GRAN 
Ms treatlfe on this fubjefV. Thus, many of the 4’a(rages 
■wl'.ieh he produces as inftanccs of the fubliuie, are mere¬ 
ly clegan', witl'.out lia'ving the mod diftant relation to 
grandeur or fuhlimity. He points out five lources of 
tlie fill lime : the firft is, boldnefs or grandeur in the 
thoughts; the fecond, the [athetic; th.e third, the pro¬ 
per application of figures; the fourth, the life of tropes 
and beautiful exprclllons; the fifth, miifical drutfure in 
the arrangement of words. This is rather the plan of 
one who would v\rite a treatife of rhetoric, or of the 
beauties of writing in general ; and not of the fubliine 
in particular. I'or of ihefe five heads, only the two fird, 
viz. boldnefs and grandeur of thought, have any rela¬ 
tion to tlie I'ublime ; and, in fome indances, the pathetic, 
or drong exertions of padion : but tropes, figures, and 
mufical arrangement, have no more relation to the grand 
and ftiblime, than to othei kinds of elegant writing. 
We are then ro enquire, WMiat is the proper and natu- , 
ral idea of the grand and ftiblime in compofition ? The 
foundation of it mud always be laid in the nature of the 
objetl delcribed ; iinlels it be I'uch an objedt as, if pre- 
fented to our eyes, and exhibited to us in reality, would 
raife ideas of that elevating, that awful and magnificent, 
kind, whicli we call ftiblime : for the defeription, how¬ 
ever finely drawn, is not entitled to come under this 
clafs. In the next place, the objedt mud not only, in 
itl'elf, be ftiblime, but it mud be fet before us in inch 
a light as is moll proper to give us a clear and full iin- 
prefiion of it ; it mud be delcribed with energy, with 
toncifenefs, and limplicity. I'his depends, principtally, 
upon the lively imprellion which the poet, or orator, 
has of the objetl which lie exhibits ; and upon his being 
deeply ali’etted, and vvarmed, by the grand idea which 
he would convey. If his own feeling be languid, he 
can never inlpire us with any drong emotion. Indances, 
which are extremely necell'ary on this fubjetl, will clear¬ 
ly Ihow the importance of all the requilites now meii- 
tioncd,_ 
It is, generally fpeaking, among the mod ancient au¬ 
thors, that we are to look for the mod linking indances 
of grandeur and fubli.nity in compofition. The early 
ages of the world, and the rude unimproved date of 
Ibciety, are peculiarly favourable to the Itrongelt im- 
pirellions upon the imagination. The genitis of men 
leenis then modi) turned to admiration and allonifliment. 
Meeting with many objetls, to them new and drange, their 
imagination is kept glowing, and their pallions railed to 
the loftied ideas. They think, and exprels themfelves 
boldly, and without redraint; while in the progrefs of 
fociety, the genius and manners of men undergo a change 
much more favourable to literary accuracy than to 
grandeur or fublimity. 
Of all writings, ancient or modern, the facred ferip- 
tures allord us the granded indances of the ftiblime. 
The deferiptions of the Deity, in them, are wonderfully 
noble; botli from the grandeur of the objedb, and the 
manner of reprefenting it. ^ What an alfemblage, for 
indance, of awful and ftiblime ideas is prefented to us, 
in that ptalfage of the xviiith Pfulm, where an appear¬ 
ance of the Almighty is tlefcribed ? “ In my dillrels I 
called upon the Lord ; he heard my voice out of his 
temple, and my cry came before him. Then the earth 
Ihook and trembled; the foundations alfo of the hills were 
moved ; bec.iufe he was wroth. He bowed the heavens, 
and came down, and darknefs was under his feet ; and 
lie did ride up on a cherub, and did fly ; yea, he did fly 
upon the wings of the wind, he made darknefs his 
fecret place ; his pavilion round about him were dark 
waters, and thick clouds of the Iky.” Here, we fee, 
with what propriety and fuccets tiie circuniftances of 
darknefs and terror are applied for heightening the 
ftiblime. So, alio, the prophet Habakkuk, in a fimilar 
palfage : “He flood, and meafured the earth; he be¬ 
held, and drove alunder the nations. The everlalling 
mountains were fcattered; the perpetual hills did bow; 
VoL. VIII. Mo. i44. 
D E U R. 785 
his ways are everlafling. The mountains £aw theej and 
they trembled. The overflowing of the water piaffed 
by. The deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his 
iiaiids on high.” 
The noted inftance, given by Longinus, from Mofes, 
“ God f.iid. Let there be light ; and there was light;” 
belongs to the true ftiblime ; and the grandeur of it 
arifes from the flroag conception it gives, of an exertion 
of power, producing its effecl with the utmoll fpeed and 
facility. A thouglit of the fame kind is magnificently 
exprelfed in the following palfage of Ifaiah xliv. 24, 27, ■ 
28 : “ Thus faith the Lord, thy Redeemer, and he that 
formed thee from the womb : I amuhe Lord that inakeih 
all things, tiiat llretcheth forth the heavens alone, that 
fpreadeth abroad the earth by myfelf—that faith to the 
deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers ; that faith 
of Cyrus, lie is niy fliepherd, and fliall perform all my 
pleafure ; even lap ing to Jerufalem, Thou flmlt be 
built; and to the temple. Thy foundation fhaU be laid.” 
'I'here is alfo a palfage. in the Pfalins, which deferves 
to be mentioned tinder iliis head; “ God,” fays the 
plalmifl, “ llilleth the noife of the leas, the noife of 
their waves, and the tumults of the 'people.” The join¬ 
ing together two fuch grand objefls, as th.e ragings of 
the waters and the tumults of the people, between 
w’hich there is fo much refemblance as to form a very 
natural alfociation in the lancy, and tlie reprefenting 
them both as fubjebl, at one moment, to the ccmiuand 
pf God, produces a very noble eliect. 
Homer, the prince of poets, owes much of his gran¬ 
deur to that native and unalfetled limplicity, which 
charafterifes his manner. Kis delcriptioiis of hofls en¬ 
gaging; the animation, the fire, and rajiidity, w'hich 
he throws into his battles, preient to every reader of 
the Iliad, frcqueiit inflances of fubliine writing. His in¬ 
troduction of the gods, tends often to heighten, in a 
fuperior degree, the majefly of his warlike feenes. Hence 
Longinus bellows fuch high commendations on that 
palfage, in the xvth book of the Iliad, where Neptune, 
when preparing to ilFiie forth into the engagement, is 
deferibed as fhaking the mountaiiis with his Iteps, and 
driving his chariot along the ocean. Minerva, arming' 
herleli for fight in the vth book; and Apollo, in the 
xvth, leading on the Trojans, and flulhing terror with 
his aegis on the face of the Greeks, are liinilar inltances 
of great fublimity added to' the delcriptioa of battles, 
by the appearances of thole cclelhal beings. In the 
xxth book, where all the gods take part in the engage¬ 
ment, according as they leverally favour either the 
Grecians, or the 'I rojans, the poei’s genius is fignally 
difplayed, and the delcriptioa riles into the mofl awful 
magnificence. All nature is reprefented as in commo¬ 
tion. Jupiter thunders in tlie heavens; Neptune llrikes 
the earth with his trident; the nii})S, the city, and the 
mountains, ihake; the earth trembles to its centre; 
Pluto Harts from his tl.rone, in dread iell the fecrets of 
the infernal region fliould be laid open to the view of 
mortals. 1 he palfage is worthy of being written in 
letters of gold'; 
twn peS’ 0|V.Aoi/ OAvp-trioi uAvCok 
flgTo (S’’ Eji? Aisocrcoo;' avs ^ Afcr,r)),— 
Avi y E^spnj AaiAaTTi ivo;,— 
fij Tt;; Hioi or^.mi/eg, 
Stu.l'iaAci', sy 6 ' a'JTci; ^riytirro jSiX^iixp" 
Aeikov y ej 3 ^(,vT'<;c£ TTxtrt^ avS^ojy te Beki' te 
'y'll^oBEV xvTa^ ece^Be lloxiiS'xuv 
Txtety t witrEna y.x^ri'ja. 
Tlxyrig ( 5 " tacTiiovro wooii; 
Kai y.o^v^xi, te ttoAi?, y.xi ms? Ayjic,\wv„ 
EiJo'eis'ei' y AiS'uiyit^ , 
Asio-a? y EX Bool'S aAru, xai 74)5 oi t' 5 r£g 0 £' 
Taixv I'lcaei^xay £voc,iybojv, 
Oixia. y Bi'y/TOici x«i xbavxTotcrt fayeiv) 
STtEg^wAs’, tx te rvyiaat 6eoi wbp 
Tcetco; «?« xthtto? Gewi' epi^'i ^vmovruv. Iliad XX. 47, tC'c,. 
5 O But 
