is not a property of any disagreeable paffion, and declares himfelf willing to put this to the teft in the moft fpirited picture of revenge ever drawn-It is the speech of Anthony wailing over the body of Cæfar : Woe to the hand that fhed this coftly blood! Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips That mothers fhall but fmile when they behold I ESTEEM moft parts of this paffage truly fublime; but this being a matter of taste and feeling, it may be difficult to determine the question. However, I cannot admit his general pofition. The paffion of revenge (if we abftract from the rules of our meek and holy religion) feems capable on many occafions of rifing into dignity. Among fome nations it is esteemed the most exalted virtue-Zanga calls his countrymen children of the fun, with whom revenge is virtue. I am of opinion that wherever the paffion is held neceffary for the vindication of honour, or for the fupport of any other admired virtue, it might very fuc cessfully cessfully be employed in fublime compofition. Difdain feems another of those disagreeable paffions which may fometimes lay claim to dignity. I ask whether the filent expreffion of this paffion from Ajax toward Ulyffes, upon his defcent into Hell, be not truly great and fublime? If it be not, I am at a lofs to know what is. Envy and malice indeed feem to be under every modification unfuitable to the fublime. A mind addicted to these malignant paffions is incapable of all true dignity. There is fomething fo vile and abject in them, that however forcible and pointed their natural expreffion might be, we cannot conceive it to approach in any degree to a sublime form. The character of Shylock is drawn with admirable force, but no where affects fublimity. LET us apply our principles to fome other paffions. Grief and pity have for their objects the calamities of ourselves and others. These paffions feem to have a natural tendency to weaken and deprefs the mind. It is their difpofition to gratify themselves, and to dwell with a melancholy pleasure on their object; and thus by at once relaxing the vigour of the mind, and confining its views and affections, they are apt to prevent all elevation and expanfion. The subject matter which employs them being moft commonly the ordinary incidents of human life, are therefore unfit to raise astonishment, or any emotions kindred to the fublime. Every day's acquaintance with the world difcovers them to be the common lot of humanity, and therefore the mind ought to meet them in fome degree prepared. The full extent of the evil being known, the agitation of the mind is of courfe lefs than when it is under the impreffion of terror, which is apt to magnify its object, and in fo [B 2] doing doing has a turn to the fublime. These paffions also might be faid in fome fort to magnify their object; but they do fo in a manner very unfavourable to the fublime, by throwing round it all the tender and minute circumftances which formerly accompanied and endeared the object. I am for thefe reafons inclined to think these paffions to be for the most part unfit for fublime expreffion. The funeral oration of Anthony over Cæfar's dead body, fo wonderfully calculated to raise emotions of grief and pity, in the following lines, I confefs appears to me fublime: For when the noble Cæfar faw him ftab, Quite vanquish'd him.—Then burst his mighty heart; Even at the bafe of Pompey's ftatue, Which all the while ran blood, great Cæfar fell. BUT the fublimity of this paffage does not, perhaps, fo much depend upon the pathetic emotions of the fpeaker, as upon the noble character of Cæfar, fo finely drawn, fighting against an host of traitors, yet finking at the fight of his beloved friend; and above all, upon the great and affecting image conveyed in the two laft lines, by which this eloquent fpeaker hath contrived most forcibly to mark the horrid deed, and to reflect a fuperior luftre on the departed hero, in thus making the inanimate ftatue of his rival fhed drops of blood for his fall. THERE is another very fine picture of grief, where Satan is introduced by Milton, after having efcaped from Hell, addreffing the fun, and recalling to mind the circumstances of his own loft glory and happiness. The paffage is too long for quotation, but but may be found in the fourth book of Paradife Loft. Several paffions are moved in that pathetic address; yet if we attend carefully to fuch parts of it as are the pure and unmixed expreffions of grief, I think the emotions excited have very little analogy to the fublime. However grand and terrible the Being, and of courfe well adapted to raife awful and fublime ideas, we naturally foften into pity; his grief degrades him from the loftinefs of his pride, and places him in fome fort upon our own level; and we fo far fympathize with him, as for fome moments to forget his infernal character. THE Compaffion of our Lord over Jerufalem must be acknowledged to be truly fublime:" O Jerufalem, Jerufalem, which "killeft the prophets, and stoneft them that are fent unto thee, "how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a "hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would "not!" And in another place the expreffion of his pity is no lefs fublime :-" And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even "thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." Such exceptions, however, being entirely out of the ordinary courfe of events, and inapplicable to any general principles, by no means invalidate, but feem rather to confirm the theory. I MUST beg leave to recur here to an observation which I had occafion to make fome time ago, refpecting the exceffes of the paffion of fear. I would there be understood to mean fuch exceffes as the mind falls into without difplaying any reasonable conflict, and which betray rather imbecillity than [B 3] violent The violent emotion; for there are exceffes I believe of almoft every paffion, which are fometimes occafions of the fublime. Such a degree of pathos as exhibits vehement, uncommon and astonishing agitations, and almoft runs out into madness, whatever be the efficient caufe, however refined or tender it might be thought, when abstracted from such effects, appears fometimes in a fublime form. The mind thus agitated often frikes out great and forcible images, or pours itself forth in ftrong and glowing language. Almost all the paffions, if carried to excess, naturally fall into the use of the profopopæia, one of the boldeft figures of fpeech, and fublimeft expreffions of paffion. In cases like these nothing feems attended to but the effects themfelves. imagination is too ftrongly impreffed and too deeply interefted to trace them up to their caufes. So that if they be of fuch a nature as to excite emotions of terror, or if they be signs of fome great exertion of force and power, or have a ftriking analogy to any other form or fource of the fublime, they do not lose their character by a relation to their efficient caufe. Perhaps we should for the most part except pity on fuch occafions, which feems not well fuited to vehement expreffion. This paffion may be confidered as the handmaid of grief, attending it through all its fofter movements, but unable to follow in any extravagant exceffes, and under thefe circumftances generally loft in filent contemplation. Even grief itself feems less liable to thefe violent agitations than most other paffions, and feldom appears in fo difturbed a form, except in minds naturally weak and tender; and it fhould be obferved, that in cafes of this nature the character of the sufferer gives a foft and delicate fhade to the paffion, however vehement, and fo in a great meafure defeats the fublime effect. The grief of Belvidera could not |