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vince ; Co that any fudden event (like the commotion excited by- 

 Neptune) which might feem to portend an invafion, muft natu- 

 rally have excited an alarm, efpecially if it arofe from the more 

 powerful being. The mixed emotions of terror and aftonifh- 

 ment, fo fudden and momentary as they are here defcribed, 

 betray no defed of magnanimity or vigour, and therefore have 

 nothing in them unfavourable to a fublime defcription. It 

 appears then from the inftances now adduced that this paflion 

 may afTume the form of fublimity or meannefs, according to its 

 moving principle or caufe. 



The objedt upon which the palfion is employed is alfo of 

 confiderable influence, according as it is great and worthy and 

 exalted, or low and mean and contraded. Suppofe our country 

 were invaded by a powerful enemy, againft whom there was 

 little hope of making a fuccefsful ftand ; and that in this feafon 

 of public calamity, we fhould hear a man expreffing his fears left 

 he might be involved in the general ruin which threatened : 

 The moft vehement pathos could excite no ideas but thofe of 

 contempt and difguft. But the noble and difinterefted patriot, 

 who at fuch a crifis fhould be feen alarmed and terrified, not 

 for his own perfonal fafety, but the falvation of his country, is 

 one of the moft glorious objeds that can be prefented to our 

 view ; and the paflion excited in fuch a fubjed, and by fuch an 

 cccafion, might be littered in language truly fublime. The 

 general, to whofe good conduct the welfare of an army or a 

 ftate is committed, will fear to hazard an engagement, unlefs 

 upon moft favourable grounds, and will patiently endure to be 

 reproached with backwardnefs and cowardice ; yet the cautious 

 condud of fuch a charader derives dignity from its objed, and 



might 



