our and fire, and, at the same time, to attend to all the lesser and more refined graces that belong to the exact perfection of his work: while, on the other hand, a thorough taste for those inferior graces is, for the most part, accompanied with a diminution of sublimity and force. CHAPTER IV. THE SOURCES OF THE PLEASURES OF TASTE. 389. HAVING now explained the nature of taste, the nature and importance of criticism, and the distinction between taste and genius; we are now to consider THE SOURCES OF THE PLEASURES OF TASTE. Obs. Here opens a very extensive field; no less than all the plea sures of the imagination, as they are commonly called, whether afforded us by natural objects, or by the imitations and descriptions of them. But it is not necessary to the purpose of this Grammar, that all these should be examined fully; the pleasure which we receive from discourse, or writing, being the main object of them, so far as rhetoric is concerned. All that is proposed, is to give some openings into the pleasures of taste in general; and to insist more particularly upon sublimity and beauty. Пlus. 1. It is difficult to make a full enumeration of the several objects that give pleasure to taste; it is more difficult to define all those which have been discovered, and to reduce them under proper classes; and, when we would go farther, and investigate the efficient causes of the pleasure which we receive from such objects, here, above all, we find ourselves at a loss. 2. For instance; we all learn by experience, that certain figures of bodies appear to us more beautiful than others. On inquiring farther, we find that the regularity of some figures, and the graceful variety of others, are the foundation of the beauty which we discern in them; but when we attempt to go a step beyond this, and inquire what is the cause of regularity and variety producing in our minds the sensation of beauty, any reason we can assign is extremely imperfect. These first principles of internal sensation, nature seems to have covered with an impenetrable veil. 3. Although the efficient cause be obscure, the final cause of those sensations lies in many cases more open: and, in entering on this subject, we cannot avoid taking notice of the strong impression which the powers of taste and imagination are calculated to give us of the benignity of our Creator. 4. By endowing us with such powers, he hath widely enlarged the sphere of the pleasures of human life; and those too of a kind the most pure and innocent. The necessary purposes of life might have been abundantly answered, though our senses of seeing and hearing had only served to distinguish external objects, without conveying to us any of those refined and delicate sensations of beauty and grandeur, with which we are now so much delighted. 5. This additional embellishment and glory, which, for promoting our entertainment, the Author of Nature hath poured forth upon his works, is one striking testimony, among many others, of Hrs benevolence and goodness. 6. This thought, which Mr. Addison first started, Dr. Akenside, in his poem on the Pleasures of the Imagination, has happily pursued. 390. First, then, we begin with considering the pleasure which arises from sublimity or grandeur. Illus. It is not easy to describe, in words, the precise impression which great and sublime objects make upon us when we behold them, but every one has a conception of it. It produces a sort of internal elevation and expansion; it raises the mind much above its ordinary state; and fills it with a degree of wonder and astonishment, which it cannot well express. The emotion is certainly delightful; but it is altogether of the serious kind; a degree of awfulness and solemnity, even approaching to severity, commonly attends it when at its height; very distinguishable from the more gay and brisk emotion raised by beautiful objects. 391. The simplest form of external grandeur appears in the vast and boundless prospects presented to us by nature; such as wide extended plains, to which the eye can see no limits; the firmament of heaven; or the boundless expanse of the ocean. All vastness produces the impression of sublimity. Mus. It is to be remarked, however, that space, extended in length, makes not so strong an impression as height or depth. Though a boundless plain be a grand object, yet a high mountain, to which we look up, or an awful precipice or tower, whence we look down on the objects which lie below, is still more so. 2. The excessive grandeur of the firmament arises from its height, joined to its boundless extent; and that of the ocean, not from its extent alone, but from the perpetual motion and irresistible force of that mass of waters. Wherever space is concerned, it is clear, that amplitude or greatness of extent, in one dimension or other, is necessary to grandeur. Remove all bounds from any object, and you presently render it sublime. Corol. Hence, infinite space, endless numbers, and eternal duration, fill the mind with great ideas. 392. But vastness, or amplitude of extent, is not alone the foundation of all sublimity; because many objects appear sublime, which have no relation to space at all. Illus. Such, for instance, is great loudness of sound. The burst of thunder or of cannon, the roaring of winds, the shouting of multitudes, the sound of vast cataracts of water, are all incontestibly grand objects. In general we may observe, that great power and force exerted, always raise sublime ideas; and perhaps the most copious source of these is derived from this quarter. Hence the grandeur of earthquakes and burning mountains; of great conflagrations; of the stormy ocean, and overflowing waters; of tempests of wind; of thunder and lightning; and of all the uncommon violence of the elements. 2. Nothing is more sublime than mighty power and strength. A stream that runs within its banks is a beautiful object; but when it rushes down with the impetuosity and noise of a torrent, it presently becomes a sublime one. From lions, and other animals of strength, are drawn sublime comparisons in poets. A race-horse is looked upon with pleasure; but it is the war-horse," whose neck is clothed with thunder," that carries grandeur in its appearance, or our idea of the animal. 3. The engagement of two great armies, as it is the highest exertion of human might, combines a variety of sources of the sublime; and has accordingly been always considered as one of the most striking and magnificent spectacles that can either be presented to the eye, or exhibited to the imagination in description. Example. "Like Autumn's dark storms, pouring from two echoing hills towards each other, approached the heroes: as two dark streams from high rocks, meet and roar on the plain, loud, rough, and dark in battle, meet Lochlin and Inisfail. Chief mixes his strokes with chief, and man with man: steel sounds on steel, and helmets are cleft on high; blood bursts, and smokes around: strings murmur on the_polished yew darts rush along the sky spears fall like sparks of flame that gild the stormy face of night. "As the noise of troubled ocean when roll the waves on high, as the last peal of thundering heaven; such is the noise of battle. Though Cormacs' hundred bards were there, feeble were the voice of an hundred bards, to send the deaths to future times; for many were the deaths of the heroes, and wide poured the blood of the valiant." Fingal. Analysis. Never were images more awfully sublime, employed to heighten the terror of a battle. 393. For the farther illustration of this subject, it is proper to remark, that all ideas of the solemn and awful kind, and even bordering on the terrible, tend greatly to assist the sublime such as darkness, solitude, and silence. Illus. 1. What are the scenes of nature that elevate the mind in the highest degree, and produce the sublime sensation? Not the gay landscape, the flowery field, or the flourishing city; but the hoary mountain, and the solitary lake; the aged forest, and the torrent falling over the rock. 2. Hence, too, night-scenes are commonly the most sublime. The firmament, when filled with stars, scattered in such vast numbers, and with such magnificent profusion, strikes the imagination with a more awful grandeur, than when we view it enlightened with all the splendour of the sun. 3. The deep sound of a great bell, or the striking of a great clock, are at any time grand; but when heard amid the silence and stillness of the night, they become doubly so. 4. Darkness is very commonly applied for adding sublimity to all our ideas of the Deity. "He maketh darkness his pavilion; he dwelleth in the thick cloud." So Milton: How oft, amidst Thick clouds and dark, does Heaven's all-ruling Sire And, with the majesty of darkness round, Par. Lost, Book II. 263. 394. OBSCURITY, we are farther to remark, is not unfavourable to the sublime. Though it render the object indistinct, the impression, however, may be great; for, as an ingenious author has well observed, it is one thing to make an idea clear, and another to make it affecting to the imagination; and the imagination may be strongly affected, and, in fact, often is so, by objects of which we have no clear conception. Illus. Thus we see that almost all the descriptions given us of the appearances of supernatural beings, carry some sublimity, though the conceptions which they afford us be confused and indistinct. Their sublimity arises from the ideas, which they always convey, of superior power and might, joined with an awful obscurity. Example. We may see this fully exemplified in the following noble passage of the Book of Job: "In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up; it stood still; but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before my eyes; there was silence; and I heard a voice-Shall mortal man be more just than God ?""* Scholium. No ideas, it is plain, are so sublime as those taken from the Supreme Being; the most unknown, but the greatest of all objects; the infinity of whose nature, and the eternity of whose duration, joined with the omnipotence of his power, though they surpass our conceptions, yet exalt them to the highest. In general, all objects that are greatly raised above us, or far removed from us, either in space or in time, are apt to strike us as great. Our viewing them as through the mist of distance or antiquity, is favourable to the impressions of their sublimity. 395. As obscurity, so disorder, too, is very compatible with grandeur; nay, frequently heightens it. Few things that are strictly regular, and methodical, appear sublime. Illus. We see the limits on every side: we feel ourselves confined; there is no room for the mind's exerting any great effort. Exact proportion of parts, though it enters often into the beautiful, is much disregarded in the sublime. A great mass of rocks, thrown together by the hand of nature, with wildness and confusion, strikes the mind with more grandeur than if they had been adjusted to one another with the most accurate symmetry. Obs. In the feeble attempts which human art can make towards producing grand objects, (feeble, doubtless, in comparison with the physical powers of nature,) greatness of dimensions always constitutes a principal part. No pile of building can convey any idea of sublimity, unless it be ample and lofty. There is, too, in architecture, what is * Job iv. 13. called greatness of manner; which seems chiefly to arise from presenting the object to us in one full point of view; so that it shall make its impression whole, entire, and undivided upon the mind. A Gothic cathedral raises ideas of grandeur in our minds, by its size, its height, its awful obscurity, its strength, its antiquity, and its durability. 396. There still remains to be mentioned one class of sublime objects, which may be called the moral, or sentimental sublime; arising from certain exertions of the human mind; from certain affections, and actions, of our fellow creatures. Illus. These will be found to be all, or chiefly of that class, which comes under the head of magnanimity, or heroism; and they produce an effect extremely similar to what is produced by the view of grand objects in nature; filling the mind with admiration, and elevating it above itself. Example 1.-Somerset. Ah! Warwick, Warwick, wert thou as we are, The Queen from France hath brought a puissant power; Third Part of Henry VI. Act V. Scene 2. Analysis. Such a sentiment from a man expiring of his wounds is truly heroic; and must elevate the mind to the greatest height that can be done by a single expression. Example 2. Porus, taken prisoner by Alexander, after a gallant defence, and asked, How he wished to be treated? answered, "Like a king." 3. Cæsar, chiding the pilot, who was afraid to set out with him in a storm, "Quid times? Cæsarem vehis," is another good instance of this sentimental sublime. Corol. Wherever, in some critical and high situation, we behold a man uncommonly intrepid, and resting upon himself; superior to passion and to fear; animated by some great principle to the contempt of popular opinion, of selfish interest, of dangers, or of death; there we are struck with a sense of the sublime. (See Scholia 2. Art. 419.) 397. High virtue is the most natural and fertile source of this moral sublimity. However, on some occasions, where virtue either has no place, or is but imperfectly displayed, yet if extraordinary vigour and force of mind be discovered, we are not insensible to a degree of grandeur in the character; and from the splendid conqueror, or the daring conspirator, whom we are far from approving, we cannot withhold our admiration. Example. The sublime in natural, and the sublime in moral objects, are brought before us in one view, and compared together, in the following beautiful passage of Akenside's Pleasures of the Imagination: Look then abroad through nature; to the range |