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Thy strong conception as when Brutus rose
Refulgent from the stroke of Cæsar'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 shook his crimson steel,
And bade the father of his country hail;
For lo! the tyrant prostrate on the dust;
And Rome again is free.-

It has been imagined by an ingenious author, that terror is the source of the Sublime; and that no objects have this character, but such as produce impressions of pain and danger. Many terrible objects are indeed highly sublime; nor does Grandeur refuse alliance with the idea of danger. But the Sublime 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 magnificient prospect of widely extended plains, and of the starry firmament; or in the moral dispositions and sentiments which we contemplate with high admiration. In many painful and terrible objects, also, it is evident there is no sort of grandeur. The amputation of a limb, or the bite of a snake, is in the highest degree terrible; but they are destitute of all claim whatever to Sublimity. It seems just to allow that mighty force or power, whether attended by terror or not, whether employed in protecting or alarming us, has a better title, than any thing yet mentioned, to be the fundamental quality of the Sublime. There appears to be no sublime object into the idea of which strength and force either enter not directly, or are not at least intimately associated, by conducting our thoughts to some astonishing power, as concerned in the production of the object.

SUBLIMITY IN WRITING.

THE foundation of the Sublime in Composition must always be laid in the nature of the object described. Unless it be such an object as, if presented to

our sight,if exhibited to us in reality, would excite ideas of that elevating, that awful, and magnificent kind, which we call sublime; the description, however finely drawn, is not entitled to be placed under this class. This excludes all objects which are merely beautiful, gay or elegant. Besides, the object must not only in itself be sublime, but it must be placed before us in such a light as is best calculated to give us a clear and full impression of it: it must be described with strength, conciseness and simplicity. This depends chiefly upon the lively impression which the poet or orator has of the object which he exhibits, and upon his being deeply affected and animated by the sublime idea which he would convey. If his own feeling be languid, he can never inspire his reader with any strong emotion. Instances, which on this subject are extremely necessary, will clearly show the importance of all these requisites.

It is chiefly among ancient authors that we are to look for the most striking instances of the sublime.' The early ages of the world and the uncultivated state of society were peculiarly favourable to the emotions of Sublimity. The genius of men was then prone to admiration and astonishment. Meeting continually new and strange objects, their imagination was kept glowing, and their passions were often raised to the utmost. They thought and expressed themselves boldly, without restraint. In the progress, of society, the genius and manners of men have undergone a change more favourable to accuracy than to strength or sublimity.

Of all writings, ancient or modern, the Sacred Scriptures afford the most striking instances of the sublime. In them the descriptions of the Supreme Being are wonderfully noble, both from the grandeur of the object, and the manner of representing it.. What an assemblage of awful and sublime ideas is presented to us in that passage of the eighteenth Psalm, where an appearance of the Almighty is described! "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 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 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. The circumstances of darkness and terror are here applied with propriety and success for heightening the sublime.

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The celebrated instance, given by Longinus, from Moses, "God said, Let there be light; and there was light," belongs to the true sublime; and its sublimity arises from the strong conception, it conveys of an effort of power producing its effects with the utmost speed and facility. A similar thought is magnificently expanded in the following passage of Isaiah, (chap. xxiv. 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 pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built and to the temple, thy foundation shall be laid."

Homer has in all ages been universally admired for sublimity; and he is indebted for much of his grandeur to that native and unaffected simplicity which characterizes his manner. His descriptions of conflicting armies: the spirit, the fire, the rapidity, which he throws into his battles, present to every reader of the Iliad frequent instances of sublime writing. The majesty of his warlike scenes 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 severally favour either the Grecians or the Trojans, the poet appears to put forth one of his' highest efforts, and the description

rises into the most awful magnificence. All nature appears 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, fearing lest the secrets of the infernal regions should be laid open to the view of mortals.

We shall transcribe Mr. Pope's translation of this passage; which, though inferior to the original, is highly animated and sublime.

But, when the powers descending swell'd the fight,
Then tumult rose, fierce rage, and pale affright.
Now through the trembling shores Minerva calls,
And now she thunders from the Grecian walle.
Mars, hovering o'er his Troy, his terror shrouds
In gloomy tempests and a night of clouds.
Now through each Trojan heart he fury pours
With voice divine from Ilion's topmost towers.
Above, the sire of gods his thunder rolls,
And peals on peals redoubled rend the poles.
Beneath, stern Neptune shakes the solid ground;
The forests wave, the mountains nod around;
Through all her summits tremble Ida's woods,
And from their sources boil fier hundred floods :
Troy's turrets totter on the rocking plain,
And the toss'd navies beat the heaving main,
Deep in the dismal region of the dead

Th' infernal monarch rear'd his horrid head;

Leap'd from his throne, lest 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 th' immortals wage; such horrors rend
The world's vast concave, when the gods contend.

Conciseness and simplicity will ever be found essential to sublime writing. Simplicity is properly opposed to studied and profuse ornament; and conciseness to superfluous expression. It will easily appear, why a defect either in conciseness or simplicity is peculiarly hurtful to the Sublime. The emotion excited in the mind by some great or noble object raises it considerably. above its common pitch. Aspecies of enthusiasm is produced, extremely pleasing while it lasts; but the mind is tending every moment to sink into its ordinary state. When an author has brought us, or is endeavouring to bring as

into this state, if he multiply words unnecessarily ; if he deck the sublime object on all sides with glittering ornaments; nay, if he throw in any one decoration which falls in the least below the principal image, that moment he changes the key; he relaxes the tension of the mind; the strength of the feeling is emasculated the Beautiful may remain, but the Sublime is extinguished. Homer's description of the nod of Jupiter, as shaking the heavens, has been admired in all ages as wonderfully sublime. Literally translated, it runs thus :-"He spoke, and bending his sable brows, he gave the awful nod; while he shook the celestial locks of his immortal head, all Olympus was shaken." Mr. Pope translates it thus ;

He spoke and awful bends his sable brows,
Shakes his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod,
The stamp of fate, and sanction of a God;
High heaven with trembling the dread signal took,
And all Olympus to its centre shook.

The image is expanded, and attempted to be beautified, but in reality it is weakened. The third line"The stamp of fate, and sanction of a God," is entirely expletive, and introduced only to fill up the rhyme; for it interrupts the description, and clogs the image. For the same reason Jupiter is represented as shaking his locks before he gives the nod-"Shakes his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod❞—which is trifling and insignificant; whereas, in the original, the shaking of his hair is the consequence of his nod, and makes a happy picturesque circumstance in the description.

The boldness, freedom, and variety of our blank verse are infinitely more propitious than rhyme to all kinds of sublime poetry. The fullest proof of this is afforded by Milton, an author whose genius led him peculiarly to the sublime. The first and second books of Paradise Lost are continued examples of it. Take, for instance, the following noted description of Satan after his fall, appearing at the head of his infernal hosts:

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