Every body possessed of power is an object either of awe or sublimity, from a justice of peace up to the Emperor Aurungzebe - an object quite as stupendous as the Alps. He had thirty-five millions of revenue, in a country where the products of the earth are, at least, six times as cheap as in England: his empire extended over twenty-five degrees of latitude, and as many of longitude: he had put to death above twenty millions of people. I should like to know the man who could have looked at Aurungzebe without feeling him to the end of his limbs, and in every hair of his head! Such emperors are more sublime than cataracts. I think any man would have shivered more at the sight of Aurungzebe, than at the sight of the two rivers which meet at the Blue Mountains, in America, and, bursting through the whole breadth of the rocks, roll their victorious and united waters to the Eastern Sea. Homer represents the horses of Juno as leaping at one bound across the horizon: "For as a shepherd, from some point on high, Power is here the cause of the sublime; and Longinus observes of this thought, that if the steeds of the deity were to take a second leap, the world itself would want room for it. I must beg leave to mention here, that wonder is not always mingled with fear; and that fear is by no means the necessary consequence of wonder. I may be living in Portuguese America, and find a diamond as big as a hen's egg; - here is wonder, but nothing like fear. Count Borrilowski excites a sufficient degree of wonder, but a feeling as distinct from fear as any feeling can be. Magnitude is a cause of the sublime, as it excites a mixture of wonder and terror. The great horse, now to be seen for a shilling, is not sublime, because it is so exceedingly tame, and even stupid, that it does not excite the smallest degree of danger. A bull of the size of this animal would be an object of sublimity, because it would excite feelings both of wonder and fear. Magnitudes may be considered either as relative to the species of the thing itself, or relative to all other things. Any object of unusual magnitude for its species, accompanied by danger, would have a strong tendency to excite some feeling of the sublime. The largest snake ever seen in this country, might have some chance of exciting the feeling of sublimity, though a middlingsized one certainly would not. We call this object large, because it is large for its own species; though, going through all the chain of magnitudes, from a mountain to a grain of dust, we could hardly call such a snake a large object. Magnitude in height -as a very lofty mountain would excite the sublime, from mingling wonder with terror. In looking down from a lofty place, every one is aware of the terror mingled with the wonder. In looking up to a lofty place, the terror is more faint, but still it may be distinctly recognised. The word we commonly use to express our feelings on such occasions, is awe; but such awe is most probably nothing but a distant conception of the personal danger we should experience if we were upon the height at which we are looking, if we were to slip from it, and be precipitated to the bottom. Silence is sublime to those who are unaccustomed to it, after a long residence in London. The profound silence of the country is quite affecting and impressive: "all the air a solemn stillness holds!" The solitude of a Gothic cathedral, or that which reigns throughout an extensive ruinas at Tintern, and Fountain's Abbey, - are very sublime. That such scenes of solitude and silence excite wonder in those little Q accustomed to them, there can be no doubt; but that faint tinge of danger is also discoverable in them which is so common an ingredient of the sublime: they remind us, however distantly, of our weak and unprotected state, and bring with them a faint and obscure image of death and danger. "'Tis as the general pulse Of life stood still, and Nature made a pause Infinity, perhaps, raises the idea of the sublime, by mixing the wonderful with terror: at least, I think there is a distinct impression of fear, produced by the notion of infinity; and certainly there is one of wonder. Immensity of any kind excites the notion of power, and the distant sense of fear. Look at a little green grass-plat before a house; nothing can be more insignificant magnify it into a field; you are not struck with it: let it be a smooth, uniform, boundless plain, stretching on every side further than the eye can reach, and it becomes a sublime object. How vast must be the power that has arranged such a mass of matter! where does it lead to ? what ends it? how dreadful it would be to cross it in a storm! how impossible to procure assistance! how remote from every human being! - these are the notions which pass rapidly through the mind, and impress it in the awful manner of which we are all conscious on such occasions. Wonder, in itself, is a pleasing passion; fear is not; and as the sublime inclines more to one or the other, it assumes different shades of character. Sometimes it borders more upon delight, from the very faint tinge of fear which is mingled with it; at others, it approaches much nearer to mere terror. There is in this description of the sublime, by Mr. Brydonne, as much delight as is well compatible with it: "After contemplating these objects for some time, we "set off, and soon after arrived at the foot of the great 66 crater of the mountain. This is of an exact conical "figure, and rises equally on all sides. It is composed 66 solely of ashes and other burnt materials, discharged "from the mouth of the volcano, which is in its centre. "This conical mountain is of a very great size; its cir"cumference cannot be less than ten miles. Here we "took a second rest, as the greatest part of our fatigue "remained. We found this mountain excessively steep; "and although it had appeared black, yet it was likewise "covered with snow, but the surface (luckily for us) was "spread over with a pretty thick layer of ashes, thrown "out from the crater. Had it not been for this, we never "should have been able to get to the top, as the snow was every where frozen hard and solid, from the piercing cold of the air. "In about an hour's climbing, we arrived at a place "where there was no snow, and where a warm and "comfortable vapour issued from the mountain; which "induced us to make another halt. From this spot it "was only about 300 yards to the highest summit of "the mountain, where we arrived in full time to see the "most wonderful and most sublime sight in nature. 66 "But here description must ever fall short; for no imagination has dared to form an idea of so glorious "and so magnificent a scene. Neither is there on the "surface of this globe, any one point that unites so 66 many awful and sublime objects. The immense eleva"tion from the surface of the earth, drawn as it were "to a single point, without any neighbouring mountain "for the senses and the imagination to rest upon, and "recover from their astonishment in their way down "to the world: this point or pinnacle, raised on the "brink of a bottomless gulph, as old as the world, often discharging rivers of fire, and throwing out burning "rocks, with a noise that shakes the whole island: add "to this, the unbounded extent of the prospect, comprehending the greatest diversity and the most beau 66 "tiful scenery in nature; with the rising sun, advancing "in the east, to illuminate the wondrous scene. and "The whole atmosphere by degrees kindled up, "showed dimly and faintly the boundless prospect "around. Both sea and land looked dark and con"fused, as if only emerging from their original chaos, "and light and darkness seemed still undivided; till "the morning by degrees advancing, completed the "separation. The stars are extinguished, and the "shades disappear. The forests, which but now seemed "black and bottomless gulphs, from whence no ray was "reflected to show their form or colour, appear a new "creation rising to the sight; catching life and beauty "from every increasing beam. The scene still enlarges, "and the horizon seems to widen and expand itself on "all sides; till the sun, like the great Creator, appears "in the east, and with its plastic ray completes the "mighty scene! All appears enchantment; and it is "with difficulty we can believe we are still on earth. "The senses, unaccustomed to the sublimity of such a scene, are bewildered and confounded; and it is not "till after some time, that they are capable of separating "and judging of the objects that compose it. The body "of the sun is seen rising from the ocean, immense "tracts both of sea and land intervening; the islands of Lipari, Panari, Alicudi, Stromboli, and Volcano, with "their smoking summits, appear under your feet; and 66 you look down on the whole of Sicily as on a map; "and can trace every river through all its windings, "from its source to its mouth. The view is absolutely "boundless on every side; nor is there any one object, "within the circle of vision, to interrupt it; so that the sight is every where lost in the immensity: and I am persuaded it is only from the imperfection of our organs, that the coasts of Africa, and even of Greece, "are not discovered, as they are certainly above the "horizon." 66 66 |