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It has been imagined by an ingenious Author, that terror is the fource of the fublime; and that no objects have this character, but fuch, as produce impreflions of pain and danger. Many terrible objects are indeed highly fublime; nor does grandeur refufe alliance with the idea of danger. But the fublime does not consist wholly in modes of danger and pain. In many grand objects there is not the least coincidence with terror; as in the magnificent profpect of widely extended plains, and of the starry firmament; or in the moral difpofi tions and fentiments, which we contemplate with high admiration. In many painful and terrible objects also, it is evident, there is no fort of grandeur. The ampu

tation of a limb, or the bite of a fnake, is in the highest degree terrible; but they are deftitute of all claim whatever to fublimity. It feems juft to allow that mighty force or power, whether attended by terror or not, whether employed in protecting or alarming us, has a bet-. ter title, than any thing yet mentioned, to be the fundamental quality of the fublime. There appears to be no fublime object, into the idea of which strength and force either enter not directly, or are not at least intimately affociated by conducting our thoughts to fome astonishing power, as concerned in the production of the object.

THE foundation of the Sublime in Compofition

must always be laid in the nature of the object described. Unless it be fuch an object, as, if presented to our fight, if exhibited to us in reality, would excite ideas of that elevating, that awful, and magnificent kind, which we call Sublime; the defcription, however finely drawn, is not entitled to be placed under this clafs. This excludes all objects, which are merely beautiful,. gay or elegant. Befide the object must not only in itself be fublime, but it must be placed before us in fuch a light, as is best calculated to give us a clear and full impreffion of it; it must be described with ftrength, concisenefs, and fimplicity. This depends chiefly upon the lively impreffion, which the poet or orator has of the object, which he exhibits; and upon his being deeply affected and animated by the fublime idea, which he would convey. If his own feeling be languid, he can never infpire his reader with any strong emotion. Inftances, which on this fubject are extremely neceffary, will clearly fhow the importance of all thefe requifites..

It is chiefly among antient authors, that we are to, look for the most striking instances of the fublime.. The early ages of the world and the uncultivated state. of fociety were peculiarly favorable to the emotions of fublimity. The genius of men was then very prone to admiration and aftonishment. Meeting continually new and strange objects, their imagination was kept glowing,

and their paffions were often raised to the utmoft. They thought and expreffed themselves boldly without reftraint. In the progrefs of fociety the genius and manners of men have undergone a change more favorable to accuracy, than to ftrength or fublimity...

Of all writings, antient or modern, the Sacred Scrip tures afford the most striking inftances of the fublime. In them the defcriptions of the Supreme Being are won-derfully noble, both from the grandeur of the object, and the manner of representing it. What an affem-blage of awful and fublime ideas is presented to us in that paffage of the eighteenth pfalm, where an appear ance of the Almighty is described !: "In my diftrefs I ❝ called upon the Lord he heard my voice out of his "temple, and my cry came before him. Then the "earth fhook and trembled; the foundations of the "hills were moved; because he was wroth. He bow "ed the heavens, and came down, and darkness was "under his feet; and he did ride upon a cherub, and "did fly; yea he did fly upon the wings of the wind.. "He made darkness his fecret place; his pavilion “ round about him were dark waters and thick clouds "of the sky." The circumstances of darkness and terror are here applied with propriety and fuccefs for heightening the fublime.

The celebrated inftance, given by Longinus, from Mofes, "God faid, let there be light; and there was. light," belongs to the true fublime; and its fublimi

ty arises from the ftrong conception, it conveys, of an effort of power producing its effect with the utmost speed and facility. A fimilar thought is magnificently expanded in the following paffage of Ifaiah (chap. xxiv. 24, 27, 28.) "Thus faith the Lord, thy Redeemer, "and he, that formed thee from the womb; I am "the Lord, that maketh all things; that stretcheth "forth the heavens alone; that fpreadeth abroad the "earth by myfelf; that faith to the deep, be dry, and "I will dry up thy rivers; that faith of Cyrus, he is my fhepherd, and fhall perform all my pleasure ; even saying to Jerufalem, thou shalt be built; and to "the Temple, thy foundation fhall be laid."

Homer has in all ages been univerfally admired for fublimity; and he is indebted for much of his grandeur to that native and unaffected fimplicity, which characterizes his manner. His defcriptions of conflicting armies; the spirit, the fire, the rapidity, which he throws into his battles, present to every reader of the Iliad frequent inftances of fublime writing. The majesty of his warlike fcenes is often heightened in a high degree by the introduction of the gods. In the twentieth book, where all the gods take part in the engagement, according as they feverally favor either the Grecians or the Trojans, the poet appears to put forth one of his higheft efforts, and the defcription rifes into the most awful magnificence. All nature appears in commotion. Jupiter thunders in the heavens; Neptune ftrikes the earth with his trident; the fhips, the city, and the

mountains shake; the earth trembles to its centre ; Pluto ftarts from his throne, fearing, left the fecrets of the infernal regions should be laid open to the view of mortals. We fhall transcribe Mr. Pope's tranflation of this paffage; which, though inferior to the original, is highly animated and fublime.

But, when the Powers defcending fwell'd the fight,
Then tumult rofe, fierce rage, and pale affright.
Now thro' the trembling shores Minerva calls,
And now she thunders from the Grecian walls.
Mars, hovering o'er his Troy, his terror shrouds
In gloomy tempests, and a night of clouds i
Now thro' each Trojan heart he fury pours
With voice divine from Ilion's topmoft towers;
Above the Sire of gods his thunder rolls,
And peals on peals redoubled rend the poles.
Beneath stern Neptune shakes the folid ground,
The forests wave, the mountains nod around;
Thro' all her fummits tremble Ida's woods,
And from their fources boil her hundred floods :
Troy's turrets totter on the rocking plain,
And the tofs'd navies beat the heaving main;

Deep in the difmal region of the dead

The infernal Monarch rear'd his horrid head,

Leap't from his throne, left Neptune's arm should lay
His dark dominions open to the day,

And pour in light on Pluto's drear abodes,

Abhorr'd by men, and dreadful e'en to Gods.

Such wars the Immortals wage; fuch horrors rend
The world's vast concave, when the gods contend.

Concifenefs and fimplicity will ever be found effential

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