Sublimity. And this, I think, may be granted, without invalidating the propriety of the precept itself; since it contains the admission that, at least, some degree of elevation is so produced. Nay, if I rightly apprehend the force of the word, y, employed to describe the effect thus wrought, the critic himself intended to claim for it something short of the positive Sublime.* He was concerned, in pursuance of his plan, to shew all the means tending to stamp on style any character of grandeur and dignity: all the means, not merely of soaring to the loftier regions of Sublimity, but also of arriving at those less ambitious heights, which, according to their degree, furnish excellences, though of a lower order, yet of a kindred quality. Now, the selection and combination of chief circumstances being one of these means, he has, accordingly, grounded a precept upon these: and Sappho's ode furnishing him with an apt illustration of his precept, he has very properly quoted, with that view, as much of it as suited his purpose. He tells us, and he tells us truly, that such a selection and combination, if made with judgment and skill, contribute to the sublime; and he has fully and satisfactorily verified his assertion, by shewing how the features of violent passion, crowded * It seems strange that so cautious a critic as Pearce should have asserted [Sect. i. 1. 10, note] that the words 7ès-Tа ÚTEρova-τà MEγάλα τὸ ὑπερτεταμένον—τὰ μεγέθη τὸ μεγαλοφυές—τὸ θαυμάσιον, &c. are, as used by Longinus, synonymous, and employed only varietatis gratia. Were it so, they might be substituted one for another, ad libitum ; which is very seldom, if ever, the case. There is, on the contrary, every where, a peculiar fitness and propriety in the phrase employed, so that another would not equally well supply its place and this fitness and propriety was perhaps better appreciated in his own age, than it can be now by the most accurate scholar. and brought forward in rapid succession in one body of description, display that union of beauty and force, which is capable of elevating style above the common level, and rendering it dignified and sublime. And this may, I presume, suffice for the vindication of Longinus, in introducing the ode of Sappho into his Treatise. The remainder of Doctor Blair's animadversions respects our author's division of the subject of his Treatise and this we will now consider. - It might fairly have been expected that so grave a charge against so eminent a writer, and one, whose fame has stood unassailed through so long a period,—a charge, moreover, which involves, by implication, the taste and learning of such a host of distinguished scholars, should, at least, have been supported by arguments, and corroborated by examples. But, vaguely as it stands expressed, it really tends to encourage a suspicion that the Doctor did not sufficiently apprehend the design of the work which he nevertheless ventures to condemn. The intention of Longinus, as I have already stated, and am here constrained to repeat, was, as we collect from his work itself, to deliver precepts for elevating composition to sublimity: and it is therefore no valid objection against him to say, that " of the five heads" into which he has divided his subject, only the two first have any peculiar relation to the Sublime." That they relate exclusively to the Sublime, we are not concerned to shew: it is sufficient for our purpose of justifying Longinus if we make it appear that those heads relate to matters which are important constituents of Sublimity, and which tend to impress this character upon writing. In the division of his subject, Longinus tells us that, of the five, the first two heads, namely, boldness in the thoughts, and powerful and enthusiastic passion, are, for the most part, innate and that the remaining three are chiefly the result of art, or education. These three are, according to the Doctor's interpretation," the "proper application of figures,-the use of tropes and beautiful expressions—and musical structure and arrange"ment of words:" and it is against these that his objections are levelled, as belonging to a treatise on Rhetoric, rather than on the Sublime. Now, it seems hardly possible that a writer of Doctor Blair's acknowledged taste, could mean to assert, respecting the first of these three, that the use of figures has no relation to the Sublime; and it is equally unaccountable that he should object to their introduction here, on account merely of their having a relation to other beauties and excellences besides. That the latter forms no valid ground of objection I have already shewn and the unanimous opinion of all writers on subjects of philosophical criticism is on my side, when I maintain that nothing has a greater tendency to produce sublimity of language, than a judicious employment of grand and striking figures. Where, for instance, shall we find a much more sublime passage than Milton's description of the fallen Archangel? 66 He, above the rest, "Stood like a tower: his form had not yet lost "Less than archangel ruin'd, and th' excess "Of glory obscur'd:-as when the sun, new risen, 'Looks through the horizontal misty air "Shorn of his beams; or, from behind the moon, To what does this grand passage owe its awful sublimity, if not to the figures which are employed in it with so much skill and effect? And, were it necessary for me to quote more examples in proof of what no one, I believe, will deny, perhaps I could not better illustrate my position, than from Longinus himself, where he compares the genius of Homer in the Odyssey, to the setting sun, and to the ebbing ocean. The next head in this division, which the Doctor holds to be objectionable, as having no relation to the Sublime, is as he has rendered it, "the use of tropes and beautiful expressions." The words of the original are these: ἡ γεννᾶια φράσις, ἧς μέρη πάλιν ὀνομάτων τε ἐκλογὴ, καὶ ἡ τροπικὴ καὶ πεποιημένη λέξις. This I have translated majesty of expression: which may be divided into-a judicious selection of words, and a diction sufficiently elaborate, and elevated by tropes. Now, that the Sublime in writing, in most instances depends, in a very great degree, on the proper choice of words, must be obvious to every man, who has the least pretension to feeling or taste. There is a difference, which strikes us at once, between meanness and majesty of language. There are words, which, whether from association, or from any other cause, impress the mind with a sense of dignity and grandeur; and there are others, which inevitably convey ideas of debasement and vulgarity. Indeed, so necessary is it, in order to sustain the Sublimity of a passage, to avoid all words of this latter kind, that the admission of but one of them is sufficient to sink it completely.* How sadly, for instance, has the effect of a very noble passage in the Book of Job been injured by the admission of a single word, debased by vulgar use! "Canst thou bind the "sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of "Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his "season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? "Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that " abundance of waters may cover thee? Canst thou "send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, here are we? Who can number the clouds in "wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of Heaven, "when the dust groweth into hardness ?+ Substitute, now, for this word bottles, any other of equivalent import,-as fountains, or sources,-which have not suffered similar degradation, and you will restore the passage to that dignity which it possesses in the original. There is also, a remarkable instance of the employment of a word not now in vulgar use, by which a very sublime passage is saved from degradation. It occurs in the fourteenth chapter of the Prophecy of Isaiah. “I will make Babylon a possession for the bittern, and "pools of water, and I will sweep it with the besom of "destruction!" Terribly grand as this passage is, substitute for the nearly obsolete word besom, the vulgar synonym broom, and see what is the effect! Longinus has not failed to notice this and it is probable that he had expressed his opinion on the subject more fully than we now possess it, in the beginning of the thirty-first section, which is lost. + Chapter xxxviii.-lhe defect here remarked is not, of course, attributable to the original; but arises from a deficiency of taste in the translators; who performed their task very admirably on the whole, though they betray occasionally the want of refinement which belongs to their age. |