pends entirely on the Circumstances and Character of the Perfon that speaks it, and then by an Affociation of Ideas, our Minds may be greatly affected: and in a Description of the Jaws of Hell, which of itfelf gives us Images of dreadful Magnificence, a thick Exhalation of Smoke and Stench may be brought in to correfpond with our preconceived Notions, and fo give a Finishing to the Description; but a Stench on a Dunghill would create no Sublimity: Our Author has not diftinguifhed between the efficient Caufes of the Sublime, and the concomitant Circumstances which help to increase it. He concludes this Part of his Book with obferving that the Sublime belongs entirely to the Paffions of Self-prefervation, which turn upon Pain and Danger: and this Pofition feems to have led him into a Mistake throughout his Work: the Sublime belongs to no particular Paffion, but is greatly heightened by them all. Whatever fills the Mind with magnificent Ideas is Sublime. For it is certain that all the Paffions of the human Mind may be fuborned Promoters of whatever is great and excellent in any Conception or Defcription. All our felfifh and focial Affections, Terror, Ambition, Refentment, Rage, Grief, Compaffion, Indignation, &c. naturally tend to enflame our Minds with that Enthusiasm which Longinus mentions; and it is certain that an impaffioned Sublime is the nobleft Emotion of which we are capable. It is unneceffary to quote Inftances, where Grief, Compaffion, and even our tendereft Sympathies, bring in their auxiliary Aid, to render a noble Thought more glowing and the Defcription of the Night Scene in Mr. Pope's Homer will evince that the Sublime may excite SenLations very different from Terror. As when the Moon, refulgent Lamp of Night, O'er Heaven's clear Azure fpreads her facred Light; When not a Breath difturbs the deep Serene,. and the Shepherd's Heart rejoiceth, says Homer; which fhews that the Sublime can excite Ideas very different from Terror; and though it may be said, that there will be a Kind of Solemnity in the Mind at the View of fuch a Night-piece, yet that is only the Stillness natural to Admiration, and Gladnefs will still be the prevalent Sensation. The next Part of the Enquiry relates to Beauty; and we are told that Proportion is not effential to it. Our Author confiders Proportion in the vegetable World, in the Brute Creation, and in the human Species, and does not find it. a neceflary Quality. This is certainly a new Philofophy, but we apprehend very erroneous.. Proportion is not Beauty itself, but one of its efficient Qualities. A partial Beauty may be feen; that is to fay, an hand fome Face, or an handfome Leg; but, we apprehend, a beautiful and entire Whole never exifted without Proportion and Fitnefs. This we think fo apparent, that it need not be infifted on; if the Reader has a Mind to fatisfy himself on this Head, we refer him to Hutchinfon and others. He adds befides, that Perfection is not the Caufe of Beauty; and the Reason is extraordinary, because Women learn to lifp, to totter, to counterfeit Weakness, &c. But fuch Affectation is univerfally acknowledged to be ridiculous. ridiculous. He finds Fault with the Application of Beautiful to Virtue; though it is obferved by Mr. Locke, that most Words which denote Operations of the Mind are derived from the Objects of bodily Senfation. He then enumerates the Causes of Beauty; fuch as Smallness in the Object, Smoothness, and unwittingly allows Proportion under another Name. The View,' fays he, of a beautiful Bird will illuftrate this Obfervation. Here we see the Head increafing fenfibly to the Middle, from whence it leffens gradually until it mixes with the Neck; the Neck lofes itfelf in a larger Swell, ' which continues to the Middle of the Body, when ⚫ the Whole decreases again to the Tail; the Tail takes a new Direction; but it foon varies its new Course; it blends again with the other Parts; and the Line is perpetually and infenfibly changing, above, below, upon every Side. In this Defcription I have before me the Idea of a Dove; it agrees very well with most of the Conditions of Beauty." Here then it appears he deceives himself with what he calls gradual Variation, which, in Fact, is another Name for Proportion. Delicacy, Colour, and Expreffion in the Countenance, he next confiders; and he obferves, that Gracefulness is an Idea belonging to Pofture and Motion. In both thefe, to be graceful, it is requifite that there be no Appearance of Difficulty; there is required a fmall Inflection of the Body; and a Composure of the ‹ Parts, in such a Manner, as not to incumber each other, nor to appear divided by fharp and fudden Angles. In this Cafe, this Roundnefs and Delicacy • of Attitude and Motion, it is that all the Magic of Grace confifts, and what is called its Je ne fcai • quoi, as will be more obvious to any Body who • confiders attentively the Venus de Medicis, the Antinous, or any ftatue generally allowed to be graceful in an high Degree.' He then applies Beautiful to all our other Senfes ; he looks for it in Feeling, in Sounds, in Tafte and Smell; and as this is ever done metaphorically in Language, it is furprising our Author would not allow the Phrase to be tranflated to Modes of the Mind by the fame Analogy. He then compares the Sublime and the Beautiful; and because he finds that the latter is founded on Pleasure, he imagines, by Way of Contrast, that the Sublime must be founded on Pain. But we have feen in Inftances already produced (and there are numberless more) that it is alfo founded on Pleasure. However, he proceeds with his Hypothefis; he examines the vifible Effects of Pain on the human Frame: He fays, that Fear operates much in the fame Manner as pofitive Pain; and thence he infers, that whatever operates on the Nerves in a fimilar Manner, muft neceffarily excite Ideas of the Sublime; and in this Manner he accounts why Greathefs of Dimenfion is Sublime; becaufe," fays he, the Ray from every diftinct Point makes an Im• preffion on the Retina. So that though the Image of one Point fhould cause but a fmall Tenfion ⚫ of this Membrane, another and another, and another Stroke, muft, in their Progrefs, caufe a very ⚫ great one, until it arrives at laft to the highest Degree; and the whole Capacity of the Eye, vibrat ing in all its Parts, muft approach near to the Nature of what causes Pain, and confequently muft ⚫ produce an Idea of the Sublime.' But the Eye of Homer's Shepherd must have received a great Impreffion, and yet we find his Heart did not feelTerror, but Gladnefs. A Stock-Broker in the Alley making a long Calculation, feems to be in the Situ ation of a Man fuffering Pain; his Teeth are fet, his Eye-Brows are violently contracted, and his Nerves feel a Contraction or a Tenfion; but we apprehend no one will fufpect that a fingle Idea of the Sublime Sublime ever entered his Imagination, unless the Terror he feels when the Stocks are falling may be called fo. There is no Neceffity that what borders upon Pain in its Operations on our Nerves fhould produce the Sublime; because we know that in many Cafes we may have a Tenfion or Contraction without adverting to it, and yet feel no elevated Emotions; as in looking at the Manfion-Houfe, where we may fatigue the Eye, but never perceive any thing magnificent; Vaftnefs alone not being enough to conftitute the Sublime. He endeavours to refute Mr. Locke's Opinion, and afferts, that Darkness is terrible in its own Nature: To fupport which, he tells a curious Story from Chefelden, of a Boy who had been born blind, and continued fo until he was thirteen or fourteen Years old: He was then couched for a Cataract, by which Operation he • received his Sight. Among many remarkable Par<ticulars that attended his firft Perceptions and Judgments on vifual Objects, Chefelden tells us, that the first Time the Boy faw a black Object, it gave him great Uneafinefs; and that some Time after, upon ◄ accidentally seeing a Negro Woman, he was ftruck with great Horror at the Sight.' It does not appear that this Boy had any Ideas of the Sublime, or that the Negro Woman appeared magnificent in his Eyes: His Horror, we fhould think, proceeded from the Novelty of an Object so different from his Fellow-creatures; and it does not appear that the coming on of the Night was any Way terrible to him, which we fhould imagine it would at first, if Darknefs were terrible in its Nature. We are therefore ftill apt to think Mr. Locke right in making Darknefs formidable from an Affociation of Ideas, and that Affociation of Ideas will help to increase the Sublime. Having difcourfed of Pain, our Author proceeds to the phyfical Caufe of Love. When ⚫ we have before us," fays he, fuch Objects as ex6 ⚫ cite E 4 |