their imaginations delight to indulge. -The fame obfervation is equally applicable to the different tales of men in Poetry, and the rest of the fine arts; and the productions that all men peculiarly admire, are thofe which fuit that peculiar ftrain of Emotion, to which, from their original conftitution, they are moft ftrongly difpofed. The ardent and gallant mind fickens at the infipidity of paf toral and the languor of elegiac poetry, and delights only in the great interefts of the Tragic and the Epic Mufe. The tender and romantic perafe, with indifference, the Iliad and the Paradife Loft, and return with gladness to thofe favourite compofitions which are defcriptive of the joys or forrows of Love. The gay and the frivolous, on the contrary, alike infenfible to the fentiments either of Tenderness or Magnanimity, find their delight in that cold but Lively style of poetry, which has been produced by the gallantry of modern times, and which, in its principal features, is fo ftrongly characteristic of the paffion itfelf. In general, thofe kinds of poetry only are delightful, or awaken us to any very fenfible Emotions of Sublimity or Beauty, which fall in with our peculiar habits of fentiment or feeling; and if it rarely happens, that one fpecies of poetry is relithed to the exclufion of every other, it arifes only from this, that it is equally rare, that one fpecies of Emotion fhould have fo completely the dominion of the heart, as to exclude all Emotions of any other kind. In proportion, however, as our fenfibility is weak, with regard to any clafs of objects, it is obfervable, that our fenfe of Sublimity or Beauty in fuch objects, is weak in the fame proportion; and wherever it happens (for it fometimes does happen) that men from their original conftitution are incapable of any one fpecies of Emotion, I believe it will also be found, that they are equally infenfible to all the Sublimity or Beauty which the reft of the world find in the objects of fuch Emotion. In 5. Befides the infuence of permanent habits of thought, or of the diverities of original difpofition upon our fentiments of Beauty, every man must have had opportunity to obferve, that the perception of Beauty depends alfo on the temporary fenfibility of his mind; and that even objects of the most experienced Beauty fail in exciting their ufual delight, when they occur to him in moments, when he is under the dominion of different emotions from thofe with which he ufually regards them. our feafons of gaiety, we behold with indifference, the fame objects which delight our imaginations, when we are under the impreffions of tendernefs or melancholy. In our feafons of defpondence, we turn with fome kind of averfion from the objects or the reflections that enchant us in our hours of gaiety. In the common hours of life, in the, fame manner, when we are either bufy or unoccupied, and when our minds are free from every kind of fenfibility, the objects of Tafte make but a feeble impreffion upon us; and are either altogether neglected, or tacitly refer ved to another time, when we may be more in the temper to enjoy them. The hufbandman who goes out to obferve the ftate of his grounds, the man of bufinefs who walks forth to ruminate about his affairs, or the philofopher to reafon or reflect, whatever their natural fenfibilities may be, are at fuch times infenfible to every beauty that the fcenery of nature may exhibit; nor do they begin to feel them, until they withdraw their attention from the particular objects of their thought, and abandon themfelves to the emotions which fuch fcenes may happen to infpire. There are even moments of liftleffnefs Jeffnefs and languor, in which no objects of Taite whatever can excite their ufual delight, in which our favourite books, our favourite landfcapes, our favourite airs, ceafe altogether to affect us; and when fometimes we almost wonder what is the fecret fpell that hangs over our minds, and prevents us from enjoying the pleasures that are within our reach. It is not that the objects of fuch plea fures are changed; it is not even that we have not the wish to enjoy them, for this we frequently attempt, and attempt in vain ; but it is because we come to them either with minds fatigued, and with fpirits below their ufual tone, or under the influence of other feelings than are neceffary for their enjoyment. Whenever we return to that state of mind which is favourable to fuch emotions, our delight returns with it, and the objects of fuch pleasures become as favourite as before. I. Of the Sublimity and Beauty of Sound. By the fams. 1. Such founds, inftead of having Alfondsingen afreiated any permanent or definite Character of with Ideas of Danger; the howling of a Storm, the murmuring of an Earthquake, the Report of Artillery, the Explofion of Thunder, &c. 2. All founds are in general Sublime, which are affociated with Ideas of great Power or Might; the noife of a Torrent, the fall of a Cataract, -the uproar of a Tempeft,-the Explofion of Gun-powder,-the dafhing of the waves, &c. 3. All founds, in the fame manner, are Sublime, which are affociated with Ideas of Majefty or Solemnity, or deep Melancholy, or any other ftrong Emotion: the Sound of the Trumpet, and all other warlike Inftruments, the Note of the Organ,-the Sound of the Curfew, the tolling of the paffing Bell, &c. That the Sublimity of fuch founds arifes from the Ideas of Danger or Power, or Majesty, &c. which are affociated with them, and not from the Sounds themselves, or from any original fitness in fuch founds, to produce this Emotion, seems to be obvious from the following confidera Sublimity, vary in their effect, with the qualities they happen to exprefs, and affume different characters, according to the nature of thefe qualities. If founds in themselves were Sublime, it might reasonably be expected in this, as in every other cafe of Senfe, that their difference of effect would be ftrictly proportioned to their difference of character, and that Sounds of the fame kind or character would invariably produce the fame Emotion. The following inftances, however, feem to show, that no fpecific character of Sublimity be logs to mere Sound, and that the fame Sounds may produce very different kinds of Emotion, according to the qualities with which we affociate them. The Sound of Thunder is perhaps ofall others in Nature the most Sublime. In the generality of mankind this Sublimity is founded on Awe, and fome degree of Terror; yet how different is the Emotion which it gives to the peasant, who fees at laft, after a long drought, the confent of Heaven to his prayers for rain,-to the philofopher, who from the height of the Alps, hears it roll beneath his feet, -to the foldier, who, under the impreffion of ancient fuperftition, welcomes it, upon the moment of engagement, as the omen of victory! In all thefe cafes, the Sound itself is the fame ; 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 affociate with it. The noife of an engagement heard from a distance is dreadfully Sublime. The firing of a Review is fcarcely more than magnificent. The found of a real skirmish between a few hundred men, would be more fublime than all the noife of a feigned engagement between a hundred thousand men. The ftraggling fire of a company of foldiers upon a field-day, is contemptible, and always excites laughter. The ftraggling fire of the fame number of men, in a riot, would be extremely fublime, and perhaps more terrible than an uniform report. The howling of a Tempeft is powerfully Sublime from many affociations; yet how different to the inhabitant of the land, and the failor, who is far from refuge, to the inhabitant of the fheltered plain, and the traveller bewildered in the mountains, to the poor man who has nothing to lofe, and the wealthy, whofe fortunes are at the mercy of the ftorm! In all thefe cafes, the found itself is the fame, but the nature of the fublimity it produ: ces is altogether different, and correfponds, not to the effect upon the organ of hearing, but to the character or fituations of the men by whom it is heard, and the different qualities of which it is expreffive to them. The found of a cascade is almost always fublime; yet no man ever felt in it the fame fpecies of fublimity, in a fruitful plain, and in a wild and ronantic country, in the pride of fummner, and in the defolation of winter, ---in the hours of gaiety, or tranquillity, or elevation, and in feasons of melancholy, or anxiety, or despair. The found of a trumpet is often fublime; but how different the fublimity in the day of battle,-in the march of an army in peace,—or amid the fplendours of a proceffion. There are few fimple founds more fublime than the report of a cannon; yet every one must have felt the different emotions of fublimity with which the fame 'found affects him, and at the fame intervals, in moments of public forrow, or public rejoicing. In thefe, and many other inftances that might be mentioned, the nature of the emotion we experience correfponds, not to the nature of the found itself, but to the nature of the affociation we connect with it; and is in fact altogether the fame with the emotion which the fame quality produces, when unaccompanied with found. If founds in themselves were fitted by the constitution of our nature to produce thefe emotions, it would feem, 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 founds; and that the fame founds would permanently produce the fame emotion. 2. If any particular founds are fitted by our conflitution to produce the emotion of fublimity, it feems impoffible that founds of a contrary kind fhould produce the fame emotion. If, on the contrary, the fublimity of founds arifes from the qualities we affociate with them, it may reasonably be expected, that founds of all kinds will produce this emotion, when they are expreffive of fuch qualities as are in themselves fublime. Many very familiar obfervations feem to illuftrate this point. The most general character, perhaps, of fublimity in founds, is that of loudnefs, and there are doubtless many inftances where fuch founds are very conftantly fublime; yet there are many inftances alfo, where the contrary quality of founds is alfo sub lime; and when this happens, it will univerfally be found, that fuch founds are affociated with ideas of power or danger, or fome other quality capable, of exciting strong emotion. The loud and tumultuous found of a storm is undoubtedly fublime; but there is a 66 66 low and feeble found which frequently precedes it, more fublime in reality than all the uproar of the ftorm itself, and which has accordingly been frequently made ufe of by poets, in heightening their descriptions of fuch fcenes. Along the woods, along the moorish fens Thomfon's Winter. "paffed by, and a great and ftrong "wind rent the mountains, and brake "in pieces the rocks before the Lord; "and after the wind an earthquake; "but the Lord was not in the earth"quake and after the earthquake a "fire ; but the Lord was not in the "fire: and after the fire a still small "voice. And it was fo, when Eli"jah heard it, that he wrapped his "face in his mantle." "Did you never obferve (fays Mr Gray in a letter to a friend) while rocking winds are piping loud, that "pause, as the guft is recollecting it-"but the Lord was not in the wind: "felf, and rifing upon the ear in a "fhrill and plaintive note, like the "fwell of an Eolian harp. I do "affure you there is nothing in the "world fo like the voice of a fpi"rit." Such a found in itself is inconfiderable, and resembles many others which are very far from being fublime; but as the forerunner of the ftorm, and the sign of all the imagery we connect with it, it is fublime in a very great degree. There is in the fame manner faid to be a low rumbling noise preceding an earthquake, in itself very inconfiderable, and generally likened to fome very contemptible founds; yet in fuch a fituation, and with all the images of danger and horror to which it leads, I queftion whether there is another found fo dreadfully fublime. The foft and placid tone of the human voice is furely not sublime; yet in the following paffage, which of the great images that precede it, is fo powerfully fo? It is a paffage from the first book of Kings, in which the Deity is described as appearing to the prophet Elijah. "And he faid, Go forth "and ftand upon the mount before "the Lord. And behold, the Lord Another great divifion of founds is into grave and acute. If either of thefe claffes of found is fublime in itfelf it fhould follow, according to the general laws of fenfation, that the other fhould not be fo. In fact, however, the fublime is found in both, and perhaps it may be difficult to fay to which of them it moft permanently belongs. Inftances of this kind are within the reach of every perfon's obfervation. In the fame manner, it may be obferved, that the most common, and in general, the most infignificant founds become fublime, whenever they are affociated with images belonging to power, or danger, or melancholy, or any other ftrong emotion, although in other cafes they affect us with no emotion whatever. There is scarcely in nature a more trifling found than the buzz of flies, yet I believe Bb 2 there From camp to camp, thro' the foul womb of night, The hum of either army ftilly founds, That the fix'd fentinels almoft receive The fecret whispers of each other's watch. Fire anfwers fire, and thro' their paly flames Each battle fees the other's umber'd face; Steed answers fteed in high and boastful neighs Piercing the earth's dull ear, and from the tents The armourers accomplishing the knights With bufy hammers, clofing rivets up Give dreadful note of preparation. The found of oars in water is furely very far from being Sublime, yet in a tragedy of Thomfon's, this found is made ftrikingly Sublime, when (in the perfon of a man who had been left A found fo difmal as their Inftances of the fame kind are fo numerous, that it is unneceffary to infift upon them. If founds are Sublime in themselves, independently of all affociation, it feems difficult to account for contrary founds producing the fame effect, and for the fame founds producing different effects, according to the affociations with which they are connected. 3. When fuch affociations are diffolved, the founds themfelves ceafe to be fublime. There are many cafes, undoubtedly in which this experiment cannot be made, because in many cafes the connection between fuch founds, and the qualities they indicate, is conflant and invariable. The connection between the found of thunder, of a whirlwind, of a torrent, of an earthquake, and the qua Henry V. act 3. Chorus. by the treachery of his companions upon a defart island), he describes the horrors he felt, when he first found his being deferted: And adds, I never heard parting oars. lities of power, or danger, or awfulnefs, which they fignify, and which the objects themfelves permanently involve, is eftablifhed not by man, but by nature. It has no dependence upon his will, and cannot be affected by any difcipline of his imagination. It is no wonder, therefore, while fuch connections are fo permanent, that the fublimity which belongs to the qualities of the objects themselves, fhould be attributed to their external figns, and that fuch figns fhould be confidered in themfelves as fitted to produce this emotion. The only cafe in which thefe affociations are pofitively diffolved, is when, by some error of judgment, we either miftake fome different found, for the found of any of thefe objects, or are impofed upon by fome imitation of thefe |