This is the language of a madman :

Guildford. Give way, and let the gufhing torrent come, Behold the tears we bring to fwell the deluge,

Till the flood rife upon the guilty world

And make the ruin common.

Lady Jane Gray, act 4. near the end.

I am forry to observe that the following bom> baft ftuff dropt from the pen of Dryden.

To fee this fleet upon the ocean move,

Angels drew wide the curtains of the skies;
And heaven, as if there wanted lights above,
For tapers made two glaring comets rise.

Another species of falfe fublime is still more faulty than bombaft; and that is, to force ele> vation by introducing imaginary beings without preferving any propriety in their actions; as if it were lawful to afcribe every extravagance and inconfiftence to beings of the poet's creation. No writers are more licentious in that article than Johnfon and Dryden :

Methinks I fee Death and the furies waiting
What we will do, and all the heaven at leisure
For the great fpectacle. Draw then your fwords:
our virtue

And if our destiny envy

The honour of the day, yet let us care
To fell ourfelves at fuch a price, as may

Undo the world to buy us, and inake Fate,
While fhe tempts ours, to fear her own eftate.

Catiline, act 5.

The

The Furies ftood on hill

Circling the place, and trembled to fee men.
Do more than they; whilft Piety left the field,
Griev'd for that fide, that in fo bad a caufe
They knew not what a crime their valour was.
The Sun ftood still, and was, behind the cloud
The battle made, feen fweating to drive up

His frighted horfe, whom still the noife drove backward.

Ibid. a. 5.

Ofmyn. While we indulge our common happiness, He is forgot by whom we all poffefs,

The brave Almanzor, to whofe arms we owe

All that we did, and all that we shall do;

Who like a tempeft that outrides the wind,
Made a juft battle ere the bodies join'd.

Abdalla. His victories we fcarce could keep in view, Or polish 'em so fast as he rough drew.

Abdemelech. Fate after him below with pain did move, And Victory could fcarce keep pace above. Death did at length so many flain forget,

And loft the tale, and took 'em by the great.

Conquest of Grenada, a& 2. at beginning.

The gods of Rome fight for ye; loud Fame calls ye, Pitch'd on the toplefs Apenine, and blows

To all the under world, all nations

The feas, and unfrequented deferts, where the fnow

dwells,

Wakens the ruin'd monuments, and there,

Where nothing but eternal death and fleep is,

Informs again the dead bones.

Beaumont and Fletcher, Bonduca, act 3. fc. 3.

An actor on the stage may be guilty of bombaft as well as an author in his clofet; a certain manner of acting, which is grand when fupported by dignity in the fentiment and force in the expreffion, is ridiculous where the fentiment is mean, and the expreffion flat..

This chapter fhall be closed with some obfervations. When the fublime is carried to its due height, and circumfcribed within proper bounds, it enchants the mind, and raises the most delightful of all emotions; the reader, engroffed by a fublime object, feels himself raised as it were to a higher rank. Confidering that effect, it is not wonderful that the hiftory of conquerors and heroes, fhould be univerfally the favourite entertainment. And this fairly accounts for what I once erroneously fufpected to be a wrong bias originally in human nature; which is, that the groffeft acts of oppreffion and injuftice scarce blemith the character of a great conqueror: we, nevertheless, warmly efpoufe his intereft, accompany him in his exploits, and are anxious for his fuccefs: the fplendour and enthusiasm of the hero transfufed into the readers, elevate their minds far above the rules of juftice, and render them in a great measure infenfible of the that are committed:

wrongs

For in thofe days might only fhall be admir'd,
And valour and heroic virtue call'd;

To overcome in battle, and fubdue

Nations, and bring home spoils with infinite

Manflughter,

Manflaughter, fhall be held the highest pitch
Of human glory, and for glory done
Of triumph, to be ftyl❜d great conquerors,
Patrons of mankind, gods, and fons of gods;
Destroyers rightlier call'd, and plagues of men.
Thus fame fhall be atchiev'd, renown on earth,
And what moft merits fame in filence hid.

Milton, b. 11.

The irregular influence of grandeur reaches alfo to other matters: however good, honeft, or ufeful, a man may be, he is not fo much refpected as is one of a more elevated character, tho' of lefs integrity; nor do the misfortunes of the former affect us fo much as thofe of the latter. And I add, because it cannot be disguised, that the remorfe which attends breach of engagement, is in a great measure proportioned to the figure that the injured person makes: the vows and proteftations of lovers are an illuftrious example; for these commonly are little regarded when made to women of inferior rank.

CHAP.

250

CHA P. V.

MOTION AND FORCE.

THA

HAT motion is agreeable to the eye without relation to purpose or defign, may appear from the amusement it gives to infants : juvenile exercises are relished chiefly on that

account.

If a body in motion be agreeable, one will be apt to conclude that at reft it must be disagreeable but we learn from experience, that this would be a rafh conclufion. Reft is one of thofe circumstances that are neither agreeable nor disagreeable, being viewed with perfect indifferency. And happy is it for mankind to have the matter fo ordered: if reft were agreeable, it would difincline us to motion, by which all things are performed: if it were difagreeable, it would be a fource of perpetual uneafinefs ; for the bulk of the things we fee appear to be at reft. A fimilar inftance of defigning wifdom I have had occafion to explain, in op. pofing grandeur to littlenefs, and elevation to lowness of place *. Even in the fimpleft matters, the finger of God is confpicuous: the happy adjustment of the internal nature of man to

See Chap. 4.