitua

C

tion we behold a man uncommonly intrepid, and refting folely upon himself; fuperior to paffion and to fear; animated by fome great principle to contempt of popular opinion, of selfish interest, of dangers, or of death; we are there ftruck with a fenfe of the fublime. Thus Porus, when taken by Alexander after a gallant defence, being asked, in what manner he would be treated; answered, “Like a King" and Cæfar chiding the pilot, who was afraid to set out with him in a storm, “Quid times? Cæfarem vehis," are good inftances of the Sentimental Sublimę.

The fublime in natural and in moral objects is prefented to us in one view, and compared together, in the following beautiful paffage of Akenfide's Pleasures of the Imagination.

Look then abroad through nature to the range
Of planets, funs, and adamantine spheres,
Wheeling, unfhaken, thro' the void immense;
And speak, Man; does this capacious scene
With half that kindling majesty dilate
Thy strong conception, as when Brutus rose
Refulgent from, the ftroke of Cæfar's fate
Amid the crowd of Patriots; and his arm
Aloft extending, like eternal Jove,

When guilt brings down the thunder, call'd aloud
On Tully's name, and fhook his crimson steel,
And bade the father of his country hail !
For lo the tyrant proftrate on the dust;

And Rome again is free.