ESSAY SECOND.

ON THE SUBLIME.

PREFACE.

My thoughts were first turned particularly to this subject, by the opposite judgments which have been lately pronounced on the merits of Mr. Burke's theory of the Sublime, by two writers of great originality, acuteness, and taste,-Mr. Price and Mr. Knight. The former of these gentlemen having done me the honor, in spring, 1808, to allow me the perusal of a very valuable supplement to what he has already published in defence of the doctrines of his late illustrious friend, I was induced to commit to writing, a few hasty and unconnected notes, on some incidental points to which his manuscript had attracted my attention. It was upon this occasion, that the leading idea occurred to me which runs through the whole of the following Essay; and which I had the boldness to communicate to Mr. Price, in the very crude form in which it at first presented itself. At that period, I had little or no intention to prosecute it any farther; but having afterwards. recollected its close analogy to a principle which forms the basis of the foregoing speculations concerning the Beautiful, I resolved to resume the consideration of it more deliberately, as soon as my necessary engagements should permit; in the hope that the two discussions might reflect additional lights on each other. In this I flatter myself that I have not been altogether disappointed; and accordingly, I have placed them together, in arranging the materials of this volume; although without any direct references in either to the parallel train of thought pursued in the other. An attentive reader will be able easily to collect for himself the general results to which they lead.

The Essay on the Beautiful has been lying by me, much in the same state in which it now appears, for several years. The greater part of that on the Sublime, (with the exception of a few pages, which I have copied very nearly from the notes transmitted to Mr. Price) was written last summer, during a short residence in a distant part of the country, where I had no opportunity whatever of consulting books. I mention this merely to account for the selection of my illustrations, many of which, I am sensible, may appear too hackneyed to be introduced into a disquisition, which it would have been desirable to enliven and adorn by examples possessing something more of the zest of novelty and variety. At first I intended to have corrected this fault, as far as I was able, in transcribing my papers for the press; but, on more mature reflection, it struck me forcibly, that the quotations which had offered themselves spontaneously to my memory, while engaged in the consideration of general principles, were likely from the very circumstance of their triteness, to possess some important advantages over any that I could substitute in their place. They show, at least, by their familiarity to every ear, that I have not gone far out of my way, in quest of instances to support a preconceived hypothesis; and afford a presumption, that the conclusions to which I have been led, are the natural result of impressions and associations not confined to a small number of individuals. Whether indolence may not have contributed somewhat to fortify me in these opinions, it is now too late for me to consider.

ON THE SUBLIME.

CHAPTER FIRST.

OF SUBLIMITY, IN THE LITERAL SENSE OF THE Word.

AMONG the writers who have hitherto attempted to ascertain the nature of the Sublime, it has been very generally, if not universally taken for granted, that there must exist some common quality in all the various objects characterized by this common epithet. In their researches, however, concerning the essential constituent of Sublimity, the conclusions to which they have been led are so widely different from each other, that one would scarcely suppose, on a superficial view, they could possibly relate to the same class of phenomena;a circumstance the more remarkable, that, in the statement of these phenomena, philosophical critics are, with a few trifling exceptions, unanimously agreed.

Mr Burke seems disposed to think, that the essence of the sublime is the terrible, operating either openly or more latently.* Helvetius has adopted the same general idea, but has expressed it (in my opinion) rather more precisely; asserting, that "the sublime of imagery always supposes an emotion of terror begun; and that it cannot be produced by any other cause." + Dr. Blair, with great diffidence, has hazarded a conjecture, that the solution of the problem is to be found in the idea of mighty power or force; and Mr. Knight has lately contended for a theory which ascribes the effect in question

In one passage, he asserts this, in very unqualified terms: "Terror is, in all cases whatsoever, either more openly or latently, the ruling principle of the sublime.". (Part ii. Sect. 2.)

In other instances he expresses himself more guardedly; speaking of Terror as only one of the sources, though one of the chief sources of Sublimity.

De l'Homme, de ses facultés, et de son éducation.

to the influence of mental energy, exciting a sympathetic energy in the mind of the spectator or of the reader. According to Lord Kames, "a beautiful object, placed high, appearing more agreeable than formerly, produces in the spectator a new emotion, termed the emotion of sublimity; and every other emotion, resembling this emotion of elevation, is called by the same name." * Longinus, who confined his attention to the Sublime in writing, contented himself with remarking one of its characteristical effects; "that it fills the reader with a glorying, and sense of inward greatness: "-A remark which has been sanctioned by the concurrent approbation of all succeeding critics, however widely they have differed in their conclusions concerning the specific cause with which the effect is connected.

In consequence of these attempts to resolve all the different kinds of Sublimity into one single principle, a great deal of false refinement has been displayed in bending facts to preconceived systems. The speculations of Mr. Burke himself are far from being invulnerable in this point of view; although he may justly claim the merit of having taken a more comprehensive survey of his subject, and of having combined, in his induction, a far more valuable collection of particular illustrations, than any of his predecessors.

It appears to me, that none of these theorists have paid sufficient attention to the word sublime in its literal and primitive sense; or to the various natural associations founded on the physical and moral concomitants of great Altitude. It is surely a problem of some curiosity to ascertain, what led the Greeks to employ the word "ryo in this metaphorical acceptation; and what has determined, the moderns to adopt so univer

"Thus generosity is said to be an elevated emotion, as well as great courage; and that firmness of soul which is superior 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 resemblance to a little or low object of sight: thus an appetite for trifling amusements is called a low taste. Sentiments and even expressions, are characterized in the same manner: an expression or sentiment that raises the mind is denominated great or elevated; and hence the SUBLIME in poetry." Elements of Criticism.

As for the etymology of Sublime (sublimis) I leave it willingly to the conjectures of lexicographers. The common one which we meet with in our Latin dictionaries (q. supra limum) is altogether unworthy of notice.

CHAP 1.]

sally the same figure, and to give to its meaning a still greater degree of latitude. No other term can be found in our language which conveys precisely the same notion; and to this notion it is now so exclusively appropriated, that its literal import is seldom thought of. To use the word sublimity, in prose composition, as synonymous with altitude or height, would be affectation and pedantry.

Among the critics hitherto mentioned, Lord Kames alone has observed, that "generally speaking, the figurative sense of a word is derived from its proper sense;" and that "this holds remarkably with respect to sublimity." But of this observation, so just and important in itself, he has made little or no use in the sequel; nor has he once touched on the most interesting and difficult point in the problem,-the grounds of that natural transition which the mind is disposed to make from Sublimity, literally so called, to the numerous To assert that, in all metaphorical uses of the term. these cases, an emotion somewhat similar is experienced,* is at best but a vague and unsatisfactory solution of the difficulty.

Before I proceed farther, it s proper for me to observe, that my aim is not to substitute a new theory of my own instead of those offered by my predecessors; but only to account, from the general laws of human thought, for the various metaphorical or transitive meanings of the word sublimity. If I shall be successful in this attempt, I may, perhaps, be able to throw some light on the circumstances, by which such a variety of hypotheses, so widely different from each other, have

"An increasing series of numbers, producing an emotion similar to that of mounting upward, is commonly termed an ascending series: a series of numbers gradually decreasing, producing an emotion similar to that of going downward, is commonly termed a descending series.-The veneration we have for our ancestors, and for the ancients in general, being similar to the emotion produced by an elevated object of sight, justifies the figurative expression, of the ancients being raised -The notes of the gamut, proceedabove us, or possessing a superior place.

ing regularly from the blunter or grosser sounds, to the more acute and piercing, produce in the hearer a feeling somewhat similar to what is produced by mounting upward; and this gives occasion to the figurative expressions, a high note and a low note."-Elements of Criticism.

I need scarcely remark, that, in these various instances, the real difficulty, so far from being explained, is not even pointed out as an object of curiosity.