~ 
SiS Obfrvations upan thé Efec? of Words upon the Mind. [Nov, re 
certain fubjefis, on which a Poet may 
be allowed to fay almoft any thing—fuch 
2 one is the paflage in Virgil, wherein the 
formation of thunder by the Cyclops is 
deferibed; : 
Tres imbris torti radios, tres nubis 
‘aquofe 
Addiderant 3 rutili tres ignis & alitis 
Aufitt§ 
Fulgores nunc terrificos, fonitumque, me- 
tumgue i 
Mifcebant operi, fammisque fequacibus 
iraS=—s 
Three points of rain, three forks of hail 
con{pire 5 
Fhree arm’d with wind; and three were 
barbed with fire. 
The-ma{s they tempered thick with livid 
rays, 
Fear, wrath and terror, and the lizghtning’s 
> 3 > 
blaze. Piraae 
«« This paflage,”’ fays he, ¢* feems to me ad- 
mirabiy fublime; yet if we attend coolly 
to the fenfible images which a combination 
ef ideas of this fort muf form, nothing 
can appear more wild and abfurd_tha 
fuch a piéture—three rays of “twifted 
fhowers, three of watry clouds, three of 
fire, and three of the winged South Wind; 
then mix they in the work terrific light- 
rings, and found, and fear, and angery, 
with purfuing fiames’’.—Here isa paflage, 
quoted to prove that defcriptions them- 
felves do not raife images; ‘* becaule, 
(ia; s our author,) the images which thefe 
words would prefent to our imaginations, 
mutt be highly abfurd”—Now this abfur- 
city is the hinge upon which the argu- 
ment turns ; it therefore, becomes necef- 
fary to. inquire with»-what jultice, the 
images are pronounced adt/urd. ‘The only 
ground I can difcover, 1s, becaufe, tre 
elements of this. compohtion do not fuit 
with our notions of combination—That 
they do not, is true; but we fhould recol- 
tect, the fubject is fuch as demands fome- 
thing extraordinary—if Virgil 1s to de- 
feribe the formation of thunder, which © 
no man ever faw, or heard of being form. 
ed, there is hardiy an ingredient. that can be 
deemed too extravagant: ifit were, 1 fhou'd 
repeat what I have faid above, that it 
would not be feblime but ridiculous. 
However, I perfe&tly agree with Mr. 
Burke, in confidering this paflage ad- 
mirably fublime; but am _ convinced 
that fuch an image as belongs tg the 
import of the werds, is reprefent- 
ed. What, to my own mird, carries 
conviction upon this point is, that I per- 
tettly recollect reading this paflage, whea 
I-had no great acquaintance with poetry 
ordits Images, and remember ftopping to. 
confider the import of..the words, my 
comprehenfion not being quick enough, 
at the time, to receive ideas feemingly fo. 
incongruous. After reading the note of 
the Delphin edition, I returned to i¢ with 
{atisfaction, becaufe the ideas were then’ 
prefented to my imagination, which were 
before, to me, incomprehenfible. ‘This 
note I fhall here infert. ae 
*¢ Fulmina in antiquis marmoribus duodecine |’ 
radiis effinguntur, in circulum difpofitis, non 
reCtis illis quidem, fed varios in angulos’ 
inflexis qui trifidam in cufpidem finguli defi- 
nunt. ‘Talis eit forma Virgiliani hujus ful- 
minis, de qua fic fere Cardanus: Solent) 
torqueri fulmina, vel grandinante colo, vel, 
ruentibus magnis pluviis, vel aére Julgoribus pipe 
ante, vel ventis fantibus. Grandinem intel-' 
ligo per imbrem tortum, pluviam immenfam > 
per aguofam nubem :, ehuantem aérem. per 
iguem : flatus ventorum per 4uffrum; hi 
enim pre ceteris frequens tempeftatibus eft.” 
Thus when we feek.into;the origin of 
thefe images, we find them infinitely more 
appropriate than they appeared at the firft 
view , Cerdanus gives a very good com- 
ment upon, the paflage. . By the three — 
rays. of twifted fhowers, tres imbris tort? 
radii, is underfiood bail: by. the, watry 
cloud,\rain;: by the fire, lightning: and 
by the winged fouth wind, any ftorm of 
wind: becaufe. thunder is heard for;the 
moft. pati during violent fiorms of Bai or, 
rains lightning or. wind. The reit. of 
this paflage is peculiarly appropriate to 
the nature of, thunder3,for it.is heard, 
iter. fulgores . terrificos, amidh terrific, 
lightnings :, it produces fozitum, found: 
or-noile ;, metumque,and tear ; efpecially. 
upen the Pagans, by whom, it was con- 
fidered as ominous; iras, anger 3 it.was | 
fuppofed by them to originate, at times, 
from,the anger of the Deity); and: what 
can be more expreflive of the nature of 
fire than, the epithet /equax, »purfuing. 
Mr. Pittin his.tranflation falls greatly, 
fhort of the dignity of the original, and 
in. this laft particular he, has. not at all 
been able to convey the idea of the Poet. 
Livid rays is a trite exprefiion, whereas, 
Virgil has produced a forcible pi€ture of - 
fire, by one word. I fear too much has 
already been, faid upon this paflage, but~ ~ 
the queftion is of confequence; Mr. Burke _ 
quotes it to prove.that it would lofe a 
confiderable part of its. energy, if the 
fenfible images were excited. To moft 
of my readets the explanation I +have 
given no doubt is fuperfiuous. I intro-'— 
duced it here to thew what was its effect — 
uPoR 
