95 



the depth and penetration of that man s 

 mind, who, scarcely arrived at manhood, 

 clearly saw how one great principle, art 

 acknowledged cause of the sublime in 

 poetry, was likewise the most powerful 

 cause of sublimity in all objects whatso- 

 ever; pursued it through all the works of 

 art, and of nature; and explained, illus- 

 trated and adorned his discovery, with that 

 ingenuity, and that brilliancy of language, 

 in which he stands unrivalled. 



A number of sublime passages in poe- 

 try will of course present themselves to a 

 person so well read in the classics as Mr. 

 Mason, but 1 will beg leave to remind him, 

 and those who reject Mr. Burke's doctrine, 

 of a few instances, in which if terror be not 

 the cause of the sublime, I have no idea of 

 any cause of any effect. It is natural to be- 

 gin by the great father of all poetry, and by 

 a passage which Longinus has particularly 

 dwelt upon: it is that celebrated one in the 

 Iliad*, where Homer has described Jupi- 



* Iliad, B. xx. L. 56, 



