40 
ly that the declamations of patriotifm 
are commonly hyperbolical: but that they 
fafely may, and often muft, be fo, in 
order to wind up men to the neceflary 
degree of temperate exertion. Without 
fome of the language of fedition, there 
is rarely enough of the conduét of in- 
dependence. It is for {peculation to out- 
ftrip practice. 
WHAT PROPHESYING WAS. 
Lord Bacon afks, in. his Enquiry touch- 
ing the Pacification of the Church, whe- 
ther it were not requifite to renew that 
good exercife which was practifed’ in this 
church fome years, and afterwards put 
down, againft the advice and opinion of 
one of the greateft and graveft prelates of 
the land, which was commonly called pro- 
phefying, and was this: The minifters 
within a preciné&t did meet upon a week- 
day in fome principal town, where there 
was fome ancient grave minifter that was 
prefident, and an auditory admitted of 
gentlemen, or other perfons of leifure. 
Then every minifter fucceflively, begin- 
ning wih the youngeft, did handle one 
and the fame part of Scripture, {pending 
feverally fome quarter of an hour or bet- 
ter, and in the whole fome two hours; 
and fo the exercife being begun and con- 
cluded with prayer, and the prefident 
giving a text for the next meeting, the af- 
fembly was diffolved : and this was, as 
J take it, a fortnight’s exercife, which, in 
my opinion, was the beft way to frame and 
train up preachers to handle the word of 
God as it ought to be handled, that hath 
been practifed. For we fee orators have 
their declamations; lawyers have their 
moots; logicians their fophifms; and every 
practice of fcience hath an exercife of eru- 
dition and initiation before men come to 
the life; only preaching, which is the 
worthieft, and wherein it is moft danger- 
ous to do amifs, wanteth an introduétion, 
and is ventured and rufhed upon_at the 
firft. 
ON THE BEAUTIFUL AND SUBLIME. 
«¢ The very title of adiffertation on the 
beautiful and the fublime (fays a Monthly 
Reviewer, vol. XXV. p. 584.) excludes 
the expectation of rigid philofophical pre- 
cifion. The beautiful and the fublime 
are neither allied nor antithetic emotions ; 
and, like the pathetic and the ludicrous, 
they have no claim to be treated of con- 
jointly. A beautiful object may be fub- 
lime, as Satan accofting Uriel ; or it may 
be ludicrous, as Titania convening her 
elves to fan the moon-beams from the 
fleeping eyes of her queer lover. In like 
manner, a pathetic objeét may be fublime, 
Extraéis from the Port-folo of a Man of Letters. 
[Feb. 1, 
as the diftrefs of Lear in the ftorm; or it 
may be ludicrous, as the diftrefs of Adri- 
ana, in the fecond a& of the Comedy of 
Errors. The artift, who aims at the beau- 
tiful, willingly defcribes objeéts gratify- 
ing to the fenfes, or the moral pleafures 
aflociated with fuch objects. He who 
aims at the pathetic, as naturally defcribes 
objects wounding to the fenfes, or the 
moral pains therewith aflociated. It fhould 
feem then, that the beautiful and the pa- 
thetic may be fitly placed in oppofition. 
So may the fublime and the ludicrous. 
For it is the province of the fublime artift, - 
by the fele€tion of ftimulant, impreffive 
and great ideas, to raife and preferve in 
the mind a high pitch of tenfion: but it 
is the province of the ludicrous artift, by 
the feleétion of very incompatible and un- 
equal ideas, by the fudden prefentation of 
weak and minute, after ftrong and great, 
impreffions, unexpectedly to relax and de- 
{troy the terfion of the mind; which re- 
laxation of tenfion, if undergone for a 
fhort time and with intermiffion, produces 
laughter ; if for a long time, yawning. 
We cannot therefore approve the meta- 
phyfic writer, who couples together the 
beautiful and the fublime, without under- 
taking to difcufs either of the connected 
and far more clofely concatenated topics. 
We fufpeét that he propofes to himfeif 
the difplay of ingenious declamation, ra- 
ther than of philofophic deduétion: and 
wifhes to attain the praife of the orator, 
rather than of the reafoner.” 
Thefe remarks, which refpec&t a work 
of profeffor Kant, are furely no Iefs ap- 
plicable to the Differtation of Mr. Burke, 
YOUNG. 
Young’s Satires are getting out of date ; 
yet they are full of ftrong diftichs: take 
a {pecimen or two. 
PEDANTRY. 
To patch-work learn’d quotations are allied ; 
Both ftrive to make our poverty our pride. 
NOBILITY. 
Men fhould prefs forward in fame’s glorious 
chace 5 
Nobles look backward, and fo lofe the race. 
SCRIBBLING. 
On glafs how filly is the noble peer! . 
Did ever-diamond coft a man fo dear ? 
BUILDING. 
The man, who builds, and wants wherewith 
to pay, : 
Provides a home, from which to run away. 
BoOK-HUNTING, 
On buying books Lorenzo long was bent, 
But finds at length it has reduc*d his rent ; 
He fells—the terms are brought him by the . 
Piewice 
Lorenzo figas the bargainwith his mark. 
What 
