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this clafs. This excludes all objects that are merely beautiful, gay, or elegant. In the next place, the object must not only, in itself, be fublime, but it muft be fet before us in fuch a light, as is most proper to give us a clear and full impreffion of it; it muft be defcribed with strength, with concifene fs and fimplicity. This depends, principally, upon the lively impreffion which the poet or orator has of the object which he exhibits; and upon his being deeply affected, and warmed, by the fublime idea which he would convey. If his own feeling be languid, he can never infpire us with any ftrong emotion. Inftances, which are extremely neceffary on this fubject, will clearly fhow the importance of all the requifites which I have juft now mentioned.

It is, generally fpeaking, among the moft ancient authors, that we are to look for the moft ftriking inftances of the fublime. I am inclined to think, that the early ages of the world, and the rude unimproved state of fociety, are peculiarly favourable to the ftrong emotions of fublimity. The genius of men is then much turned to admiration and aftonishment. Meeting with many objects, to them new and ftrange, their imaginaton is kept glowing, and their paffions are often raised to the utmoft. They think and exprefs themselves boldly, and without restraint. In the progrefs of fociety, the genius and manners of men undergo a change more favourable to accura'cy, than to ftrength or fublimity.

Of all writings, ancient or modern, the facred fcriptures afford us the higheft inftances of the fublime. The defcriptions of the Deity, in them, are wonderfully noble; both from the grandeur of the object, and the manner of reprefenting it. What an affemblage, for inftance, of awful and fublime ideas is prefented to us, in that paffage of the xviiith pfalm, where an appearance of the Almighty is defcribed? "In my diftrefs, I called

cc 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 also

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 "fecret place; his pavilion round about him were "dark waters, and thick clouds of the sky." Here, agreeably to the principles established in the laft lecture, we fee, with what propriety and fuccefs the circumstances of darkness and terror are applied for heightening the fublime. So, alfo, the prophet Habakkuk, in a fimilar paffage: "He ftood and "measured the earth; he beheld, and drove afun"der the nations. The everlasting mountains were "fcattered; the pepetual hills did bow; his ways are everlasting. The mountains faw thee; and

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they trembled. The overflowing of the water "paffed by. The deep uttered his voice, and lifted CC up his hands on high."

The noted inftance, given by Longinus, from Mofes, "God faid, let there be light; and there

was light," is not liable to the cenfure which I paffed on fome of his inftances, of being foreign to the fubject. It belongs to the true fublime; and the fublimity of it, arifes from the ftrong conception it gives, of an exertion of power, producing its effect with the utmost speed and facility. A thought of the fame kind is magnificently amplified in the following paffage of Ifaiah*, "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 spreadeth abroad the earth by myfelf-that

Chap. xxiv. 24, 27. 28.

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 pleafure; even faying "to Jerufalem, thou shalt be built; and to the 66 temple, thy foundation fhall be laid." There is a paffage in the pfalms, which deferves to be mentioned under this head; "God," fays the pfalmift,

filleth the noife of the feas, the noise of their 66 waves, and the tumults of the people." The joining together two fuch grand objects, as the ragings of the waters, and the tumults of the people, between which there is fo much refemblance as tó form a very natural affociation in the fancy, and the representing them both as fubject, 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 fublimity; and he owes much of his grandeur to that native and unaffected fimplicity which characterises his manner. His defcriptions of hofts engaging-the animation, the fire, and rapidity, which he throws into his battles, prefent to every reader of the Iliad, frequent inftances of fublime writing. His introduction of the gods, tends often to heighten, in a high dcgree, the majefty of his warlike fcenes. Hence Longinus bestows fuch high and just commendations on that paffage, in the fifteenth book of the Iliad, where Neptune, when preparing to issue forth into the engagement, is defcribed as fhaking the mountains with his fteps, and driving his chariot along the ocean. Minerva, arming herself for fight in the fifth book; and Apollo, in the fifteenth, leading on the Trojans, and flashing terror with his ægis on the face of the Greeks, are fimilar inftances of great fublimity added to the defcription of battles, by the appearances of those celeftial beings. 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's genius. is fignally displayed, and the defcription rifes into the most awful magnificence. All nature is reprefented as 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, in dread left the fecrets of the infernal region should be laid open to the view of mortals. The paflage is worthy of being inferted..

Αυταρ έπει μεθ' όμιλον Ολυμπιοι ήλυθον ανδρών,
Ώρτο δ' Ερις κρατορης λαοσσούς· αυε δ' Αθήνη,
Αυο δ' Αρης ετερωθεν, εριμνη λαίλαπι ισος,
Ως τις αμφωτορες μακαρος Θεού στρώνοντας,
Συμβαλον, οι δ' αυτοίς εριδα ρηγνύντα βαρειαν
Δεινον δ' έβροντησε πατηρ ανδρών τε θεών τε
Υψόθεν αυταρ ανορθε Ποσειδάων ετινάξε
Ταιαν απειρεσίων, ορέων
τ' αίποινα παρηνα.
Παντός δ' εσσειιντο πόδες πολυπιδας Ίδης,

Και κορυφαί, Τρώων το πολις, και της Αχαιων.
Εδδεισεν δ' υπένερθεν αναξ ενέρων, Αιδωνευς
Δείσας δ' εκ θρανε αλτο, και τάχει μη οι υπερθεί
Τα αν αναρρήξεις Ποσειδάων ενοσίχθων,
Οικια δε θνητοισι και αθανάτοισι φανείη
Σμερδαλέ, ευρώεντα, τα τα συγίεσι θεοι περι
Τοσσος αρα κτυπος ώρτο θεων εριδα ξυνιόντων

Iliad, 20, 47.

* But when the powers defcending fwell'd the fight,
Then tumult rofe, fierce rage, and pale affright;
Now through the trembling fhores Minerva calls,
And now the thunders from the Grecian walls.
Mars hov'ring o'er his Troy, his terror fhrouds
In gloomy tempefts, and a night of clouds ;
Now through each Trojan heart, he fury pours,
With voice

Above, the fire from llion's topmoft towers

of Gods his thunder rolls,
And peals on peals redoubled rend the poles;
Beneath, ftern Neptune shakes the folid ground,
The forests wave, the mountains nod around.
Through all her fummits, tremble Ida's woods,
And from their fources boil her hundred floods.
Troy's turrets totter on the rocking plain,
Vol. I.
I

The works of Offian (as I have elsewhere shown) abound with examples of the fublime. The subjects of which that author treats, and the manner in which he writes, are particularly favourable to it. He poffeffes all the plain and venerable manner of the ancient times. He deals in no fuperfluous or gaudy ornaments; but throws forth his images with a rapid concifenefs, 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 narration. In the midít of fmiling fcenery and pleasurable themes, the gay and the beautiful will appear, undoubtedly, to more advantage. But amidst the rude fcenes of nature and of fociety, fuch as Offian defcribes-amidft rocks, and torrents, and whirlwinds, and battles, dwells the fublime; and naturally affociates itself with that great aud folemn fpirit, which diftinguifl.es the author of Fingal. "As autumn's dark storms pour "from two echoing hills, fo toward each other "approached the heroes. As two dark ftreams "from high rocks meet, and mix, and roar on the CC plain loud, rough, and dark, in battle, met Lochlin and Inisfail; chief mixed his strokes "with chief, and man with man. Steel clanging "founded on fteel. Helmets are cleft on high; "blood burfts, and smokes around. As the trou "bled noise of the ocean, when roll the waves on

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And the tofs'd navies beat the heaving main.
Deep in the difmal region of the dead,
Th' infernal monarch rear'd his horrid head,
Leapt from his throne, left Neptune's arm fhould lay
His dark dominions open to the day;

And pour in light on Pluto's drear abodes,
Abhorr'd by men, and dreadful ev'n to Gods.
Such wars th' immortals wage; fuch horrors rend
The world's vast concave, when the Gods contend.

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