passed on some of his instances, of being foreign to the subject. It belongs to the true sublime; and the sublimity of it arises from the strong conception it gives, of an exertion of power, producing its effect with the utmost speed and facility. A thought of the same kind is magnificently amplified in the following passage of Isaiah (chap. xliv. 24. 27. 28.) "Thus saith 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 spreadeth abroad the earth by myself--that "saith to the deep, be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers; that "saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and shall perform all my plea"sure; even, saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built; and to the tem"ple, thy foundation shall be laid." There is a passage in the psalms, which deserves to be mentioned under this head; "God," says the psalmist "stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumults of the people." The joining 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. 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. 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. Hence Longinus bestows such high and just commendations on that passage, in the xvth 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. Minerva, arming herself for fight in the vth book; and Apollo, in the xvth, leading on the Trojans, and flashing terror with his Egis 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. In the xxth book, where all the gods take part in the engagement, according as they severally favour either the Grecians, or the Trojans, the poet seems to put forth one of the highest efforts, 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, fest the secrets of the infernal region should be laid open to the view of mortals. The passage is worthy of being inserted. Καὶ κορυφαί, Τρώων τε πόλις, καὶ νῆες ̓Αχαιών. Iliad, xx. 47. &c. The works of Ossian (as I have elsewhere shewn) abound with examples of the sublime. The subjects of that author, and the manner in which he writes, are particularly favourable to it. 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 times we are to look for the graces of correct writing, for just proportion of parts, and skilfully conducted arration. In the midst of smiling scenery and pleasurable themes, the gay and the beautiful will appear, undoubtedly, to more advantage. But amidst the rude scenes of nature and of society, such as Ossian describes; amidst rocks and torrents, and whirlwinds, and battles, dwells the sublime; and naturally associates itself with that grave and solemn spirit which distinguishes the author of Fingal. "As "autumn's dark storms pour from two echoing hills, so toward each other "approached the heroes. As two dark streams from high rocks meet and mix, and roar on the plain; loud, rough, and dark in battle, met "Lochlin and Inisfail: chief mixed his strokes with chief, and man "with man. Steel clanging sounded on steel. Helmets are cleft on high; blood bursts, and smokes around. As the troubled noise of "the ocean when roll the waves on high; as the last peal of the "thunder of heaven; such is the noise of battle. The groan of the "people spread over the hills. It was like the thunder of night, when "the cloud bursts on Cona, and a thousand ghosts shriek at once on the "hollow wind." Never where images of more awful sublimity employed to heighten the terror of battle. But when the powers descending swell'd the fight, Leapt from his throne, lest Neptune's arm should lay And pour in light on Pluto's drear abodes, The world's vast concave, when the gods contend. POPE 1 : I have produced these instances, in order to demonstrate how essential conciseness and simplicity are to sublime writing. Simplicity I place in opposition to studied and profuse ornament; and conciseness, to superfluous expression. The reason why a defect, either in conciseness or simplicity, is hurtful in a peculiar manner to the sublime, I shall endeavour to explain. The emotion occasioned in the mind by some great or noble object, raises it considerably above its ordinary pitch. A sort of enthusiasm is produced, extremely agreeable while it lasts; but from which the mind is tending every moment to fall down into its ordinary situation. Now, when an author has brought us, or is attempting to bring us, into this state; if he multiplies words unnecessarily; if he decks the sublime object which he presents to us, round and round, with glittering ornaments; nay, if he throws in any one decoration that sinks in the least below the capital image, that moment he alters the key; he relaxes the tension of the mind; the strength of the feeling is emasculated, the beautiful may remain, but the sublime is gone. When Julius Cæsar said to the pilot who was afraid to put to sea with him in a storm, "Quid times? Cæsarem vehis;" we are struck with the daring magnanimity of one relying with such confidence on his cause and his fortune. These few words convey every thing necessary to give us the impression full. Lucan resolved to amplify and adorn the thought. Observe how every time he twists it round, it departs farther from the sublime, till it ends at last in tumid declamation. Sperne minas, inquit, pelagi, ventoque furenti Trade sinum; Italiam, si, cœlo auctore, recusas, Non puppis nostræ labor est. Hanc Cæsare pressam 1ste ratis.....Quid tanta strage peratur Ignoras? quærit pelagi cœlique tumultu PHARS. V. 578. On account of the great importance of simplicity and conciseness, I conceive rhyme, in English verse, to be, if not inconsistent with the But Cæsar still superior to distress, Thou know'st not what a freight thy vessel bears; ROWE. sublime, at least very unfavourable to it. The constrained elegance of this kind of verse, and studied smoothness of the sounds, answering regularly to each other at the end of the line, though they be quite consistent with gentle emotions, yet weaken the native force of sublimity; besides, that the superfluous words which the poet is often obliged to introduce in order to fill up the rhyme, tend farther to enfeeble it. Homer's description of the nod of Jupiter, as shaking the heavens, has been admired, in all ages, as highly sublime. Literally translated, it runs thus : "He spoke, and bending his sable brows, gave the awful nod; while he "shook the celestial locks of his immortal head, all Olympus was shak"en." Mr. Pope translates it thus : He spoke; and awful bends his sable brows, High heaven with trembling the dread signal took, The image is spread out, and attempted to be beautified; but it is, in truth, weakened. The third line-"The stamp of fate, and sanction of "a God," is merely expletive, and introduced for no other reason but to fill up the rhyme; for it interrupts the description, and clogs the image. For the same reason, out of mere compliance with the rhyme, Jupiter is represented as shaking his locks before he gives the nod :-" Shakes "his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod," which is trifling, and without meaning whereas, in the original, the hair of his head shaken, is the effect of his nod, and makes a happy picturesque circumstance in the de scription.* The boldness, freedom, and variety of our blank verse, is infinitely more favourable than rhyme, to all kinds of sublime poetry. The ful lest proof of this is afforded by Milton; an author whose genius led him eminently to the sublime. The whole first and second books of Paradise Lost, are continued instances of it. Take only, for an example, the following noted description of Satan, after his fall, appearing at the head of the infernal hosts : He, above the rest, In shape and gesture proudly eminent, Stood like a tower; his form had not yet lost Shorn of his beams, or, from behind the moon, On half the nations, and with fear of change Here concur a variety of sources of the sublime the principal object eminently great; a high superior nature, fallen indeed, but erecting itself against distress; the grandeur of the principal object heightened, by associating it with so noble an idea as that of the sun suffering an eclipse; this picture shaded with all those images of change and trouble, of darkness and terror, which coincide so finely with the sublime emotion; and the whole expressed in a stile and versification, easy, natural and simple, but magnificent. • See Webb on the Beauties of Poetry. I have spoken of simplicity and conciseness, as essential to sublime writing. In my general description of it, I mentioned strength, as another necessary requisite. The strength of description arises in a great measure, from a simple conciseness; but, it supposes also something more; namely, a proper choice of circumstances in the description, so as to exhibit the object in its full and most striking point of view. For every object has several faces, so to speak, by which it may be presented to us according to the circumstances with which we surround it; and it will appear eminently sublime, or not, in proportion as all these circumstances are happily chosen, and of a sublime kind. Here lies the great art of the writer; and, indeed, the great difficulty of sublime description. If the description be too general, and divested of circumstances, the object appears in a faint light; it makes a feeble impression, or no impression at all, on the reader. At the same time, if any trivial or improper circumstances are mingled, the whole is degraded. A storm or tempest, for instance, is a sublime object in nature. But, to render it sublime in description, it is not enough either to give us mere general expressions concerning the violence of the tempest, or to describe its common vulgar effects, in overthrowing trees and houses. It must be painted with such circumstances as fill the mind with great and awful ideas. This is very happily done by Virgil, in the following passage Ipse Pater, media nimborum in nocte, coruscâ GEOR. 1. Every circumstance in this noble description is the production of an imagination heated and astonished with the grandeur of the object. If there be any defect, it is in the words immediately following those I have quoted: Ingeminant Austri, et densissimus imber ;" where the transition is made too hastily, I am afraid, from the preceding sublime images, to a thick shower, and the blowing of the south wind; and shews how difficult it frequently is to descend with grace, without seeming to fall. The high importance of the rule which I have been now giving, concerning the proper choice of circumstances, when description is meant to be sublime, seems to me not to have been sufficiently attended to. It has, however, such a foundation in nature, as renders the least deflexion from it fatal. When a writer is aiming at the beautiful only, his descriptions may have improprieties in them, and yet be beautiful still. The father of the gods his glory shrouds, F Some DRYDEN. |