poem is tiresome and fatiguing. There is no relief from horrid languor, but the beautiful Greek language, and melody of Homer's verfification.

In the twenty-first book of the Odyiley, there is a paffage which deviates widely from the rule above laid down it concerns that part of the hiftory of Penelope and her fuitors, in which the is made to declare in favour of him who fhould prove the most dextrous in shooting with the bow of Ulyffes:

Now gently winding up the fair ascent,
By many an eafy step, the matron went :
Then o'er the pavement glides with grace divine,
(With polish'd oak the level pavements fhine ;)
The folding gates a dazzling light difplay'd,
With pomp of various architrave o'erlay'd.
The bolt, obedient to the filken string,
Forfakes the ftaple as fhe pulls the ring;
The wards refpondent to the key turn'd round
The bars fall back; the flying valves refound.
Loud as a bull makes hill and valley ring;
So roard the lock when it releas'd the fpring.
She moves majeftic through the wealthy room
Where treasur'd garments caft a rich perfume;
There from the column where aloft it hung,
Reach'd in its splendid cafe, the bow unftrung.

Virgil fometimes errs against this rule: in the following paffages minute circumftances are brought into full view; and, what is ftill worse, they are defcribed with all the pomp of poetical diction; Eneid, L.. 1. 1.214. to 219. L. 6. l. 176. to 182. L. 6. l. 212. to 231. and the laft, which defcribes a funeral, is the less excufable, as the man whofe funeral it is makes no figure in the poem.

The

The fpeech of Clytemneftra, defcending from her chariot in the Iphigenia of Euripidies, is ftuffed. with a number of common and trivial circumstances.

But of all writers, Lucan, as to this article, is the moft injudicious: the fea-fight between the Romans and Mafillians,† is described fo much in detail, without exhibiting any grand or total view, that the reader is fatigued with endless circumstances, without ever feeling any degree of elevation; and yet there arefome fine incidents, thofe for example of the two brothers, and of the old man and his fon, which,, taken separately, would affect us greatly. But Lucan, once engaged in a defcription, knows no end. See other paffages of the fame kind, L. 4. 1. 292. to 337. L. 4. 1.750. to 765. The epifode of the forcerefs Ericho, end of book 6. is intolerably minute and prolix.

To these I venture to oppofe a paffage from an old historical ballad:

Go, little page, tell Hardiknute

That lives on hill so high,‡

To draw his fword, the dread of faes,

And hafte to follow me.

The little page flew swift as dart

Flung by his master's arm.

"Come down, come down, Lord Hardiknute,

"And rid your king from harm."

This rule alfo is applicable to other fine arts. In paint ing it is established, that the principal figure muft be

Beginning of act 3.

Lib. 3. beginning at line 567.

High, in the old Scotch language, is pronounced hee.

put

put in the strongest light; that the beauty of attitude confifts in placing the nobler parts most in view, and in fuppreffing the smaller parts as much as poffible; that the folds of the drapery must be few and large; that foreshortenings are bad, because they make the parts appear little; and that the muscles ought to be kept as entire as poffible, without being divided into fmall fections. Every one at prefent fubfcribes to that rule as applied to gardening, in oppofition to parterres split into a thoufand fmall parts in the ftiffeft regularity of figure. The most eminent architects have governed themselves by the fame rule in all their works...

Another rule chiefly regards the fublime, though it is applicable to every fort of literary performance intended for amufement; and that is, to avoid as much as poffible abftract and general terms. Such terms, fimilar to mathematical figns, are contrived to express our thoughts in a concife manner; but images, which are the life of poetry, cannot be raised in any perfection but by introducing particular objects. General terms that comprehend a number of individuals, must be excepted from that rule: our kindred, our clan, our country, and words of the like import, though they scarce raise any image, have however a wonderful power over our paffions: the greatnefs of the complex object overbalances the obfcurity of the image.

Grandeur, being an extreme vivid emotion, is not readily produced in perfection but by reiterated impreffions. The effect of a fingle impreflion can be but momentary; and if one feel fuddenly fomewhat like a fwelling or exaltation of mind, the emotion vanifheth as foon as felt. Single thoughts or fentiments, I know, are often cited as examples of the fublime; but their effect is far inferior to that of a

N 4

grand

grand fubject displayed in its capital parts. I fhall give a few examples, that the reader may judge for himself. In the famous action of Thermopyla, where Leonidas the Spartan king, with his chofen band, fighting for their country, were cut off to the laft man, a faying is reported of Dicneces, one of the band, which, exprefling cheerful and undisturbed bravery, is well entitled to the first place in examples of that kind. Refpecting the number of their enemies, it was obferved, that the arrows fhot by fuch a multitude would intercept the light of the fun. So much the better, fays he, for we fhall then fight in the fhade.*

Somerfet. Ah! Warwick, Warwick, wert thou as

we are,

We might recover all our lofs again.

The Queen from France hath brought a puiflant power, Ev'n now we heard the news. Ah! couldft thou fly! Warwick. Why, then I would not fly.

Third part, Henry VI. aết 5. fc. 3.

Such a fentiment from a man expiring of his wounds, is truly heroic, and muft elevate the mind to the greatest height, that can be done by a fingle expreflion it will not fuffer in a comparison with the famous fentiment qu'il mourut of Corneille: the lat ter is a fentiment of indignation merely, the former of firm and cheerful courage.

To cite in oppofition many a fublime paffage, enriched with the fineft images, and dreffed in the most nervous expreffions, would fcarce be fair: I fhall produce but one inftance from Shakespear, which fets a few objects before the eye, without much pomp of language: it operates its effect by representing these objects

*Herodotus, book 7.

objects in a climax, raifing the mind higher and higher till it feel the emotion of grandeur in perfection:

The cloud-capt towr's, the gorgeous palaces,
The folemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea all which it inherit, fhall diffolve, &c.

The cloud-capt tour's produce an elevating emotion, heightened by the gorgeous palaces; and the mind is carried ftill higher and higher by the images that follow. Succeffive images, making thus deeper and deeper impreffions, muft elevate more than any fingle image can do.

As, on the one hand, no means directly applied have more influence to raise the mind than grandeur and fublimity; fo, on the other, no means indirectly applied have more influence to fink and deprefs it: for in a state of elevation, the artful introduction of an humbling object, makes the fall great in proportion to the elevation. Of this obfervation Shakespear gives a beautiful example, in the paffage last quoted:

The cloud-capt tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces,
The folemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea all which it inherit, fhall diffolve,
And, like the baseless fabric of a vision,
Leave not a wreck behind.-

Tempeft, at 4. fc. 4.

The elevation of the mind in the former part of this beautiful paffage, makes the fall great in proportion, when the most humbling of all images is introduced, that of an utter diffolution of the earth and its inhabitants. The mind, when warmed, is more fufceptible of impreffions than in a cool ftate; and a depreffing