Timæus, that Isocrates far excelled the Lacedemonians in manly vigour, inasmuch as they spent thirty years in the siege of Messene, while he was occupied only ten in writing his panegyric.

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Again, how does he inveigh against the Athenians taken in Sicily! Because," says he, they had behaved with impiety towards Hermes, and mutilated "his images, this calamity befel them; and, what is "remarkable, by the hands of a man who was de

scended on the father's side from the injured God; namely Hermocrates the son of Hermon." I wonder, then, he does not tell us, my Friend, when writing of Dionysius the Tyrant, that "because he was guilty of impiety towards Dia [Jupiter] and Hercules, he was deposed by Dion and Heraclides."

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But why should we dwell on the faults of Timæus, when even those heroes of literature, Xenophon and Plato, although of the school of Socrates, forget themselves occasionally in pursuit of some petty conceit? The former, in his treatise on the Polity of the Lacedemonians, says; "You could hear no more speech from "them, than from statues of marble; nor could you

produce more motion in their eyes, than if they were figures of bronze: you would think them more "modest, too, than the pupils of their eyes." Surely it might have become Amphicrates, but not Xenophon, to speak of the pupil of the eye, as of a girl in a state of pupillage [and to give to the former the attribute of

modesty, which should belong to the latter.] But what a conceit, truly, is this, to assume that the pupils of all eyes are modest! when it is a common observation that immodesty is betrayed by nothing sooner than by the eye agreeably to the Poet's expression, describing an impudent man:

"Thou drunken dog-eyed wretch!"

But Timæus, as if he had found something worth stealing, leaves not the quiet possession of even this piece of frigidity to Xenophon: for, speaking of Agathocles, "he seized," says he, "his cousin, betrothed to another, " and carried her off during the very ceremonies of the nuptial feast-and who would have acted thus, the pupils of whose eyes had not, instead of the modesty "of maidens, possessed the effrontery of harlots?" Plato also, in other respects so divine an author, speakof writing-tablets, uses this expression: Having written, they will deposit their cypress memories in "the temples." And again, "As to the walls," says he, "I would agree with Sparta, Megillus, to leave "them lying in repose upon the earth, and not to rouse "them." There is also an expression of Herodotus not far behind in frigidity, where he calls beautiful women " eye-sores." It may indeed be alleged in his excuse, that he puts these words into the mouths of barbarians, and those too in a state of ebriety: but it is wrong, even when writing under characters like these,

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for the sake of a paltry conceit, to make so bad a figure with posterity.

SECTION V.

All these faults, so contrary to true dignity of style, are derived from the same source,-a fondness for novelty;—after which the writers of the present age most especially run frantic. Defects and excellencies have, not unfrequently, their origin from much the same cause and hence, as elegance and sublimity of style, no less than its sweetness, contribute to perfection in good composition, so may these very qualities, as they are the foundations of success, become likewise the source of failure. Metaboles, Hyperboles, and Plurals, belong to this description; and the danger, to which the use of these renders us liable, shall be pointed out in the sequel. Meanwhile we ought, for this reason, to pause, and satisfy ourselves as to the means, by which the faults, connected with Sublimity, may be best avoided.

SECTION VI.

Now this may be done, my Friend, by our forming a clear notion, and an accurate perception of the true Sublime; which is, indeed, no easy matter for a critical judgment concerning style is the final result of much experience. So far, however, as precepts can avail, the present Treatise may, perhaps, assist us in acquiring this power of discrimination.

SECTION VII.

We must bear in mind, then, my dear Friend, that as, in common life, nothing is great, which it is great to despise, (for wealth, honour, glory, dominion, and whatever else displays much theatric splendour, can never be esteemed superior blessings by a wise man, inasmuch as we regard with greater admiration than those who possess them, such as, having them within their reach, through greatness of mind, contemn them ;)-so also we must be aware that, in the sublimities of poetry and eloquence, certain passages may exhibit a specious grandeur decked out in much empty verbosity, which, if thoroughly examined, are found to be merely tumid, and deserving rather of contempt than of admiration. The true Sublime naturally elevates the soul, and filling it with a lofty transport, causes it to rejoice and exult, as if itself had first conceived what it has only heard.

When, therefore, a passage that has been heard repeatedly by a man of intelligence, and of experience in writing, neither disposes his soul to lofty conceptions, nor leaves any thing for his mind to dwell on beyond a mere speculative impression, but sinks, on continued reflection, into comparative insignificance,-that passage, retaining its hold on the memory no longer than it does upon the ear, can never belong to the true Sublime.

But that, on the contrary, is really great, which furnishes food for meditation; which it is difficult, or

rather impossible, to dismiss from the thoughts; and of which the remembrance continues strong and indelible. What pleases all, and pleases always, you may fairly conclude to be the excellent and genuine sublime. For, if men of different occupations and stations in life, of diverse pursuits, ages, and languages, pronounce the same favourable judgment upon the same work, then such a judgment, proceeding from minds so independent of each other, stamps, upon the object of their approbation, a reputation altogether incontrovertible.

SECTION VIII.

There are five sources, if I may so express it, from which the Sublimity of eloquence most copiously flows: pre-supposing as a groundwork common to all these five, a certain power of elocution, without which they are nothing. The first and most effectual of these is, a successful boldness in regard to the sentiments, as I defined it in my lecture on Xenophon. The second is, vehement and enthusiastic passion, These two are, for the most part, natural constituents of Sublimity the others are chiefly the result of art. The third is, a suitable combination of figures; which are of two kinds; those relating to the sentiment [or metaphors,] and those belonging to the language [or tropes.] Next [and in the fourth place,] is majesty of expression, which again may be divided into a judicious selection of words, and a diction sufficiently elaborate, and

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