fined to objects of fight; but, as many other objects, intellectual as well as moral, raise emotions refem. bling that of beauty, the resemblance of the effects prompts us to extend the term beauty to these objects. This equally accounts for the terms grandeur and fublimity taken in a figurative fenfe. Every emotion, from whatever caufe proceeding, that refembles an emotion of grandeur or elevation, is called by the fame name thus generofity is faid to be an elevated emotion, as well as great courage; and that firmness of foul which is fuperior to misfortunes, obtains the peculiar name of magnanimity. On the other hand, every emotion that contracts the mind, and fixeth it upon things trivial or of no importance, is termed low, by its refemblance to an emotion produced by a little or low object of fight: thus an appetite for trifling amusements is called a low tafte. The fame terms are applied to characters and actions: we talk familiarly of an elevated genius, of a great man, and equally fo of littleness of mind: fome actions are great and elevated, and others are little and groveling. Sentiments, and even expreffions, are characterifed in the fame manner: an expreflion or fentiment that raifes the mind is denominated great or elevated; and hence the SUBLIME* in poetry. In fuch figurative terms, we lofe the diftinction between great and clevated *Longinus gives a defcription of the fublime that is not amifs, though far from being juft in every circumftance, "That the mind is elevated by it, and fo fenfibly affected, as to fwell in tranfport and inward pride, as if what is only heard or read, were its own invention." But he adheres not to this defcription; in his 6th chapter, he jufily obferves, that many paffions have nothing of the grand, fuch as grief, fear, pity, which deprefs the mind inflead of raifing it; and yet in chap. 8. he mentions Sappho's ode upon love as fublime: beautiful it is undoubtedly, but it cannot be fublime, because it really depreffes the mind instead of railing it. His tranflator Boileaux is not more fuccefsful in his inftances: in his 10th reflection, he cites a paffage from Demofthenes and another from Herodotus as fublime, which have not the leaft tin&ture of that quality. ་ elevated in their proper fenfe; for the refemblance is not fo entire as to preferve thefe terms diftin&t in their figurative application. We carry this figure ftill farther. Elevation in its proper fenfe, imports fuperiority of place; and lownefs, inferiority of place: and hence a man of fupcrior talents, of fuperior rank, of inferior parts, of inferior tafte, and fuch like. The veneration we have for our ancestors, and for the ancients in general, being fimilar to the emotion produced by an elevated object of fight, juftifies the figurative expreffion, of the ancients being raised above us, or poffeffing a fuperior place. And we may remark in paffing, that as words are intimately connected with ideas, many, by this form of expreffion, are led to conceive their ancestors as really above them in place, and their posterity below them : A grandam's name is litttle lefs in love, Richard III. at 4. Sc. 5. The notes of the gamut, proceeding regularly from the blunter or groffer founds to the more acute and piercing, produce in the hearer a feeling fomewhat fimilar to what is produced by mounting upward; and this gives occafion to the figurative expreffions, a high note, a low note. Such is the refemblance in feeling between real and figurative grandeur, that among the nations on the eaft coaft of Afric, who are directed purely by nature, the officers of ftate are, with refpect to rank, distinguished by the length of the batoon each carries in his hand: and in Japan, princes and great lords fhew their rank by the length and fize of their fedan-poles. * fedan-poles. Again, it is a rule in painting, that figures of a small fize are proper for grotesque pieces; but that an historical fubject, grand and important, requires figures as great as the life. The refemblance of these feelings is in reality fo ftrong, that elevation, in a figurative fenfe, is obferved to have the fame effect, even externally, with real elevation: K. Henry. This day is call'd the feaft of Crifpian. Henry V. act 4. sc. 8. The refemblance in feeling between real and figurative grandeur, is humorously illuftrated by Addifon in criticifing upon English tragedy: "The ordinary method of making an hero, is to clap a huge plume of feathers upon his head, which rifes fo high, that there is often a greater length from his chin to the top of his head, than to the fole of his foot. One would believe, that we thought a great man. and a tall man the fame thing. As thefe fuperfluous ornaments upon the head make a great man, a princefs generally receives her grandeur from those additional incumbrances that fall into her tail: I mean the broad fweeping train, that follows her in all her motions; and finds conftant employment for a boy, who ftands behind her to open and fpread it to advantage." The Scythians, impreffed with the fame of Alexander, were aftonished when they found him a little man. A gradual progrefs from fmall to great is no lefs remarkable in figurative, than in real grandeur or elevation. Kempfer's hiftory of Japan. + Spectator, No. 42. elevation. Every one must have obferved the delightful effect of a number of thoughts or fentiments, artfully difpofed like an afcending feries, and making impreffions deeper and deeper: fuch difpofition of members in a period is termed a climax. Within certain limits, grandeur and fublimity produce their strongest effects, which leffen by excefs as well as by defect. This is remarkable in grandeur and fublimity taken in their proper fense: the grandeft emotion that can be raised by a visible object, is where the object can be taken in at one view; if so immenfe as not to be comprehended but in parts, it tends rather to distract than fatisfy the mind :* in like manner, the strongest emotion produced by elevation, is where the object is feen diftinctly; a greater elevation leffens in appearance the object, till it vanifhes out of fight with its pleafant emotion. The fame is equally remarkable in figurative grandeur and elevation, which fhall be handled together, because, as obferved above, they are fcarce diftinguishable. Sentiments may be fo ftrained, as to become obfcure, or to exceed the capacity of the human mind: against fuch licence of imagination, every good writer will be upon his guard. And therefore it is of greater importance to obferve, that even the true fublime may be carried beyond that pitch which produces the highest entertainment: we are undoubtedly fufceptible of a greater elevation, than can be inspired by human actions, the most heroic and magnanimous; witnefs what we feel from Milton's defcription: It is juftly obferved by Addifon, that perhaps a man would have been more aftonished with the majestic air that appeared in one of Lylippus' flatues of Alexander, though no bigger than the life, than he might bave been with Mount Athos, had it been cut into the figure of the hero, according to the propofal of Phidias, with a river in one hand, and a eity in the other. Spectator, No. 415. tion of fuperior beings: yet every man must be fenfible of a more conftant and fweet elevation, when the history of his own species is the subject; he enjoys an elevation equal to that of the greatest hero, of an Alexander or a Cæfar, of a Brutus or an Epaminondas; he accompanies these heroes in their sublimeft fentiments and most hazardous exploits, with a magnanimity equal to theirs; and finds it no stretch, to preserve the fame tone of mind, for hours together, without finking. The cafe is not the fame in defcribing the actions or qualities of fuperior beings: the reader's imagination cannot keep pace with that of the poet; the mind, unable to fupport itself in a ftrained elevation, falls as from a height; and the fall is immoderate, like the elevation: where that effect is not felt, it must be prevented by fome obfcurity in the conception, which frequently attends the description of unknown objects. Hence the St. Francifes, St. Dominics, and other tutelary faints, among the Roman Catholics. A mind unable to raise itself to the Supreme Being felf-exiftent and eternal, or to fupport itself in a ftrained elevation, finds itself more at eafe in ufing the interceffion of fome faint whofe piety and penances while on earth are supposed to have made him a favourite in heaven. A ftrained elevation is attended with another inconvenience, that the author is apt to fall fuddenly as well as the reader; because it is not a little difficult, to defcend sweetly and easily from fuch ele◄ vation, to the ordinary tone of the fubject. The following paffage is a good illuftration of that obfervation : Sæpe etiam immenfum coelo venit agmen aquarum, 3 Et fædam glomerant tempeftatem imbribus atris Conlectæ ex alto nubes. Ruit arduus æther, Et pluvia ingenti fata læta boumque labores Diluit. |