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CHAPTER II.

On the Sublimity and Beauty of Sound.

The senses by which we chiefly discover beauty or sublimity in material objects, are those of HEARING and

SEEING.

The objects of the first are SOUNDS, whether SIMPLE

or COMPOSED.

The objects of the second are, COLOURS, FORMS,

MOTION.

and

SECTION I.

Of Simple Sounds.

I SHALL begin with considering some of those instances, where simple sounds are productive of the emotions of sublimity or beauty. Such sounds are capable of many divisions. It may be sufficient at present, to consider them in the following order:

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1. Sounds that occur in inanimate nature.

2. The notes of animals.

And,

3. The tones of the human voice.

PART I.

Of Miscellaneous Sounds.

Of the first class, or of those miscellaneous sounds that occur in inanimate nature, there are many which produce emotions of sublimity and beauty.

I.

1. All sounds in general are SUBLIME, which are associated with ideas of danger; the howling of a storm, -the murmuring of an earthquake-the report of artillery-the explosion of thunder, &c.

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2. All sounds are in general sublime, which are associated with ideas of great power or might; the noise of a torrent-the fall of a cataract-the uproar of a tempest-the explosion of gunpowder-the dashing of the waves, &c.

3. All sounds, in the same manner, are sublime, which are associated with ideas of majesty, or solemnity, or deep melancholy, or any other strong emotion; the sound of the trumpet, and all other warlike instruments -the note of the organ-the sound of the curfew-the tolling of the passing bell, &c.

That the sublimity of such sounds arises from the ideas of danger, or power, or majesty, &c. which are associated with them, and not from the sounds themselves, or from any original fitness in such sounds, to produce this emotion, seems to be obvious from the following considerations:

1. Such sounds, instead of having any permanent or definite character of sublimity, vary in their effect with the qualities they happen to express, and assume different characters, according to the nature of these qualities.

If sounds in themselves were sublime, it might reasonably be expected in this, as in every other case of sense, that their difference of effect would be strictly proportioned to their difference of character, and that sounds of the same kind or character would invariably produce the same emotion. The following instances, however, seem to show, that no specific character of sublimity belongs to mere sound, and that the same sounds may produce very different kinds of emotion, according to the qualities with which we associate them.

The sound of thunder is, perhaps of all others in nature, the most sublime. In the generality of mankind, this sublimity is founded on awe, and some degree of

terror; yet how different is the emotion which it gives to the peasant who sees at last, after a long drought, the consent of heaven to his prayers for rain-to the philosopher, who from the height of the Alps, hears it roll beneath his feet-to the soldier, who, under the impression of ancient superstition, welcomes it, upon the moment of engagement, as the omen of victory! In all these cases, the sound itself is the same: but how different the nature of the sublimity it produces! The report of artillery is sublime, from the images both of power and of danger we associate with it. The noise of an engagement heard from a distance is dreadfully sublime. The firing of a review is scarcely more than magnificent. The sound of a real skirmish between a few hundred men, would be more sublime than all the noise of a feigned engagement between a hundred thousand men. The straggling fire of a company of soldiers upon a field-day, is contemptible, and always excites laughter. The straggling fire of the same number of men, in a riot, would be extremely sublime, and perhaps more terrible than an uniform report.

The howling of a tempest is powerfully sublime from many associations; yet how different to the inhabitant of the land, and the sailor, who is far from refuge— to the inhabitant of the sheltered plain, and the traveller bewildered in the mountains-to the poor man who has nothing to lose, and the wealthy, whose fortunes are at the mercy of the storm!

In all these cases, the sound itself is the same, but the nature of the sublimity it produces is altogether different, and corresponds, not to the effect upon the organ of hearing, but to the character or situations of the men by whom it is heard, and the different qualities of which it is expressive to them.

The sound of a cascade is almost always sublime;

yet no man ever felt in it the same species of sublimity, in a fruitful plain, and in a wild and romantic countryin the pride of summer, and the desolation of winter-in the hours of gaiety, or tranquillity, or elevation, and in seasons of melancholy, or anxiety, or despair. The sound of a trumpet is often sublime; but how different the sublimity in the day of battle-in the march of an army in peace, or amid the splendours of a procession. There are few simple sounds more sublime than the report of a cannon; yet every one must have felt the different emotions of sublimity with which the same sound affects him, and at the same intervals, in moments of public sorrow, or public rejoicing.

In these, and many other instances that might be mentioned, the nature of the emotion we experience, corresponds, not to the nature of the sound itself, but to the nature of the association we connect with it; and is in fact altogether the same with the emotion which the same quality produces, when unaccompanied with sound. If sounds in themselves were fitted by the constitution of our nature to produce these emotions, it would seem that greater uniformity would be found in their effects; that the difference of their effects would be proportioned to the difference of their nature as sounds; and that the same sounds would permanently produce the same emotion.

2. If any particular sounds are fitted by our constitution to produce the emotion of sublimity, it seems impossible that sounds of a contrary kind should produce the same emotion. If, on the contrary, the sublimity of sounds arises from the qualities we associate with them, it may reasonably be expected, that sounds of all kinds will produce this emotion, when they are expressive of such qualities as are in themselves sublime. Many very familiar observations seem to illustrate this point.

The most general character perhaps, of sublimity in sounds, is that of loudness, and there are doubtless many instances where such sounds are very constantly sublime; yet there are many instances also, where the contrary quality of sounds is also sublime; and when this happens, it will universally be found, that such sounds are associated with ideas of power or danger, or some other quality capable of exciting strong emotion. loud and tumultuous sound of a storm is undoubtedly sublime; but there is a low and feeble sound which frequently precedes it, more sublime in reality than all the uproar of the storm itself, and which has accordingly been frequently made use of by poets, in heightening their descriptions of such scenes.

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Along the woods, along the moorish fens
Sighs the sad genius of the coming storm,

And up among the loose disjointed cliffs

And fractured mountains wide, the brawling brook
And cave, presageful, send a hollow moan,

Resounding long in fancy's listening ear.

Then comes the father of the tempest forth, &c.

Thomson's Winter.

The

"Did you never observe (says Mr. Gray in a letter to a friend) while rocking winds are piping loud, that pause, "as the gust is recollecting itself, and rising upon the

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ear in a shrill and plaintive note, like the swell of an "Æolian harp? I do assure you there is nothing in the "world so like the voice of a spirit." Such a sound in itself is inconsiderable, and resembles many others which are very far from being sublime; but as the forerunner of the storm, and the sign of all the imagery we connect with it, it is sublime in a very great degree. There is in the same manner said to be a low rumbling noise preceding an earthquake, in itself very inconsiderable, and generally likened to some very con

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