The

plainness, and yet they are in the highest degree sublime. most stupendous miracles are described with a simple majesty fully equal to that in Genesis which extorted such admiration from Longinus.

Examples. -In describing the greatest of all his miracles, that of raising from the dead, the record is simply, "Jesus said, Lazarus, come forth: and he that was dead came forth." In healing the worst form of disease then known, he merely said to the leprous man, "Be thou clean and immediately his leprosy was cleansed." When the disciples were in peril at sea, more terrifying than that which daunted Cæsar's pilot, Jesus with calm serenity said, "It is I, be not afraid." His claims to authority, as a teacher come from God, are put forth in few and simple words, but at the same time with a majesty of expression that forced even his enemies to say, "never man spake like this man."

Character of these Utterances. These utterances are either simply blasphemous in their arrogance, or they are in the highest degree sublime. Imagine any other man that ever lived, saying to the countless tribes of affliction, in all the ends of the earth, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." "Let not your hearts be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me." "Before Abraham was, I am." "In this place is one greater than the temple." "The son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."

Improving upon the Sublime. If we take any of the examples which have been given, and endeavor to improve upon them, by piling up big words and sounding epithets, and by going into various small details, we soon find that the sublimity has all disappeared. The transaction or the thought may still be grand; but our expression of it is poor and commonplace. A second-rate poet has thus dilated upon Cæsar's celebrated phrase, Quid times? Cæsarem vehis. ("What do you fear? You carry Cæsar.")

"But Cæsar, still superior to distress,

Fearless, and confident of sure success,
Thus to the pilot loud: The seas despise,
And the vain threat'ning of the noisy skies;
Though gods deny thee yon Ausonian strand,
Yet go, I charge you, go, at my command.
Thy ignorance alone can cause thy fears,

Thou know'st not what a freight thy vessel bears;
Thou know'st not I am he to whom 'tis given,
Never to want the care of watchful heaven.
Obedient fortune waits my humble thrall,

And always ready, comes before I call.

Let winds and seas, loud wars at freedom wage,
And waste upon themselves their empty rage;

A stronger, mightier daimon is thy friend,
Thou and thy bark on Cæsar's fate depend.
Thou stand'st amazed to view this dreadful scene,
And wonder'st what the gods and fortune mean;
But artfully their bounties thus they raise,
And from my danger arrogate new praise;
Amid the fears of death they bid me live,
And still enhance what they are sure to give."

Mode of Treatment.

II. BEAUTY.

The treatment of Beauty as a quality of style must be, in some respects, similar to our treatment of Sublimity. We will speak first of Beauty in general, and then of Rhetorical beauty, or beauty in Composition.

I. BEAUTY IN GENERAL.

Relation of Beauty to Sublimity. - Beauty, next to Sublimity, affords the highest pleasure to the taste. The emotion which it raises, however, is very distinguishable from that of sublimity. It is of a calmer kind; more gentle and soothing; does not elevate the mind so much, but, on the contrary, produces an agreeable serenity. Sublimity raises a feeling too violent to be lasting; the pleasure arising from beauty admits of longer continuance. It extends also to a much greater variety of objects. It is applied indeed to almost every external object that pleases either the eye, or the ear; to many dispositions of the mind; to numerous objects of mere abstract science; and to nearly all the graces of writing. We talk currently of a beautiful tree or flower; a beautiful character; a beautiful theorem in mathematics; a beautiful poem or essay. The qualities which produce in us the emotion of beauty may mostly be reduced under the following heads:

1. Color.-Color affords the simplest instance of beauty. The eye is so formed that certain colors give us pleasure, and these colors we call beautiful.

How far Influenced by Association.- In some cases, probably, the pleasure derived from color is influenced by the association of ideas. Green, for instance, is more pleasing, because associated with rural scenes; blue, with the serenity of the sky; white, with innocence. Persons differ too in their choice of colors, and in the extent to which color itse`f gives them pleasure. But, notwithstanding this,

the fact still remains that color alone, apart from all associations, is a source of beauty.

Evidence of God's Goodness. -It is a striking evidence of the goodness of the Creator, that a source of pleasure so pure and elevating is at the same time so abundant. The whole visible creation, animate and inanimate, is a picture gallery, replete with specimens of coloring such as no art of man can equal, either for richness or for delicacy. There is no shade or tint in which the eye of man takes delight, that may not be found in its perfection in the plumage of the birds, the leaves of plants and flowers, the varied hues of the morning and evening sky, the wondrous shells of the ocean, the still more wondrous gems from the mine.

2. Figure.—Figure, as a source of beauty, is more complex and diversified than color. The beauty which can be traced to figure, is made up of several elements, which may be separated in idea.

Regularity. The first of these elements is regularity. By a regular figure is meant one which we perceive to be formed according to some rule, and not left arbitrary and loose in the arrangement of its parts. Thus a square, a triangle, a circle, an ellipse are regular figures, and on the proper occasions please the eye by this regularity, and are, for that reason, accounted beautiful.

Variety. Another element, in the beauty which is dependent upon figure, is exactly the opposite to that just named. I mean variety. This latter is indeed a much more prolific source of beauty than the former. Both in the works of nature, and in those works of art which are intended to please, while regularity of figure is sufficiently observed to prevent confusion, and to show design, yet a certain graceful variety is the prevailing characteristic.

Each when Pleasing. Exact mathematical figures, indeed, are seldom, perhaps never, pleasing, except when associated with the idea of fitness for some particular use. The doors and windows of a house are made after a regular form, with exact proportion of parts; and being so formed, they please the eye, because by this very regularity of figure they better subserve the use for which they were designed. But the plants and flowers which surround the house have an almost infinite diversity and variety of figure, and please us all the more for being so formed, instead of growing in squares, circles, and polygons.

Curves. Figures bounded by curved lines are in general more beautiful than those bounded by straight lines and angles. To say that a thing is angular, is only another way of saying that it lacks beauty. Of curved lines, those which are elliptical are usually more pleasing than those which are circular. The reason seems to be that in the ellipse, there is a constant deviation from the line of curvature, giving at the same time continual uniformity and continual change. For the same reason, wave lines and spiral lines are accounted beautiful, and they are found of frequent recurrence in shells, flowers, and other works of nature, and in the works of art that are designed for ornament and decoration.

3. Motion. Motion is a source of beauty. By this is meant that bodies in motion are for that reason more agreeable than bodies at rest. But not every kind of motion is agreeable, and of those which are agreeable some are more so than others.

Gentle. The first requisite to the agreeableness of any motion is that it should be gentle. A bird gliding through the air is beautiful; the lightning, on the contrary, darting from side to side of the heavens, is sublime. We feel the same difference in contemplating a stream moving gently along its course, and a torrent dashing tumultuously over a precipice.

Curvilinear. – Another requisite to the agreeableness of motion is that it should be in curved rather than in straight lines. Hence the pleasing effect of curling smoke or flame. Here it is to be noticed that most of the motions used by men in transacting the necessary business of life are in straight lines, while those connected mainly with pleasure and ornament are made in curving lines.

4. Complex Beauty.-Though color, figure, and motion are separate principles of beauty, yet in many beautiful objects they all meet, and thereby render the beauty both greater and more complex.

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Examples. Thus, in flowers, trees, and animals, we are entertained at once with the delicacy of the color, with the gracefulness of the figure, and sometimes also with the motion of the object. Although each of these produces separately an agreeable sensation, yet these sensations are of such a similar nature as readily to mix

and blend in one general perception of beauty, which we ascribe to the whole object as its cause: for beauty is always conceived by us as something residing in the object which raises the pleasant sensation; a sort of glory which dwells upon and invests it.

The most Complete Example. Perhaps the most complete assemblage of beautiful objects that can anywhere be found, is presented by a rich natural landscape, where there is a sufficient variety of objects; fields in verdure, scattered trees and flowers, running water, and animals grazing. If to these be joined some of the productions of art, which suit such a scene, as a bridge with arches over a river, smoke rising from cottages in the midst of trees, and the distant view of a fine building seen by the rising sun, we then enjoy, in the highest perfection, that gay, cheerful, and placid sensation which characterizes beauty. To have an eye and a taste formed for catching the peculiar beauties of such scenes as these is a necessary requisite for all who attempt poetical description.

5. Beauty of Countenance.-The beauty of the human countenance is more complex than any that we have yet considered.

What it Includes. It includes the beauty of color, arising from the delicate shades of the complexion; and the beauty of figure, arising from the lines which form the different features of the face. But the chief beauty of the countenance depends upon a mysterious expression which it conveys of the qualities of the mind; of good sense or good humor; of sprightliness, candor, benevolence, sensibility, or other amiable dispositions. How it comes to pass that a certain conformation of features is connected in our idea with certain moral qualities; whether we are taught by instinct or by experience to form this connection, and to read the mind in the countenance, belongs not to us now to inquire, nor is indeed easy to resolve. The fact is certain and acknowledged, that what gives the human countenance its most distinguishing beauty is what is called its expression; or an image, which it is conceived to show, of internal moral dispositions.

6. Moral Beauty.-There are certain qualities of the mind which, whether expressed in the countenance, or by words, or by actions, always raise in us a feeling similar to that of beauty.