Ulrich Middeldorf Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/philosophicalenq00burk_4 Philofophical Enquiry INTO THE o rigin of our Ideas OF T H E SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL. The NINTH EDITION. With an Introdudbory Discourse concerning Taste, and feveral other Additions. %£ aw/c^OC^lW *£ LONDON* Printed for J. Dodsley, in Pall-mall MBCCLXXXII. * Q ' ? s 3 a * ■ n •• r t i v ;? i jfc ; • If T I O . Li ,'c f * • .-i V T# V' vl r JL , J/IO I T •' ' * T! T' A l;V > £■! „-T Y*tO'p;>P^ . ' ' - - * . * f • ■ . r ... *if 4 H o a Vi ' j r wpC 1 . T v it may anfwer an end perhaps as ufeful , m difcovering to us the weaknefs of our own underfunding . If it does not make us knowing , it may make us modefl . If it does not preferve us from error , it may at leaf from the fpirit of error ; and may make ns cautious of pronouncing with poftive - nefs or with hafte, when fo much labour may end in fo much uncertainty . I could wif that in examining this theory * the fame method were purfued which 1 en- deavoured to obferve in forming it . The objections 9 in my opinion, ought to be pro- pofed, either to the fever al principles as they are dfinctly confdered, or to the jufnefs of the conclufon which is drawn from them* But it is common to pafs over both the pre - mifes and conclufon in filence, and to produce as an objection, fo me poetical pajfage which does not feem eafly accounted for upon the principles I endeavour to efablifh . This manner of proceeding I Jhould think very improper. the PREFACE. vit improper « "The tafk would be infinite , if we could eftablijh no principle until we had previoufiy unravelled the complex texture of every image or defcription to be found in poets and orators . And though we fhould, never be able to reconcile the ejfedl of fuch images to our principles , this can never overturn the theory it f elf, whilft it is found- ed on certain and indifiputable falls. A theory founded on experiment , and not af- fumed, is always good for fo much as it ex- plains . Our inability to pufh it indefinitely is no argument at all again/} it. This in- ability may be owing to our ignorance of fome necefi'ary mediums; to a want of pro- per application ; to many other caufes befides a defedl in the principles we employ . In reality, the fiubjedl requires a much clofier at- tention, than we dare claim from our manner of treating it. If it fhould not appear on the face of the work, I rnufi caution the reader again jl imagining that I intended a full differ tat iort on the Sublime and Beautiful. My enquiry A 4 went via The PREFACE. went no farther than to the origin of thefe ideas . If the qualities which I have rang- ed under the head of the Sublime be all found conjiflent with each other , and all different from thofe which I face under the head of Beauty ; and if thofe which compofe the clafs of the Beautiful have the fame confjlency with themfelves, and the fame oppofition to thofe which are clajfed under the denomina- tion of Sublime , I am in little pain whether any body choofes to follow the name I give them or not , provided he allows that what 1 difpofe under different heads are in reality different things in nature . The ufe I make of the words may be blamed> as too confined or too extended ; my meaning cannot well be mifunderfiood. To conclude ; whatever progrefs may be made towards the difcovery of truth in this matter , I do not repent the pains I have taken in it. The ufe of fuch enquiries may be very confiderable. Whatever turns the foul inward on ttfelfi tends to concenter its forces 9 and to fit it for greater and fironger The PREFACE. ix flights of fcience. By looking into phyftcal caufes , our minds are opened and enlarged ; and in this purfuit , whether we take or whe- ther we lofe our game , the chace is certainly of fervice. Cicero, true as he was to the Academic philofophy, and confequently ltd to rejedi the certainty of phyflcal , as of every other kind of knowledge , yet freely confeftes its great importance to the human under - flanding: “ Eft animorum ingeniorumque “ noftrorum naturale quoddam quaii pa- “ bulum confideratio contemplatioque ** nature. ” If we can diredt the lights we derive from fuch exalted fpeculations , upon the humbler field of the imagination , . whilft we invefligate the fprings , and trace the courfes of our pafjions , we may not only com- municate to the tafte a fort of philofophical folidity 9 but we may reflect back on the fe- ver er fciences fome of the graces and ele- gancies of tafle , without which the great eft proficiency in thofe fciences will always have the appearance of fomething illiberal \ T H E THE CONTENTS. I NTRODUCTION. On Tafte Page i PART I. » SECT. I. Novelty 41 SECT. II. Pain and Pleafare 43 SECT. III. The difference between the removal of pain and pofitive plea- fare 47 SECT. IV. Of Delight and Fleafure, as oppofed to each other 51 SECT. V. Joy and Grief 54 SECT. VI. Of the Paffions which belong to Self- prefervation 57 SECT. VII. Of the Sublime 58 SECT. VIII. Of the Paffions which belong to Society 60 SECT. ffi C 'fi C/3 CONTENTS. SECT. IX. The final caufe of the difference between the paffions be- longing to Self-prefervation, and thofe which regard the Society of the fexes 6 3 S E C T. X. Of Beauty 65 SECT. XI. Society and Solitude 68 SECT. XII. Sympathy, Imitation, and Ambition 69 SECT. XIII. Sympathy 70 SECT. XIV. the effeds of Sym- pathy in the diftreffes of others 7 2 SECT. XV. Of the effeds of Tragedy 75 SECT. XVI. Imitation 79 SECT. XVII. Ambition 82 SECT. XVIII. Recapitulation 84 SECT. XIX. The Conclufion 87 PART II. SECT. I. Of the Paffion caufed by the Sublime 95 E C T. II. Terror 96 E C T. III. Obfcurity 99 ECT. IV. Of the difference between Clearnefs and Obfcurity with regard to the Paffions 101 SEC T. [IV.] The fame fubjed con- tinued 103 S E C T, CONTENTS. SECT. V. Power i id SECT. VI. Privation 12 $ SECT. VII. Vaftnefs 127 SECT. VIII. Infinity 129 SEC To IX. Succeffion and Unifor- mity 132 SECT. X. Magnitude in Building 1 36 SECT. XL Infinity in pleafing Ob- jects 138 SECT. XIL Difficulty 139 SECT. XIIL Magnificence 140 SECT. XIV. Light 144 SECT. XV. Light in Building 147 SECT. XVI. Colour confidered as produdive of the Sublime 149 SECT. XVII. Sound and Loudnefs 150 SECT. XVIII. Suddennefs 152 SECT. XIX. Intermitting 153 SECT. XX. The Cries of Animals 155 SECT. XXL Smell and Tafte. Bit- ters and Stenches 156 SECT. XXII. Feeling. Pain 159 PART III. SECT. I. Of Beauty 16 1 SECT. II. Proportion not the caufe of Beauty in Vegetables 163 SECT. III. Proportion not the caufe of Beauty in Animals 171 SECT. CONTENTS. SECT. IV. Proportion not the caufe of Beauty in the human fpecies 174 SECT. V. Proportion further conli- The real dered S E CT. VI. Fitnefs Beauty SECT." VII. nefs SECT. VIII SECT. IX. of Beauty SECT. X. 186 not the caufe of 1 91 effects of Fit- *9 7 The Recapitulation 202 Perfeftion not the caufe 203 Flow far the ideas of Beauty may be applied to the qualities of the mind 205 SECT. XL How far the ideas of Beauty may be applied to Virtue 208 SECT. XII. The real caufe of Beauty 209 Beautiful obje£ts fmall 210 XIV. Smoothnefs XV. Gradual Variation XVI. Delicacy XVI L Beauty in Colour SECT. XIII. SEC T. S E C T. SECT. SECT. S E C T., SECT. SECT. SECT. SEC T, XYI 1 L Recapitulation XIX, The Physiognomy XX. The Eye XXL Uglinefs XXII. Grace 213 214 2i8 220 222 223 224 22 5 226 SECT CONTENTS. SECT. XXIII. Elegance and Sped- oufnefs 227 SECT. XXIV. The Beautiful in Feeling 229 SECT. XXV. The Beautiful in Sounds 232 SECT. XXVI. Tafte and Smell 236 SECT. XXVII. The Sublime and Beautiful compared 237 PART IV. SECT. I. Of the efficient caufe of the Sublime and Beautiful 241 SECT. II. Affociation 244 SECT. HI. Caufe of Pain and Fear 246 SECT. IV* Continued 249 SECT. V. Flow the Sublime is pro- duced 252 SEC T. VI. How Pain can be a caufe of Ddight 254 SECT. VII. Exercife neceflary for the finer Organs 256 SECT. VIII. Why things not dange- rous fometimes produce a paffion like Terror 258 SECT. IX. Why vifual objeds of great dimenfions are Sublime 259 SECT. CONTENTS. SECT. X. Unity, why requifite to Vaftnefs 261 SECT. XL The artificial Infinite 264 SECT. XII. The vibrations muft be fimilar 267 SECT. XIII. The effects of fuccef- fion in vifual obje&s explained 268 SECT. XIV. Locke’s opinion con- cerning Darknefs confidered 272 SECT. XV. Darknefs terrible in its own nature 275 SECT. XVI. *Why darknefs is ter- rible 278 SECT. XVII. The effeds of Black- nefs 281 SECT. XVIII. The effefls of Black- nefs moderated 285 SECT. XIX. The phyfical caufe of Love 286 SECT. XX. Why Smoothnefs is Beautiful 290 SECT, XXL Sweetnefs, its nature 291 SECT. XXII. Sweetnefs relaxing 296 SECT. XXIIL Variation why beau- tiful 299 SECT. XXIV. Concerning Smallnefs 302 SECT. XXV. Of Colour 308 FART CONTENTS. PART V. SECT. I. Of Words 31 1 SECT. IL The common effedt of Poetry, not by railing ideas of things 3 1 3 SECT. III. General words before ideas 317 SECT. IV. The effedt of Words 319 SECT. V. Examples that words may affedt without railing images 322 SECT. VI. Poetry not ftridtly an imitative art 333 SECT. VII. How Words influence the Paffions 334 INTRO- t i 3 INTRODUCTION. O N TASTE. /^\N a fuperficial view, we may feem VJ to differ very widely from each other in our reafonings, and no lefs in our pleafures : but notwithftanding this difference, which I think to be rather ap- parent, than real, it is probable that the ftandard both of Reafon and Tafte is the fame in all human creatures. For if there were not fome principles of judg- ment as well as of fentiment common to all mankind, no hold could poffibly be taken either on their reafon or their paf- fions, fufficient to maintain the ordinary correfpondence of life. It appears indeed to be generally acknowledged, that with B regard 2 INTRODUCTION N, regard to truth and falfehood there is fome- thing fixed. We find people in their dis- putes continually appealing to certain lefts and ftandards, which are allowed on all fides, and are fuppofed to be eftablilhed in our common nature. But there is not the fame obvious concurrence in any uni- form or fettled principles which relate to Tafie. It is even commonly fuppofed that this delicate and aerial faculty, which feems too volatile to endure even the chains of a definition, cannot be proper- ly tried by any teft, nor regulated by any ftandard. There is fo continual a call for the exercife of the reafoning faculty, and it is fo much ftrengthened by perpetual contention, that certain maxims of right reafon feem to be tacitly fettled amongft the mod ignorant. The learned have improved on this rude fcience, and re- duced thofe maxims into a fyftern. If Tafie has not been fo happily cultivated, it was not that the fubjedl was barren, but that the labourers were lew or negligent; for to fay the the truth, there are not the fame intereft- ing motives to impel us to fix: the one, which urge us to afcertain the other. And after all, if men differ in their opinion con- cerning fuch matters, their difference is not attended with the fame important confequences ; elfe I make no doubt but that the logic of Tafte, if 1 may be allow- ed the expreffion, might very poffibly be as well digefled, and we might come to difcufs matters of this' nature' with as much certainty, as thofe which feem more im- mediately within the province of mere rea- fon. And indeed, it is very neceffary, at the entrance into fuch an enquiry as our prefent, to make this point as clear as pof- fible ; for if Tails has no fixed principles, if the imagination is not affedted according to fome invariable and certain laws, our labour is like to be employed to very little purpofe; as it rauft be judged an ufelefs, if not an abfurd undertaking, to lay down rules for caprice, and to fet up for a le- giflator of whims and fancies. 4 INTRODUCTION. The term Tafte, like all other figurative terms, is not extremely accurate; the thing which we underfiand by it, is far from a firnple and determinate idea in the minds of mod men, and it is therefore liable to uncertainty andconfufion. I have no great opinion of a definition, the celebrated re- medy for the cure of this diforder. For when we define, we feem in danger of cir- cumfcribing nature within the bounds of our own notions, which we often take up by hazard, or embrace on tmfi, or form out of a limited and partial confideration of the object before us, inftead of extending our ideas to take in all that nature com- prehends, according to her manner of com- bining. We are limited in our enquiry by the fin dt laws to which we have fub- mitted at our fetting out. ' Circa vilsm paiulumque morabimur orbem , Unde pudor prof err e pedem vetat aut operis lex . A definition may be very exadt, and yet go but a very little way towards inform- 6 mg ON TASTE, 5 dog us of the nature of the thing defined $ but let the virtue of a definition he what it will, in the order of things, it fee ms ra- ther to follow than to precede our enquiry^ of which it ought to be confidered as the refult. It mufl be acknowledged that the methods of difquifition and teaching may be fometimes different, and on very good reafon undoubtedly ; but for my part, I am convinced that the method of teaching which approaches mod nearly to the me- thod of invedigation, is incomparably the bed ; fince, not content with ferving up a few barren and lifelefs truths, it leads to the dock on which they grew ; it tends to fet the reader himfelf in the track of in- vention, and to direct him into thofe path$ in which the author has made his own dis- coveries, if he fhould be fo happy as to have made any that are valuable. But to cut off all pretence for cavilling, 3 mean by the word Tade no more than B 7 that 6 INTRODUCTION. that faculty or thofe faculties of the mind, which are affedted with, or which form a judgment of, the works of imagination and the elegant arts. This is, I think, the molt general idea of that word, and what is the leaf! connected with any particular theory. And my point in this enquiry is, to find whether there are any principles, on which the imagination is affedted, fo common to all, fo grounded and certain, as to fopply the means of reafoning fatif- fadtorily about them. And fuch princi- ples of Taffe I fancy there are; however paradoxical it may feem to thofe, who on a fuperficial view imagine, that there is fo great a diverfity of Taffes, both in kind and degree, that nothing can be more in- determinate. All the natural powers in man, which I know, that are converfant about exter- nal objedts, are the fenfes ; the imagina- tion i and the judgment. And firft with regard ON TASTE. 7 regard to the Senfes. We do and we mu ft fuppofe, that as the conformation of their organs are nearly cr altogether the fame in all men, fo the manner of per- ceiving external objects is in all men the fame, or with little difference. We are fatisfied that what appears to be light to one eye, appears light to another; that what feems fweet to one palate, is fweet to another ; that what is dark and bitter to this man, is likewife dark and bitter to that ; and we conclude in the fame manner of great and little, hard and foft, hot and cold, rough and fmooth ; and in- deed of all the natural qualities and af~ fedions of bodies. If we f after ourfelves to imagine, that their fenfes prefen t to dif- ferent men different images of things, this fceptical proceeding will make every fort of reafoning on every fubjed vain and fri- volous, even that fceptical reafoning it- feif, which had perfuaded us -to entertain g doubt concerning the agreement of B 4 our 8 INTRODUCTION. / our perceptions. Bat as there will be little doubt that bodies prefent fimilar images to the whole fpecies, it mu ft ne- ceffarily be allowed, that the pleafures and the pains which every objedt excites in one man, it muft raife in all mankind, whilft it operates naturally, limply, and by its proper powers only ; for if we deny this, we muft imagine that the fame caufe operating in the fame manner, and on fub- jedfs of the fame kind, will produce dif- ferent effects, which would be highly abfurd. Let us firft confider this point in the fenfe of Tafte, and the rather as the faculty in queftlon has taken its name from that fenfe. Ail men are agreed to call vinegar four, honey fweet, and aloes bitter ; and as they are all agreed in find- ing thefe qualities in thofe obje&s, they do not in the lead; differ concerning their effe&s with regard to pleafure and pain. They all concur in calling fweetnefs pleafant, and fournefs and bitternefs uiiv pleafant. O N T A S T E. 9 pieafant. Here there is no diverfity in their fentiments'; and that there is not, appears fully from the confent of all men in the metaphors which are taken from the fenfe of Tafte. A four temper, bitter expreffions, bitter curfes, a bitter fate, are terms well and ftrongly tinderftaod by all. And we are altogether as well underftood when we fay, a fweet difpofition, a fweet perfon, a fweet condition, and the like. It is confefifed, that cuftom and fome other caufes, have made many deviations from the natural pleafures or pains which be- long to thefe feveral Taftes ; but then the power of diftinguiftiing between the natural and the acquired relfth remains to the very lad. A man frequently comes to prefer the tafte of tobacco to that of fugar, and the flavour of vinegar to that of milk ; but this makes no confuiion in Taftes, whilft he is fenfible that the to- bacco and vinegar are not fweet, and whilft he knows that habit alone has re- conciled io INTRODUCTION. conciled his palate to thefe alien pleafures. Even with fuch a perfon we may fpeak, and with fufficient precifion, concerning Taftes. But fhould any man be found who declares, that to him tobacco has a Tafte like fugar, and that he cannot dif- tinguifh between milk and vinegar ; or that tobacco and vinegar are fweet, milk bitter, and fugar four ; we immediately conclude that the organs of this man are out of order, and that his palate is utterly vitiated. We are as far from conferring with fuch a perfon upon Taftes, as from reafoning concerning the relations of quan- tity with one who fhould deny that all the parts together were equal to the whole. We do not call a man of this kind wrong in his notions, but abfolutely mad. Ex- ceptions of this fort, in either way, do not at all impeach our general rule, nor make us conclude that men have various principles concerning the relations of quan- tity, or the Tafte of things. So that when when it is faid, Tafte cannot be dift* pu ted, it can only mean, that no one can ftribtly anfwer what pleafure or pain fome particular man may find from the Tafte of fome particular thing. This indeed cannot be difputed ; but we may difpute, and with fufticient clearnefs too, concerning the things which are natu- rally pleafing or difagreeable to the fenfe. But when we talk of any peculiar or ac- quired relifh, then we muft know the habits, the prejudices, or the diftempers of this particular man, and we muft draw our conclufion from thofe. This agreement of mankind is not confined to the Tafte folely. The principle of pleafure derived from fight is the fame in all. Light is more plea- fing than darknefs. Summer, when the earth is clad in green, when the hea- vens are ferene and bright, is more agreeable than winter, when every thing 6 makes ia INTRODUCTION. makes a different appearance. I never remember that any thing beautiful, whe- ther a man, a beaft, a bird, or a plant, was ever (hewn, though it were to an hundred people, that they did not all immediately agree that it was beauti- ful, though fome might have thought that it fell fhort of their expe&ation, or that other things were flill finer. 1 believe no man thinks a goofe to be more beautiful than a fwan, or ima- gines that what they call a Friezland hen excels a peacock. It muff be ob- ferved too, that the pleafures of the light are not near fo complicated, and confufed, and altered by unnatural ha- bits and affociations, as the pleafures of the Tafce are ; becaufe the pleafures of the fight more commonly acquiefce in ihemfelves ; and are not fo often altered by confiderations which are independent of the fight itfelf. But things do not fpontaneoufly prefent themfelves to the palate palate as they do to the fight ; they are generally applied to it, either as food or as medicine; and from the qualities which they pofifefs for nutritive or medicinal purpofes, they often form the palate by degrees, and by force of thefe afiocia- tions. Thus opium is pleafing to Turks, on account of the agreeable delirium it produces. Tobacco is the delight of Dutchmen, as it diffufes a torpor and pleafing (lupefadion. Fermented fpirit-s pleafe our common people, becaufe they banifh care, and all confideration of fu- ture or prefect evils. All of thefe would lie abfolutely negledted if their properties had originally gone no further than the Tafts ; but all thefe, together with tea and coffee, and fome other things, have pafied from the apothecary’s (hop to our tables, and were taken for health long before they were thought of for plea- fare. The effedt of the drug has made us ufe it frequently ; and frequent ufe, combined j 4 INTRODUCTION. combined with the agreeable effedt, has made the Tafte itfelf at laft agreeable. But this does not in the leaft perplex our reafoning; becaufe we diftinguifh to the laft the acquired from the natural relifli. In defcribing the tafte of an unknown fruit, you would fcarcely fay, that it had a fweet and. pleafant flavour like tobacco, opium, or garlic, although you fpoke to thofe who were in the conftant ufe of thefe drugs, and had great pleafure in them. There is in all men a fufficient remembrance of the original natural caufes of pleafure, to enable them to bring all things offered to their fenfes to that ftand- ard, and to regulate their feelings and opinions by it. Suppofe one who had fo vitiated his palate as to take more plea- fure in the Tafte of opium than in that of butter or honey, to be prefect- ed with a bolus of fquills ; there is hard- ly any doubt but that he -would prefer the butter or honey to this naufeous morfel. morfel, or to any other bitter drug , to which he had not been accuftomed 3 which proves that his palate was natu- rally like that of other men in all things, that it is ftill like the palate of other men in many things, and only vitiated in fome particular points. For in judging of any new thing, even of a Tafte limi- lar to that which he has been formed by habit to like, he finds his palate affected in the natural manner, and on the com- mon principles. Thus the pleafure of al! the fenfes, of the light, and even of the Tafte, that moll ambiguous of the fenfes, is the fame in all, high and low, learned and unlearned. Befides the ideas, with their annex- ed pains and pleafures, which are pre- fented by the fenfe ; the mind of man poffeffes a fort of creative power of its own ; either in reprefenting at pleafure the images of things in the order and manner 56 INTRODUC T I O N. manner in which they were received by the fenfes, or in combining thofe images in a new manner, and according to a different order. This power is called Imagination ; and to this belongs what- ever is called wit, fancy, invention, and the like. Bat it mud be obferved, that the power of the imagination is incapable of producing any thing abfolutely new; it can only vary the difpoiition of thofe ideas which it has received from the fenfes. Now the imagination is the moil ex- teniive province of pleafure and pain, as it is the region of our fears and our hopes, and of all our paffions that are connected with them ; and whatever is calculated to affedt the imagination with thefe commanding ideas, by force of any original natural impreffion, muff have the fame power pretty equally over all men. For fince the imagination is only the reprefen cation of the fenfes, it can only be pleafed or difpleafed with the images, from ON TASTE, 17 from the fame principle on which the fenfe is pleaLd or difpleafed with the realities; and confequently there mud be juft as clofe an agreement in the imagi- nations as in the fenfe 3 of men. A little attention will convince us that this mull of neceffity be the cafe. But in the imagination, befides the pain or pleafure arifing from the proper- ties of the natural chjedr, a pleafure is perceived from the refemblance, which the imitation has to the original : the imagi- nation, I conceive, can have no pleafure but what refults from one or other of thefe caufes. And thefe caufes operate pretty uniformly upon all men, becaufe they operate by principles in nature, and which are not derived from any particu- lar habits or advantages. Mr. Locke very juftly and finely cbferves of wit, that it is chiefly converfant in tracing re- femhlances : he remarks at the fame time, G that i8 INTRODUCTION, that the bufinefs of judgment is rather in finding differences. It may perhaps ap- pear, on this foppofition, that there is no material diftindion between the wit and the judgment, as they both feem to refult from different operations of the fame fa- culty of comparing . But in reality, whe- ther they are or are not dependant on the fame power of the mind, they differ fo very materially in many refpeds, that a perfed union of wit and judgment is one of the rareft things in the world. When two diftind objects are unlike to each other, it is only what we exped ; things are in their common way; and therefore they make no impreffion on the imagina- tion : but when two diftind objeds have a refemblance, we are ftruck, we attend to them, and we are pleafed. The mind of man has naturally a far greater alacrity and fatisfadion in tracing refemblances than in fearching for differences : becaufe by making refemblances we produce new images ; ig ON TASTE. images; we unite, we create, we enlarge our flock : but in making diminutions we offer no food at all to the imagination ; the tafk itfelf is more fevere and irkfome, and what pleafure we derive from it is fomething of a negative and indired na- ture. A piece of news is told me in the morning ; this, merely as a piece of news, as a fad added to my flock, gives me fome pleafure. In the evening I find there was nothing in it. What do I gain by this, but the diffatisfadion to find that I had been impofed upon ? Hence it is that men are much more naturally in- clined to belief than to incredulity. And it is upon this principle, that the moft ig- norant and barbarous nations have fre- quently excelled in fimilitudes, compan- ions, metaphors, and allegories, who have been weak and backward in diflin- guifhing and forting their ideas. And it is for a reafon of this kind, that Homer and the oriental writers, though very fond of fimilitudes, and though they often flrike out fuch as are truly admirable, they iel- C 2 dom 20 INTRODUCTIO N. dom take care to have them exact ; that is, they are taken with the general refern- blance, they paint it ftrongly, and they take no notice of the difference which may be found between the things compared. Now, as the pleafure of refemblance is that which principally flatters the imagi- nation, all men are nearly equal in this point, as far as their knowledge of the things reprefented or compared extends. The principle of this knowledge is very much accidental, as it depends upon ex- perience and obfervation, and not on the firength or weaknefs of any natural fa- culty ; and it is from this difference in knowledge, that what we commonly, though with no great exadtneis, call a difference in Tafte proceeds. A man to whom fculpture is new, fees a barber’s block, or fome ordinary piece of ftatuary ; he is immediately ffruck and pleafcd, be- came he fees fomething like an human figure j and, entirely taken up with this likenefs, he does not at all attend to its defedts. O N T A S T E. 21 defefts. No perfon, I believe, at the firfl time of feeing a piece of imitation ever did. Some time after, we fuppofe that this novice lights upon a more artifi- cial work of the fame nature ; he now begins to lock with contempt on what he admired at fir ft ; not that he admired it even then for its unlikenefs to a man, but for that general though inaccurate refem- blance which it bore to the human figure. What he admired at different times in •thefe fo different figures, is ftridtly the fame; and though his knowledge is im- proved, his Tafte is not altered. Hither- to his miftake was from a want' of know- ledge in art, and this arofe from his inex- perience; but he may be ftill deficient from a want of knowledge in nature. For it is poffible that the man in queftion may flop here, and that the mafter-piece of a great hand may pleafe him no more than the middling performance of a vul- gar artift ; and this not for want of better pr higher relifh, but becaufe all men do C 3 not 22 INTRODUCTION. not obferve with fufficient accuracy go the human figure to enable them to judge properly of an imitation of it. And that the critical Tafte does not depend upon a Superior principle in men, but upon fupe- rior knowledge, may appear from feveral inftances. The (lory of the ancient painter and the fhoe maker is very well known. The Shoemaker fet the painter right with regard to feme miftakes he had made in the fhoe of one of his figures, and which the painter, who had not made fuch ac- curate observations on fhoes, and was content with a general refemblance, had never obferved. But this was no im- peachment to the Tafte of the painter; it only fhewed Some want of knowledge in the art of making fhoes. Let us ima- gine, that an an atom i ft had come into the painter's working-room. His piece is in general well done, the figure in ques- tion in a good attitude, and the parts well adjufted to their various movements; yet the anatomift, critical in his art, may ON TASTE. 23 may obferve the fwell of fome mufcle not quite juft in the peculiar adlion of the figure. Here the anatomift obferves what the painter had not obferved ; and he paftes by what the fhoemaker had re- marked. But a want of the laft critical knowledge in anatomy no more reflected on the natural good Tafte of the painter, or of any common obferver of his piece, than the want of an exadt knowledge in the formation of a fhoe. A fine piece of a decollated head of St. John the Bap- tifh was fhewn to a Turkiflh emperor 5 he praifed many things, but he obferved one . defedt ; he obferved that the fkin did not flbrink from the wounded part of the neck. The fultan on this occafton, though his obfervation was very juft, diicovered no more natural Tafte than the painter who executed this piece, or than a thou- fand European connoifieurs, who probably never would have made the fame obfer- vation. His Turkifh Majefty had indeed been well acquainted with that terrible C 4 fpeetacle. I N T R.O DUCTiO N. fpedacle, which the others could only have rep refen ted in their imagination. On the ftibjed of their dill ike there is a difference between all thefe people, arifing from the different kinds and degrees of their know- ledge ; but there is fomething in common to the painter, the fhoemaker, the ana- tom iff, and the Turkifh emperor, the plea- fore arifing from a natural object, fo far as each perceives it juftly imitated ; the fatif- faction in feeing an agreeable figure ; the fympathy proceeding from a ftriking and affeding incident. So far as Tafte is na- tural, it ds nearly common to all. In poetry, and other pieces of imagina- tion, the fame 'parity may be obferved. It is true, that one man is charmed with Don Beliianis, and reads Virgil coldly: whilfh another is transported with the Eneid, and leaves Don Beliianis to chil- dren. Thefe two men feem to have a Tafte very different from each other; but in fad they differ very little. In both thefe pieces* ON TASTE. 25 pieces, which infpire foch oppofite fenti- meats, a tale exciting admiration is told ; both are full of addon, both are paflionate ; in both are voyages, battles, triumphs, and continual changes of fortune. The admirer of Don Beliianis perhaps does not under- Hand the refined language of the Eneid, who, if it was degraded into the ilyle of the Pilgrim’s Progrefs, might feel it in all its energy, on the fame principle which made him an admirer of Don Beliianis. In his favourite author he is not Block- ed with the continual breaches of* proba- bility, the confulion of times, the of- fences againft manners, the trampling upon geography ; for he knows nothing of geography and chronology, and he has never examined the grounds of pro- bability. Ke perhaps reads of a (hip- wreck on the coaH of Bohemia : wholly taken up with fo interefting an event, and only felicitous for the fate of his hero, he is not at the lead troubled at this 26 INTRO DUCTIO N. this extravagant blunder. For why fhould he be {hocked at a (hip wreck on the coal! of Bohemia, who does not know but that Bohemia may be an iiland in the Atlantic ocean ? and after all, what reflec- tion is this on the natural good Tafle of the perfon here fuppofed ? ./ So far then as Tafte belongs to the ima- gination, its principle is the fame in all men ; there is no difference in the man- ner of their being affeded, nor in the catifes of the affedion ; but in the degree there is a difference, which arifes from two caufes principally ; either from a greater degree of natural fenfibility, or from a clofer and longer attention to the objed. To illuftrate this by the proce- dure of the fenfes, in which the fame. dif- ference is found, let us fuppofe a very fmooth marble table to be fet before two men ; they both perceive it to be fmooth, and they are both pleafed with it hecaufe of this quality. So far they agree. But fuppofe ON T A S T E. 27 fuppcfe another, and after that another table, the latter flill fmoother than the former, to be fet before them. It is now very probable that thefe men, who are fo agreed upon what is fmooth, and in the pleafure from thence,, will difagree when they come to fettle which table has the advantage in point of polifli. Here is indeed the great difference between Taffies, w 7 hen men come to compare the excefs or diminution of things which are judged by degree and not by tneafure. Nor is it eafy, when fuc'h a difference arifes, to fettle the point, if the excefs or dimi- nution be not glaring. If we differ in opinion about two quantities, we. can have recourfe to a common meafure, which may decide the queflion with the utmoft exaftnefs ; and this I take it is what gives mathematical knowledge a greater certainty than any other. But in things whole excefs is' not judged by greater or fmaller, as fmoothnefs and roughnefs, hardnefs and foftnefs, dark- 6 nefs 28 INTRODUCTION. nefs and light, the (hades of colours, all thefe are very eafily diilinguifhed when the difference is any way confiderahle, hut not when it is minute, for want of fome common meafures, which perhaps may never come to be difcovered. In thefe nice cafes, fuppofing the acutenefs of the fenfe equal, the greater attention and habit in fuch things will have the advantage. In the queftion about the tables, the mar- ble-polifher will unquedionably determine the mod accurately. But notwithstand- ing this want of a common meafure for fettling many difputes relative to the fenfes and their reprefen tative the imagi- nation, vve find that the principles are the fame in all, and that there is no d i fag r ce- ment until we come to examine into the pre-eminence of difference of things, which brings us within the province of the judgment. So long as we are converfant with the fenfible qualities of things, hardly any 6 mor§ ON TA'STE, 29 more than the imagination fee ms con- cerned ; little more alfo than the imagi- nation feems concerned when the paffions are reprefented, becaufe by the force of natural fympathy they are felt in all men without any recourfe to reafoning, and their juftnefs recognized in every bread. Love, grief, fear, anger, joy, all thefe paffions have in their turns affedled every mind ; and they do not affect it in an arbitrary or cafual manner, but upon cer- tain, natural, and uniform principles. But as many of the works of imagination are not confined to the reprefentation of fenfible objects, nor to efforts upon the paffions, but extend themfelves to the manners, the characters, the actions, and defigns of men, their relations, their vir- tues and vices, they come within the province of the judgment, which is im- proved by attention and by the habit of reafoning. All thefe make a very confiderable pa'rt of what are confidered as 3 o INTRODUCTION. as the ohje&s of Tafte; and Horace fends us to the fchools of philofophy and the world for our inftrudtion in them. Whatever certainty is to be ac- quired in morality and the fcience of life; juft the fame degree of certainty have we in what relates to them in works of imitation. Indeed it is for the moft part in our fkill in manners, and in the obfervances of time and place, and of decency in general, which is only to be learned in thofe fchools to which Horace recommends us, that what is called Tafte by way of diftindiion, con- fifts ; and which is in reality no other than a more refined judgment. On the whole, it appears to me, that what is called Tafte, in its moft general accepta- tion, is not a fimple idea, but is partly made up of a perception of the primary pleafures of fenfe, of the fecondary plea- fures of the imagination, and of the con- clufions of the reafoning faculty, con- cerning O N TASTE ceraing the various relations of thefe, and concerning the human paffions, manners, and adtions. All this is requiflte to form Tafte, and the ground - work of all thefe is the fame in the human mind; for as the fenfes are the great originals of all our ideas, and confeauently of all our pleafures, if - they are not uncertain and arbitrary, the whole ground - work of Tafte is common to all, and therefore there is a fufficient foundation for a con- clufive reafoning on thefe matters. Whilft we confider Tafte merely ac- cording to its nature and fpecies, we (hall find its principles entirely uniform ; but the degree in which thefe principles pre- vail, in the feveral individuals of man- kind, is altogether as different as the principles themfelves are fimilar. For fenfibility and judgment, which are the qualities that compofe what we com- monly call a Tafte, vary exceedingly in various people. From a defedt in the former 32 INTRODUCTION. former of thefe qualities, arifes a want of Tafte ; a weaknefs in the latter, coo- jftitutes a wrong or a bad one. There are forne men formed with feelings fo blunt, with tempers fo cold and phleg- matic, that they can hardly be faid to be awake during the whole courfe of their lives. Upon fuch perfons, the mod linking objects make but a faint and ob- fcure impreffion. There are others fo continually in the agitation of grofs and merely fenfual pleafures, or fo occupied in the low drudgery of avarice, or fo heated in the chace of honours and dis- tinction, that their minds, which had been ufed continually to the florms of thefe violent and tempeftuous paifions, can hardly be put in motion by the deli- cate and refined play of the imagination. Thefe men, though from a different caufe, become as flupid and infenfible as the former j but whenever either of thefe happen to be ftruck with any natural elegance or greatnefs, or with thefe qua- lities ON TASTE* 11 o J lilies in any vtrork of art, they are moved upon the fame principle. The caufe of a wrong Tafte is a d'e- fed: of Judgment. And this may arife from a natural weakoefs of enderftand- ing (in whatever the flrength of that fa- culty may confift) or* which is much more commonly the cafe, it may arife from a want of proper and well-direded exercife, which alone can make it ftrong and ready. Befides that ignorance, inat- tention, prejudice, rafhnefs, levity, obftl- nacy, in fhort, all thofe paffions, and all thofe vices, which pervert the judgment in other matters, prejudice it no lefs in this its more refined and elegant province, Thefe caufes produce different opinions upon every thing which is an objed: of the underftanding, without inducing us to fuppofe, that there are no fettled prin- ciples of reafon. And indeed on the whole one may obferve, that there is rather lefs difference upon matters of D Talk 34 INTRODUCTION, Tafte among mankind, than upon moil of thofe which depend upon the naked reafon ; and that men are far better agreed on the excellence of a defcription in Virgil, than on the truth or falfehood of a theory of Ariftotle. A redHiu de of judgment in the arts, which may be called a good Tafie, does, in a great meafure depend upon fen Abi- lity j becaufe if the mind has no bent to the pleafures of the imagination, it will never apply itfelf fufficiently to works of that fpecies to acquire a competent know- ledge in them. But though a degree of fenfibility is requifite to form a good judgment, yet a good judgment does not neceflarily arife from a quick fenfibility of pleafure ; it frequently happens that a very poor judge, merely by force of a greater complexional fenfibility, is more affeded by a very poor piece, than the befc judge by the moil perfed ; for as every thing new, extraordinary, grand. or ON TASTE. 35 or paffiohate, is well calculated to affed fuch a perfon, and that the faults do not affed him, his pleafure is more pure and unmixed ; and as it is merely a pleafure of the imagination, it is much higher than any which is derived from a redi- tnde of the judgment $ the judgment is for the greater part employed in throw- ing dumbling-blocks in the way of the imagination, in diffipating the fcenes of its enchantment, and in tying us down to the difagreeable yoke of our reafon $ for aimed the only pleafure that men have in judging better than others, con- fids in a fort of confcious pride and fupe- riority, which arifes from thinking right- y ly ; but then, this is an indired pleafure, a pleafure which does not immediately refult from the objed which is under contemplation. In the morning of our days, when the fenfes are unworn and tender, when the whole man is awake in every part, and the glofs of novelty frefh upon all the objeds that furround us, how D 2 lively 3 6 INTRODUCTION.. lively at that time are our fen fa lions, but how falfe and inaccurate the judgments we form of things ? I defpair of ever re- ceiving the fame degree of pleafure from the mod: excellent performances of ge- nius which I felt at that age, from pieces which my prefent judgment regards as trifling and contemptible. Every tri- vial caufe of pleafure is apt to affed the man of too fanguine a complexion : his appetite is too. keen to fuffer his Taile to be delicate j and he is in all refpeds what Ovid fays of himfelf in love, Molle meum levzbus cor eft violabile telis , Ei femper caufa eft , cur ego femper amsm . One of this character can never be a re- fined judge; never what the comic poet •calls elegans jormarum fpeffiutor. The excellence and force of a comp'ofitiou muft always he imperfedly eflimated from its e fifed: on the minds of any, ex- cept we know the. temper and charader of thofe minds. The mod powerful ef- feds ON TASTE. 37 feds of poetry and mixiic have been dis- played, and perhaps are ft ill displayed, where thefe arts are but in a very low and imperfed date. The rude hearer is affected by the principles which operate in thefe arts even in their rudeft condition ; and he is not -fkilful enough to perceive the defeds. But as arts advance to- wards their perfedion, the fcience of cri- ticifm advances with equal pace, and the pleafure of judges is frequently interrupted by the faults which are di (covered in the moil fini’fhed comoofitions. x Before I leave this fubjed, I cannot help taking notice of an opinion which many perfons entertain, as if the Take were a feparate faculty of the mind, and diftindt from the judgment and/imagination j a fpecies of inftind, by which we are (truck naturally, and at the firft glance, with- out any previous reafoning, with the ex- cellencies, or the defeds of a compofi- D 3 tion. 38 INTRO DUCTIO N. tion. So far as the imagination and the paffions are concerned* I believe it true* that the reafon is little confuited ; but where difpofition* where decorum* where congruity are concerned, in fhort, where- ever the beft Tafte differs from the worft* I am convinced that the underftanding operates and nothing elfe ; and its opera- tion is in reality far from being always fudden* or* when it is hidden* it is often far from being right. Men of the beft Tafte by consideration come frequently to change thefe early and precipitate judg- ments* which the mind* from its averfion to neutrality and doubt, loves to form on the fpot. It is known that the Tafte (whatever it is) is improved exactly as we improve our judgment* by extending our knowledge, by a fteady attention to our objedt* and by frequent exercife. They who have not taken thefe methods* if their Tafte decides quickly, it is always uncertainly ; and their quicknefs is ow- 6 ing ON TASTE. 39 ing to their prefumptlon and cafhnefs, and not any hidden irradiation that in a moment difpels all darknefs from their minds. But they who have cultivated that fpecies of knowledge which makes the objedt of Tafte, by degrees and ha- bitually attain not only a foundnefs, but a readinefs of judgment, as men do by the fame methods on all other occaiions. At firft they are obliged to fpell, but at lad they read with eafe and with celerity, but this celerity of its operation is no proof* that the Tafte is a diftindt faculty. Nobody, 1 believe, has attended the courfe of a difcuffion, which turned upon mat- ters within the fphere of mere naked rea- fon, but mu ft have obferved the extreme readinefs with which the whole procefs of the argument is carried on, the grounds difcovered, the objections railed and an® fwered, and the condufions drawn from premifes, with a quicknefs altogether as great as the Tafte can be fuppofed to p 4 work 40 INTRODUCTION.- work with ; and yet where nothing but plain reafon either is or can be fufpedled to* operate. To multiply principles for i every different appearance, is ufelefs, and unphilofophical too in a high degree. This matter might be purfued much farther ; but it is not the extent of the fuhjedt which muft prefcribe our bounds, for what fubjedl does not branch out to infinity ? it is the nature of our particu- lar feheme, and the fingle point of view r in which we confider it, which ought to put a hop to our refearches. A Philo- [ 4i ] i A Philofophical Enquiry INTO THE O rigin of our Ideas OF THE Sublime and Beautiful, PART I. SECT. I. NOVELTY. T H E firft and the fimpleil emotion which we difcover in the human mind 3 is Curiofity. Ey curiofity I mean whatever defire we have for, or whatever pleafure we take in, novelty. We fee children perpetually running from place to place to hunt out fomething pew: they catch with great eagernefs, and 42 On the SUBLIME and with very little choice* at whatever comes before them ; their attention is engaged by every thing, becaufe every thing has, in that ftage of life, the charm of novelty to recommend it. But as thofe things which engage us merely by their novelty, cannot attach us for any length of time, curiofity is the moft fuperficial of all the affections : it changes its ob- ject perpetually ; it has an appetite which is very fharp, but very eafily fatisfied ; and it has always an appearance of giddi- nefs, reftleffhefs, and anxiety. Curiofity from its nature is a very aCtive principle ; it quickly runs over the greateft part of its objeCts, and foon exhaufts the variety 1 which is commonly to be met with in nature ; the fame things make frequent returns, and they return with lefs and lefs of any agreeable effeCt. In fhori, the occurrences of life, by the time we come to know it a little, would be incapable of affeCtihg the mind with any other fenfa- tions than thofe of loath ine and weari- O nefs* and BEAUTIFUL, 43 nefs, if many things were not adapted to a fifed: the mind by means of other powers befides novelty in them, and of other paffions befides curiofity in our- felves. Thefe powers and paffions (hall be confidered in their place. But what- ever thefe powers are, or upon what principle foever they affedt the mind, it is abfolutely neceflary that they ffiould not be exerted in thofe things which a daily vulgar ufe have brought into a dale pnaffediing familiarity. Some degree of novelty ha uft be one of the materials in every inftrument which works upon the mind 5 and curiofity blends itfelf more or lefs with all our paffions. SECT. II. PAIN and PLEASURE. I T fee ms then necefiary towards mov- ing the paffions of people advanced in life to any confiderable degree, that the objects 44 On the SUBLI M E objeds defigned for that purpofe, befides their being in fome meafure new, fhould be capable of exciting pain or pie a fa re from other caufes. Pain and pleafure are fimple ideas, incapable of definition. People are not liable to be midaken in their feelings, but they are very frequently wrong in the names they give them, and in their reafonings about them. Many are of opinion, that pain arifes ne- ceffarily from the removal of fome plea- fare ; as they think pleafure does from the ceafing or diminution of fome pain. For my part, I am rather inclined to ima- gine, that pain and pleafure, in their mod fimple and natural manner of afreding, are each of a pofitive nature, and by no means neceifarily dependent on each other for their exigence. The human mind is often, and I think it is for the mod part, in a date neither of pain nor pleafure, which 1 call a date of indiffe- rence. When I am carried from this date into a date of adual pleafure, it 6 does and BEAUTIFUL. 45 does not appear neceffary that I fhould pafs through the medium of any fort of pain. If in fuch a flate of indifference* or eafe, or tranquillity* or call it ' what you pleafe, you were to be fuddenly en- tertained with a concert of mufic ; or fuppofe feme object of a fine fhape* and bright lively colours, to be reprefented be- fore you ; or imagine your fmell is grati- fied with the fragrance of a rofe ^ or if without any previous third: you were to drink of fome pleafant kind of wine* or to tafte of fome fweetmeat without being hungry ; in all the feveral fenfes, of hear- ing, duelling, and tailing, you undoubt- edly find a p.leafure ; yet if I enquire into the flate of your mind previous to thefe gratifications* you will hardly tell me that they found you in any kind of pain ; or* having fatisfied thefe feveral fenfes with their feveral pleafures* will you fay that any pain has fucceeded* though the plea- fure is abfolutely over ? Suppofe* on the ether hand* a man in the fame flate of indifference* 46 On the SUBLIME indifference, to receive a violent blow, or to drink of fome bitter potion, or to have his ears wounded with fome harfh and grating found ; here is no removal of pleafure ; and yet here is felt, in every fenfe which is affedted, a pain very diftin- guifhable. It may be faid, perhaps, that the pain in thefe cafes had its rife from the removal of the pleafure which the man enjoyed before, though that pleafure was of fo low a degree as to be perceived only by the removal. But this feems to me a fubtilty, that is not difcoverable in nature. For if, previous to the pain, I do not feel any adlual pleafure, I have no reafon to judge that any fuch thing exifts ; fince pleafure is only pleafure as it is felt. The fame may be faid of pain, and with equal reafon. I can never perfuade myfelf that pleafure and pain are mere relations, which can only exift as they are con- trailed ; but I think I can difcern clearly that there are poiitive pains and pleafures, which do not at all depend upon each other. and BEAUTIFUL, 47 other. Nothing is more certain to my own feelings than this. There is nothing which I can diftinguifh in my mind with more clearnefs than the three dates, of indifference, of pleafure, and of pain. Eve- ry one of thefe I can perceive without any fort of idea of its relation to any thing elfe. Caius is affli&ed with a fit of the cholic ; this man is actually in pain % ftretch Caius upon the rack, he will fee! a much greater pain: but does this pain of the rack arife from the removal of any pleafure ? or is the fit of the cholic a plea- fure or a pain juft as we are pleafed to confider it ? SECT. III. The difference between the removal of PAIN and pofitive PLEASURE. W E fir all carry this propofition yet a ftep farther. We fhall ven- ture to propofe, that pain and pleafure are 48 On the SUBLIME are not only not neceffarily dependent for their exigence oh their mutual dimi- nution or removal, but that, in reality, the diminution or ceaiing of pleafure does not operate like pofitive pain ; and that the, removal or diminution of pain, in its effed, has very little refemblance- to pofi- tive pleafure *. The former of thefe pro- portions will, I believe, be much more readily allowed than the latter ; becaufe it is very evident that pleafure, when it has run its career, fets us down very nearly where it found us. Pleafure of every kind quickly fatisfies ; and when it is over, we relapfe into indifference, or rather we fall into a foft tranquillity, which is tinged with the agreeable co- lour of the former fenfation. I own it is not at firft view fo apparent, that the re- * Mr. Locke [Effay on Human Undemanding, ]. ii. c. 20. feet. 1 6. J thinks that the removal or lef- fening of a pain is confidered and operates as a plea- fure, and the lofs or diminifhing of pleafure as a pain. It is this opinion which we confider here. moval 49 and BEAUTIFUL. mo-Val of a great pain does not refemble pofitive pleafure j but let us recoiled: in what fiate we have found our minds up- on efcaping fome imminent danger, or on being releafed from the feverity of fome cruel pain. We have on fuch occaiions found, if I am not much miflaken, the temper of our minds in a tenor very re- mote from that which attends the prefence of pod tive pleafure ; we have found them in a Hate of much fobriety, impreffed with a fenfe of awe, in a fort of tranquillity fha- dowed with horror. The faflhion of the countenance and the gefture of the body on fuch occafions is fo correfpondent to this ftate of mind, that any perfon, a ftranger to the caufe of the appearance* would rather judge us under fome co Hiber- nation, than in the enjoyment of any thing like pofitive pleafure. J'* o] &p etln 7rvx.!Vti KctCvit or' ive vetlpy i'Co]ct KclIcLkIuVcIS, etKKsov [J.0V, A ytPpof if p&iiCof cT <&x il MMpwvl&f* E Iliad, iv*. At 5 ° On the SUBLIME As when a wretch , who , conf cions of his crime , Purfued for murder from his native clime , Juft gains fome frontier , hreathlefs , pale , amaz'd ° f All gaze> all wonder ! This ftriking appearance of the man' whom Homer fuppofes to have juft efcaped an imminent danger, the fort of mixt paflion of terror and furprize, with which he affe&s the fpe&ators, paints very ftrongly the manner in which we find ourfelves affeded upon occafions any way fimilar. For when we have differed from any violent emotion, the mind naturally continues in fome thing like the fame condition, after the caufe which firft produced it has ceafed to ope- rate. The toiling of the fea remains after the ftorm y and when this remain of horror has entirely fubiided, all the paf- fion, which the accident raifed, fubfides along with it ; and the mind returns to its ufual ftate of indifference. In fhort, pleafure (I mean any thing either in the inward 2 arid BEAUTIF U L. S l inward fenfation, or in the outward ap- pearance, like pleafure from a politive caufe) has never, I imagine, its origin from the removal of pain or danger* SECT. IV. Of DELIGHT and PLEASUrI, as oppofed to each other. B U T fhall we therefore fay, that the removal of pain or its diminution is always limply pai nnfl ? or affirm that the ceffation or the leffening of pleafure is always attended itfelf with a pleafure ? By no means. What I advance is no more than this ; firft, that there are pleafures and pains of a politive and in- dependent nature ; and fecondly* that the feeling which refults from the ceaf- ing or diminution of pain does not bear a fufficient refemblance to politive plea- fure, to have it confidered as of the fame nature, or to entitle it to be known by E 2 * the 5 2 On the SUBLIME the fame name; and thirdly, that upon the fame principle the removal or qualification of pleafure has no refemblance to pofitive oain. It is certain that the former feel- £ ing (the removal or moderation of pain) has fomething in it far from diftreffing or difagreeable in its nature. This feel- ing, in many cafes fo agreeable, but in all fo different from pofitive pleafure, has no name which I know ; but that hin- ders not its being a very real one, and very different from all others. It is mod- certain, that every fpecies of fatisfa&iorr or pleafure, how different foever in its manner of affe&ing, is of a politive na- ture in the mind of him who feels it. The affedtion is undoubtedly pofitive •, but the caufe may be, as in this cafe it certainly is, a fort of Privation And it is very reafonable that we fhould diftin- guifh by fome term two things fo diftindl in nature, as a pleafure that is fuch lim- ply, and without any relation, from that pleafure which cannot exifi without a relation. and BEAUTIFUL. 53 relation, and that too a relation to pain. Very extraordinary it would be, if thefe affections, fo diftinguifhable in their caufes, fo different in their effects, (hould be confounded with each other, becaufe vulgar ufe has ranged them under the fame general title. Whenever I have occafion to fpeak of this fpecies of rela- tive pleafure, I call it Delight ; and I fhall take the beft care I can, to ufe that word in no other fenfe. I am fatisfied the word is not commonly ufed in this appropriated figniftcation ; but 1 thought it better to take up a word already known, and to limit its fignification, than to introduce a new one, which would not perhaps incorporate fo well with the language. I fhould never have prefumed the leaf!: alteration in our words, if the nature of the language, framed for the purpofes of bufinefs rather than thofe of philofophy, and the nature of my fubjed, that leads me out of the common track of difcourfe, did not in a E 3 manner 54 On the SUBLI M E manner necefiitate me to it. I (hall make ufe of this liberty with all poffible caution. As I make ufe of the word Delight to ex- prefs the fenfation which accompanies the removal of pain or danger ; fo when I fpeak of poiitive pleafure, I (hall for the mod part call it (imply Pleafure . SECT. V. JOY and GRIE F. ¥T mud be obferved, that the ceffation jL of pleafure affedts the mind three ways. If it (amply ceafes, after having continued a proper time, the erfedt is in- difference ; if it be abruptly broken oft, there enfues an uneafy fenfc called dif ap- pointment if the objedt be fo totally loll that there is no chance of enjoying it again, a paffion arifes in the mind, which is called grief. Now, there is none of thele, not even grief, which is the molt violent. and BEAUTIFUL, 55 violent, that I think hasanv refemhlance to pofitive pain. The perfon who grieves, fuffers his p'affion to grow upon him ; he indulges it, he loves it : but this never happens in the cafe of actual pain, which no man ever willingly endured for A any conliderable time. That grief fhould be willingly endured, though far from a limply pleafmg fenfation, is not fo diffi- cult to be underftood. It is the nature of grief to keep its objeCt perpetually in its eye, to prefen t it in its moil pleafur- able views, to repeat all the circum- fiances that attend it, even to the lafl minutenefs ; to go back to every parti- cular enjoyment, to dwell upon each, and to find a thoufand new perfections in all, that were not fufficiently underftood be- fore ; in grief, the pleafure is ft ill upper- moft ; and the affliction we fiiffer has no refemblance to abfolute pain, which is always odious, and which we endeavour to fhake off as foon as poffible. The Odyffey of Homer, which abounds with £ 4 fo 5 6 On the SUBLIME fo many natural and affe&ing images, has none more ftriking than thofe which Menelaus raifes of the calamitous fate of his friends 3 and his own manner of feel- * ing it. He owns, indeed, that he often gives himfelf feme intermiflion from fuch melancholy reflections j but he obferves too, that, melancholy as they are, they give him pleafure. zy^rns <&av]as yzv o£vp.oy*vos Hcti ayjv&v, TloKKayjs zv yzyapoicrt jca.Qny.zvos jiyz\zpoi SECT. VIII. The RECAPITULATION. C "\ N the whole $ if fach parts in -J human bodies as are found pro- portioned, were likewife condantly found beautiful, as they certainly are not ; or if they were fo lituated, as that a plea- fure might flow from the companion, which they feldom are ; or if any aflign- able proportions were found, either in plants or animals, which were always attended with beauty, which never was the cafe ; or if, where parts were well adapted to their purpofes, they were con- and BEAUTIFUL. 203 eondantly beautiful, and when no ufe appeared, there was no beauty, which is contrary to all experience ; we might conclude, that beauty confided in pro- portion or utility. But fince, in all re- fpedls, the cafe is quite otherwife ; we may be fatisfied that beauty does not depend on thefe, let it owe its origin to what elfe it will. SECT. IX. Perfection not the caufe of BEAUTY. HERE is another notion current. pretty clofely allied to the former ; that PerjeBion is the condiment caufe of beauty. This opinion has been made to extend much farther than to fenfible objedls. But in thefe, fo far is perfec- tion, confidered as fuch, from being the caufe of beauty ; that this quality, where it is highed in the female fex, almoft always carries with it an idea of weak- 204 On the SUBLIME rsefs and imperfection. Women are very feniible of this ; for which reafon, they learn to lifp, to totter in their walk, to counterfeit weaknefs, and even ficknefs. In all this they are guided by nature. Beauty in diftrefs is much the moft affecting beauty, Blufhing has little lefs power ; and modety in general, which is a tacit allowance of imperfection, is itfelf confidered as an amiable quality, and certainly heightens every other that is fo. I know it is in every body's mouth, that we ought to love perfection. This is to me a fufficient proof, that it is not the proper object of love. Who ever faid we ought to love a fine woman, or even any of thefe beautiful animals which pleafe us ? Here to be affected, there is no need of the concurrence of our will. SECT. and BEAUTIFUL. 205 SECT. X. How far the idea of BEAUTY may be applied to the qualities of the MIND. Q R is this remark in general lefs applicable to the qualities of the mind. Thofe virtues which caufe ad- miration, and are of the fublimer kind, produce terror rather than love $ fuch as fortitude, juftice, wifdom, and the like. Never was any man amiable by force of thefe qualities. Thofe which engage our hearts, which imprefs us with a fenfe of lovelinefs, are the fofter vir- tues ; eafinefs of temper, compaflion, kind- nefs, and liberality ; though certainly thofe latter are of lefs immediate and momen- tous concern to fociety, and of lefs dig- nity. But it is for that reafon that' they are fo amiable. The great virtues turn principally on dangers, puniihments, and troubles, and are exercifed rather in pre- 2q 6 On the SUBLIME preventing the word mifchiefs, than in difpenfing favours ; and are therefore not lovely, though highly venerable. The fubordinate turn on reliefs, gratifica- tions, and indulgences; and are therefore more lovely, though inferior in dig- nity. Thofe perfons who creep into the hearts of moft people, who are chofen as the companions of their fofter hours, and their reliefs from care and anxiety, are never perfons of fhining qualities nor ftrong virtues. It is rather the fo ft green of the foul on which we reft our eyes* that are fatigued with beholding more glaring objects. It is worth obferving how we feel ourfelves affedted in reading the characters of Casfar and Cato, as they are fo finely drawn and con trailed in Salluft. In one the ignofeendo , largiundo ; in the other, nil largiundo . In one the mrferis perfugium ; in the other malis perniciem. In the latter we have much to admire, much to reverence, and perhaps fomething to fear ; we reaped and BEAUTIFUL. 207 refped him, but we refped him at a diitance. The former makes us fami- liar with him ; we love him, and he leads us whither he pleafes. To draw things clofer to our firft and moil na- tural feelings, I will add a remark made upon reading this fedion by an ingenious friend. The authority of a father, fo ufeful to our well-being, and fo juftly venerable upon all accounts, hinders us from having that entire love for him that we have for our mothers, where the pa- rental authority is aim oil melted down into the mother’s fondnefs and indul- gence. But we generally have a great love for our grandfathers, in whom this authority is removed a degree from us* and where the weaknefs of age mellows it into fomething of a feminine partiality 6 SECT, 208 On the S U B L I M E SECT. XL How far the idea of BEAUTY may be applied to VIRTUE. ROM what has been faid in the foregoing fe&ion, we may eafily fee, how far the application of beauty to virtue may be made with propriety. The general application of this qua- lity to virtue, has a ftrong tendency to confound our ideas of things ; and it has given rife to an infinite deal of whimiical theory; as the affixing the name of beauty to proportion, congrui- ty, and perfection* as well as to qualities of things yet more remote from our na- tural ideas of it, and from one. another, has tended to confound our ideas of beauty, and left us no ftandard or rule to judge by, that was not even more uncertain and fallacious than our own fancies. This loofe and inaccurate man- ner and BEAUTIFUL. 209 ner of fpeaking, has therefore milled us both in the theory of tafle and of mo- rals ; and induced us to remove the fcience of our duties from their proper bafis* (our reafon, our relations, and our necef- hties,) to reft it upon foundations alto- gether vifionary and unfubftantial. SECT. XII. \ The real caufe of BEAUT Y„ H AVING endeavoured to fhew what beauty is not, it remains that we fhould examine, at leaft with equal attention, in what it really confifts. Beauty is a thing much too affecting not to depend upon fome pofitive quali- ties. And, fince it is no creature of our reafon, fince it ftrikes us without any reference to ufe, and even where no ufe at all can be difcerned, fince the order and method of nature is generally very different from our meafures and P pro- 1 - 210 On the SUBLIME proportions, we muft conclude that beauty is, for the greater part, feme quality in bodies a&ing mechanically upon the hu- man mind by the intervention of the fen- fes. We ought therefore to confider at- tentively in what manner thofe fenfible qualities are difpofed, in fuch things as by experience we find beautiful, or which excite in us the paflion of love, or feme correfpondent affe&ion. SECT. XIII. Beautiful objects final]. T HE moft obvious point that pre- sents itfelf to us in examining any objedt, is its extent or quantity. And what degree of extent prevails in bodies that are held beautiful, may be gathered from the ufual manner of ex- preffiqn concerning it. I am told that, in moft languages, the objects of love are fpoken of under diminutive epithets. 6 It and BEAUTIFUL. 21 1 It is fo in all the languages of which I have any knowledge. In Greek the i&jv and other diminutive terms are almoft always the terms of affedtion and ten- dernefs. Thefe diminutives were com- monly added by the Greeks, to the names of perfons with whom they converfed on the terms of fnendfhip and familiarity. Though the Romans were a people of lefs quick and delicate feelings, yet they naturally flid into the leffening termination upon the fame occaiions. Anciently in the Englifh language the dimini Ching ling was added to the names of perfons and things that were the obje&s of love. Some we retain Rill, as darling (or little dear), and a few others. But to this day, in ordi- nary converfation, it is ufual to add the endearing name of little to every thing we love : the French and Italians make ufe of thefe affectionate diminutives even more than we. In the animal creation, out of our own fpecies, it is the fmall P 2 we 212 On the SUBLIME we are inclined to be fond of ; little birds, and fome of the fmaller kinds of beafis. A great beautiful thing is a manner of expreffion fcarcely ever ufed ; but that of a great ugly thing, is very common. There is a wide difference between admiration and love. The fub- lime, which is the caufe of the former, always dwells on great objedts, and ter- rible ; the latter on fmall ones, and plea- ting ; we fubmit to what we admire, but w 7 e love what fubmits to us ; in one cafe we are forced, in the other we are flattered, into compliance. In fhort, the ideas of the fublime and the beautiful ftand on foundations fo different, that it is hard, I had almoft faid impoffible, to think of reconciling them in the fame fubjedt, without confiderably leflening the effedi of the one or the other upon the paflions. So that, attending to their quantity, beautiful objedts are compara- tively fmall. SEC T. and BEAUTIFUL. 213 SECT. XIV. SMOOTHNESS. H E next property condantly ob- •A fervable in fuch objedls is * Smooth - nefs : A quality fo eflential to beauty, that I do not now recoiled: any thing beautiful that is not fmooth. In trees and flowers, fmooth leaves are beauti- ful ; fmooth flopes of earth in gardens s fmooth Area ms in the landfcapej fmooth coats of birds and beads in animal beau- ties 1 in fine women, fmooth Heins 5 and in feveral forts of ornamental furniture, Imooth and poliflied furfaces. A very confiderable part of the effed of beauty is owing to this quality ; indeed the mod confiderable. For take any beautiful objefl, and give it a broken and rugged furface ; and however well formed it may be in other refpefits, it pleafes no * Part IV. fed:, 21. P 3 longer. 214 On the S U B L I M E longer. Whereas, let it want ever fo many of the other conftituents, if it wants not this, it becomes more pleafing than almofi: all the others without it. This feems to me fo evident, that I am a good deal furprifed, that none who have handled the fubjed have made any mention of the quality of fmoothnefs, in the enumeration of thofe that go to the forming of beauty. For indeed any rugged, any hidden projedion, any (harp angle, is in the higheft degree contrary to that idea. SECT. XV. Gradual VARIATIO N. E | UT as perfedly beautiful bodies I are not compofed of angular parts, fo their parts never continue long in the fame right line. * They vary their diredion every moment, and they ? Part V. fed. 23. change and BEAUTIFUL. 215 change under the eye by a deviation continually carrying on, but for whofe beginning or end you will find it diffi- cult to afcertain. a point. The view of a beautiful bird will illuftrate this obfer- vation. Here we fee the head increas- ing infenlibly to the middle, from whence it leffens gradually until it mixes with the neck ; the neck lofes itfelf in a larger fwell, which continues to the middle of the body, when the whole de- creafes again to the tail ; the tail takes a new direction ; but it foon varies its new courfe : it blends again with the other parts ; and the line is perpetually changing, above, below, upon every fide. In this defcription I have before me the idea of a dove ; it agrees very well with moft of the conditions of beauty. It is Smooth and downy; its parts are (to ufe that expreffion) melted into one another; you are prefented with no fudden protuberance through the whole, and yet the whole is conti- P 4 nually 2 1 6 On the SUBLIME mially changing. Obferve that part of a beautiful woman where fhe is perhaps the mod beautiful, about the neck and breads ; the fmoothnefs ; the foftnefs ; the eafy and infenfible fwell ; the variety pf the furface, which is never for the fmalleft fpace the fame ^ the deceitful maze, through which the unfteady eye hides giddily, without knowing where , to fix, or whither it is carried. Is not this a demonftration of that change of furface, continual, and yet hardly percep- tible at any point, which forms one of the great condiments of beauty ? Jt gives me no fmall pleafure to find that 1 can ftrengthen my theory in this point, by the opinion of the very ingenious Mr. Hogarth ; whofe idea of the line of beauty I take in general to be extreme- ly juft. But the idea of variation, without attending fo accurately to the planner of the variation, has led him to confider angular figures as beautiful j thefe figures, , it is true, vary greatly ; yet they 6 varjr and BEAUTIFUL. 217 vary in a fudden and broken manner ; and I do not find any natural objedt which is angular, and at the fame time beautiful. Indeed few natural objedts are entirely an- gular. But I think thofe which approach the moft nearly to it are the uglieft. I muft add too, that, fo far as I could ob- ferve of nature, though the varied line is that alone in which complete beauty is found, yet there is no particular line which is always found in the moft completely beautiful, and which is therefore beau- tiful in preference to all other lines. At Jeaft I never could obferve it. 2 1 8 On the SUBLIME SECT. XVI. DELICACY. N air of robuftnefs and Strength is very prejudicial to beauty. An appearance of delicacy , and even of fra- gility, is aimed effential to it. Who- ever examines the vegetable or animal creation, will find this obfervation to be founded in nature. It is not the oak, the alh, or the elm, or any of the ro- bu ft trees of the foreft, which we con- sider as beautiful j they are awful and majeftic 5 they infpire a fort of reve- rence. It is the delicate myrtle, it is the orange, it is the almond, it is the jaf- mine, it is the vine, which we look on as vegetable beauties. It is the flow- ery Species, fo remarkable for its weak- mefs and momentary duration, that gives us the livelieft idea of beauty and ele- gance. Among animals, the greyhound is and BEAUTIFUL. 219 is more beautiful than the mafiifF ; and the delicacy of a gennet, a barb, or an Arabian horfe, is' much more amiable than the ftrength and liability of fome horfes of war or carriage,, I need here fay little of the fair fex, where I believe the point will be eafily allowed me. The beauty of women is confiderably owing to their weaknefs or delicacy, and is even enhanced by their timidity, x a quality of mind analogous to it. I would not here be underftood to fay, that weaknefs betraying very bad health Jias any (hare in beauty ; but the ill ef- fect of this is not becaufe it is weak- nefs, but becaufe the ill ftate of health which produces fuch weaknefs, alters the other conditions of beauty; the parts in fuch a cafe collapfe ; the bright colour, the lumen purpureum juventce , is gone ; and the fine variation is loft in wrinkles, fudden breaks, and right lines. SECT 220 On the S U B L I M £ SECT. XVII. Beauty in COLOUR. S to the colours ufually found in beautiful bodies, it may be fome- what difficult to afcertain them, becaufe, in the feveral parts of nature, there is an infinite variety. However, even in this variety, we may mark out fome- thing on which to fettle. Firft, the colours of beautiful bodies mu ft not be dulky or muddy, but clean and fair. Se- condly, they muft not be of the ftrong- eft kind. Thofe which feem moft ap- propriated to beauty, are the milder of every fort ; light greens ; foft blues ; weak whites ; pink reds ; and violets. Thirdly, if the colours be ftrong and vi- vid, they are always diveriified, and the objedt is never of one ftrong colour; there are almoft always fuch a number of them (as in variegated flowers,) that the ftrength ) and BEAUTIFUL. 221 ftrength and glare of each is confider- ably abated. In a fine complexion, there is not only fome variety in the colour- ing, but the colours : neither the red nor the white are ftrong and glaring. Befides, they are mixed in fuch a man- ner, and with fuch gradations, that it is impofiible to fix the bounds. On the fame principle it is, that the dubious colour in the necks and tails of peacocks, and about the heads of drakes, is fo very agreeable. In reality, the beauty both of fliape and colouring are as nearly rela- ted, as we can well fuppofe it poffible for things of fuch different natures to be* SECT. 222 On the SUBLIME SECT. XVIII. RECAPITULATION. N the whole, the qualities of beauty, as they are merely fen- fible qualities, are the following. Firfl, to be comparatively fmall. Secondly, to be fmooth. Thirdly, to have a va- riety in the direftion of the parts ; but, fourthly, to have thofe parts not angu- lar, but melted as it were into each other. Fifthly, to be of a delicate frame, without any remarkable appearance of ftrength. Sixthly, to have its colours clear and bright, but not very flrong and glaring. Seventhly, or if it fhould have any gla- ring colour, to have it diverlified with others. Thefe are, I believe, the pro- perties on which beauty depends ; pro- perties that operate by nature, and are lefs liable to be altered by caprice, or con and BEAUTIFUL. 223 confounded by a diverfity of taffes, than any other. pv *}, v* & d- * ^ " t . <- . / SECT. XIX. The PHYSIOGNOMY. rp H E Phyjiognomy has a confider- JL able fhare in beauty, efpecially in that of our own fpecies. The manners give a certain determination to the coun- tenance ; which being obferved to cor- refpond pretty regularly with them, is capable of joining the effedls of certain agreeable qualities of the mind to thofe of the body. So that to form a finished human beauty, and to give it its full in- < fluence, the face muff be expreffive of fuch gentle and amiable qualities, as cor- refpond with the foftnefs, fmoothnefs, and delicacy of the outward form. SECT. 224 Oft the SUBLIME SECT. XX. The EYE. I H A V E hitherto purpofely omitted to fpeak of the Eye, which has fo great a (hare in the beauty of the animal creation, as it did not fall fo eafily under the foregoing heads, though in fa 61 it is reducible to the fame principles. I think then, that the beauty of the eye con lifts, firft, in its clearnefs ; what co- loured eye fhall pleale moft, depends a good deal on particular fancies ; but none are pleafed with an eye whofe water (to ufe that term) is dull and muddy We are pleafed with the eye in this view, on the principle upon which we like diamonds, clear water, glafs, and fuch like tranfparent fubflances. Second- ly, the motion of the eye contributes to its beauty, by continually ihifting its di- * Part IV. fe£t. 25. reftion ; and BEAUTIFUL. 225 redlon ; but a flow and languid motion is more beautiful than a brifk one ; the latter is enlivening; the former lovely. Thirdly^ with regard to the union of the eye with the neighbouring parts, it is to hold the fame rule that is given of other beautiful ones ; it is not to make a ftrong devia- tion from the line of the neighbouring parts ; nor to verge into any exadi geo- metrical figure. Befides all this, the eye affe&s, as it is exprefiive of fome qualities of the mind, and its principal power generally arifes from this $ fo that what we have juft faid of the phyfiog- nomy is applicable here. SECT. XXL UGLINESS. I T may perhaps appear like a fort of repetition of what we have before faid, to infift here upon the nature of TJglinefs . As I imagine it to be in all refpefts 226 On the S U B L I M E refpe&s the oppofite to thofe qualities which we have laid down for the con- ftituents of beauty. But though uglinefs be the oppofite to beauty, it is not the oppofite to proportion and fitnefs. For it is poffible that a thing may be very ugly with any proportions, and with a perfect fitnefs to any ufes. Uglinefs I imagine likewife to be confident enough with an idea of the fublime. But I would by no means infinuate that uglinefs of itfelf is a fublime idea, unlefs united with fuch qualities as excite a ftrong terror. SECT. XXIL GRACE, QRACEF ULNESS is an idea not very different from beauty j it con- fifts in much the fame things. Grace- fulnefs is an idea belonging to pojlure and motion , In both thefe, to be graceful, it is and BEAUTIFUL. 22/ is requifite that there be no appearance of difficulty ; there is required a fmall in- flection of the body ; and a compofure of the parts in fuch a manner, as not to in- cumber each other, not to appear divided by fharp and fudden angles. In this eafe, this roundnefs, this delicacy of at- titude and motion it is that all the magic of grace confifts, and what is called its je ne fyai quoi ; as will be obvious to any obferver, who confiders attentive- ly the Venus de Medicis, the Antinous, or any ftatue generally allowed to be graceful in an high degree. SECT. XXIIL ELEGANCE and SPECIOUSNESS. W HEN any body is compofed of parts fmooth and poliffied, with- out preffing upon each other, without fhewing any ruggednefs or confufion, and at the fame time affeding feme re- Q^2 gular 228 On the SUBLIME gular Jhape , I cal! it elegant . It is clofe- ly allied to the beautiful, differing from it only in this regularity ; which how- ever, as it makes a very material differ- ence in the affedion produced, may very well conftitute another fpecies. Un- der this head I rank thofe delicate and re- gular works of art, that imitate no de- terminate objed in nature, as elegant buildings, and pieces of furniture. When any objed partakes of the abovementioned qualities, or of thofe of beautiful bo- dies, and is withal of great dimenfi- ons, it is full as remote from the idea of mere beauty, I call it fine ovfipecious . and BEAUTIFUL. 229 ' SECT. XXIV. The beautiful in FEELING. H E foregoing defcription of beauty. fo far as it is taken in by the eye, may be greatly illuflrated by defcribing the nature of objects, which produce a fimilar effed through the touch. This I call the beautiful in Feeling . It corre- fponds wonderfully with what caufes the fame fpecies of pleafure to the fight. There is a chain in all our fenfations ; they are all but different forts of feel- ings, calculated to be affeded by various forts of objeds, but all to be affeded after the fame manner. All bodies that are pleafant to the touch, are fo by the flightnefs of the refinance they make* Refiftance is either to motion along the fur face, or to the preffure of the parts on one another : if the former be flight, we call the body fmooth ; if the latter. 0L3 foft. 2*0 On the SUBLIME foft. The chief pleafure we receive by feeling, is in the one or the other of thefe qualities j and if there be a combi- nation of both, our pleafure is greatly in- creafed. This is fo plain, that it is ra- ther more fit to illuflrate other things, than to be illuftrated itfelf by an ex- ample, The next fource of pleafure in this fenfe, as in every other, is the con- tinually prefenting fomewhat new ; and we find that bodies which continually vary their furface, are much the mo ft pleafant or beautiful to the feeling, as any one that pleafes may experience. The third property in fuch objects is, that though the furface continually va- ries its diredion, it never varies it fud- denly. The application of any thing fudden, even though the impreflion it- felf have little or nothing of violence, is difagreeable. The quick application of a finger a little warmer or colder than ufual, without notice, makes us hart; a flight tap on the fhoulder, not ex- peded. and BEAUTIFUL, 2 3 i pedted, has the fame effedt. Hence it is that angular bodies, bodies that fudden- ly vary the dire&ion of the outline, af- ford fo little pleafure to the feeling. Every fuch change is a fort of climbing or falling in miniature ; fo that fquares, triangles, and other angular figures are neither beautiful to the fight nor feeling. Whoever compares his ftate of mind* on feeling foft, fmooth, variegated, unan» gular bodies, with that in which he finds himfelf, on the view of a beautiful object, will perceive a very ftriking ana* logy in the effects of both ; and which may go a good way towards difcovering their common caufe. Feeling and fight* in this refpedt, differ in but a few points. The touch takes in the pleafure of foft- nefs, which is not primarily an objedt of fight- the fight, on the other hand, comprehends colour, which can hardly be made perceptible to the touch : the touch again has the advantage in a new idea of pleafure retailing from a mode- 0.4 rate 232 On the SUBLIME rate degree of warmth ; but the eye tri- umphs in the infinite extent and multi- plicity of its objedts. But there is fuch a fimilitude in the pleafures of thefe fenfes, that I am apt to fancy, if it were poffible that one might difeern colour by feeling (as it is faid fome blind men have done), that the fame colours, and the fame difpofitlon of colouring, which are found beautiful to the fight, would be found likewife mod grateful to the touch. But, fetting afide conjectures, let us pais to the other fenfe ; of hearing. SECT. XXV. The beautiful in SOUNDS. I N this fenfe we find an equal apti- tude to be affedted in a foft and de* licate manner ; and how far fweet or beautiful founds agree with our de- feriptions of beauty in other fenfes, the experience of every one mu ft decide. I Milton and B E A U T I F U L. 233 Milton has defcribed this fpecies of mu- lie in one of his juvenile poems I need not fay that Milton was perfectly well verfed in that art ; and that no man had a finer ear, with a happier manner of expreffing the affections of one fenfe by metaphors taken from another. The defeription is as follows ; 1 - — —And ever againji eating cares , Lap me in foft Lydian airs $ In notes with many a winding bout O/^linked fweetnefs long drawn out j With wanton head and giddy cunnings The melting voice through mazes running j Untwifting all the chains that tie The hidden foul of harmony . Let us parallel this with the foftnefs, the winding furface, the unbroken continu- ance, the eafy gradation of the beau- tiful in other things ; and all the diverfi- * L ’allegro, * o ties 234 On the SUBLIME ties of the feveral fenfes, with all their feveral affedtions, will rather help to throw lights from one another to finifli one clear, confident idea of the whole, than to obfcure it by their intricacy and variety. j To the above-mentioned defcription I ihall add one or two remarks. The firft is ; that the beautiful in mufic will not bear that loudnefs and ftrength of founds, which may be ufed to raife other paffions; nor notes, which are fhrill or harfh, or deep 5 it agrees beft with fuch as are clear, even, fmooth, and weak. The fecond is ; that great variety, and quick tranfitions from one meafure or tone to another, are contrary to the genius of the beautiful in mufic. Such * tranfi- tions often excite mirth, or other fud- den and tumultuous paffions ; but not that finking, that melting, that languor, which is the charadteriftical effedt of the * I ne’er am merry, when I hear fweet mufic. Shakespear, beai^ l and BEAUTIFUL. 235 beautiful as it regards every fenfe. The paffion excited by beauty is in fad: nearer to a fpecies of melancholy, than to jollity and mirth, I do not here mean to con- 1 fine mufic to any one fpecies of notes, or tones, neither is it an art in which I can fay I have any great Iki 11. My foie de- iign in this remark is, to fettle a con- fident idea of beauty. The infinite va- riety of the affedions of the foul will fugged to a good head, and fkilful ear, a variety of fuch founds as are fitted to raife them. It can be no prejudice to this, to clear and dldinguifh fame few particulars, that belong to the fame clafs, and are confident with each other, from the immenfe crowd of different, and fometimes contradidory ideas, that rank vulgarly under the dandard of beauty. And of thefe it is my intention to mark fuch only of the leading points as fhew the conformity of the fenfe of hearing, with all the other feafes in the article of their pleafures. SECT, 236 On the SUBLIME SECT. XXVI. TASTE and SMELL. HIS general agreement of the fen-» fes is yet more evident on mi- nutely confidering thofe of tafte and fmell. We metaphorically apply the idea of fweetnefs to fights and founds; but as the qualities of bodies by which they are fitted to excite either pleafure or pain in thefe fenfes, are not fo obvious as they are in the others, we fhall refer an explanation of their analogy, which is a very clofe one, to that part, where- in we come to confider the common efficient caufe of beauty,, as it regards all the fenfes. I do not think any thing better fitted to eftablifh a clear and fettled idea of vifual beauty than this way of examining the fimilar pleafures of other fenfes ; for one part is fometimes clear in one of thefe fenfes, that is more obfcurf and BEAUTIFUL 237 obfcure in another ; and where there is a clear concurrence of all, we may with more certainty fpeak of any one of them. By this means, they bear witnefs to each other 5 nature is, as it were, fcrutinized ; and we report no- thing of her but what we receive from ter own information. SECT. XXVII. The Sublime and Beautiful compared. O N doling this general view of beauty, it naturally occurs, that we Ihould compare it with the fublime $ &nd in this comparifon there appears a remarkable contrail. For fublime ob- jects are vail in their dimenlions, beau- tiful ones comparatively fmall : beauty ihould be fmooth and polilhed ; the great, rugged and negligent : beauty ihould ihun the right line, yet deviate from it infenlibly ; the great in many cafes rj8 On the SUBLIME cafes loves the right line ; and when it deviates, it often makes a ftrong devia- tion : beauty fhould not be obfcure; the great ought to be dark and gloomy : beauty fhould be light and delicate; the great ought to be folid, and even maf- five. They are indeed ideas of a very different nature, one being founded on pain, the other on pleafure ; and how- ever they may vary afterwards from the diredt nature of their caufes, yet thefe caufes keep up an eternal didindtion be- tween them, a didindtion never to be forgotten by any whofe bufinefs it is to affedt the paffions. In the infinite va- riety of natural combinations, we muff expedt to find the qualities of things the mod remote imaginable from each other united in the fame objedt. We mud expedt alfo to find combinations of the fame kind in the works of art. But when we confider the power of an objeft upon our pafiions, we mud know that when any thing is intended to affedt the mind and BEAUTIFUL. 239 mind by the force of fome predominant property, the affedtion produced is like to be the more uniform and perfedt, if all the other properties or qualities of the objedt be of the fame nature, and tending to the fame defign as the principal ; If black and white blend, foften, and unite , A thoufand ways , are there no black and white ? If the qualities of the fublime and beau- tiful are fometimes found united, does this prove that they are the fame ; does it prove that they are any way allied ; does it prove even that they are not op- pofite and contradidtory ? Black and white may foften, may blend ; but they are not therefore the fame. Nor, when they are fo foftened and blended with each other, or with different colours, is the power of black as black, or of white as white, fo Hrong as when each Hands uniform and diftinguifhed. The End of the Third Part, [ 241 3 A Philofophical Enquiry INTO THE o rigin of our Ideas OF THE Sublime and Beautiful. PART IV. SECT. I. Of the efficient caufe of the SUBLIME and BEAUTIFUL. IITHEN I fay, I intend to enquire w V into the efficient caufe of fub- limity and beauty, I would not be un- derflood to fay, that I can come to the ultimate caufe. I do not pretend that I ffi ail ever be able to explain, why certain affedions of the body produce R fucli On the S U B L I i\l E 24 2 fuch a (lifting emotion of mind, and no other ; or why the body is at all affedted by the mind, or the mind by the body. A little thought will £hew this to be ini- poffible. But I conceive, if we can dif- cover what affedlions of the mind pro- duced certain emotions of the body and what diftindt feelings and qualities of body fhail produce certain determinate paffions in the mind, and no others, I fancy a great deal will be done ; fome- thing not untifeful towards a diftindt knowledge of our paffions, fo far at leaft as we have them at prefent under our confideration. This is all, I believe, we can do. If we could advance a ftep far- ther, difficulties would ftill remain, as we fhould be ftill equally diftant from the fir ft caufe. When Newton firft difcover- ed the property of attradlion, and fettled its laws, he found it ferved very well to ex- plain feveral of the moll remarkable phe- nomena in nature ; but yet with reference to the general fyftem of things, he could confider and BEAUTIFUL. 243 coiifider afctra&ion but as an efFed, whofe caufe at that time he did not attempt to trace. But when he afterwards began to account for it by a fubtile elaftic aether* this great man (if in fo great a man it be not impious to difcover any thing like a blemifh) feemed to have quitted his ufual cautious manner of philofophifing ; fince, perhaps, allowing all that has been ad- vanced on this fubjed to be fufficiently proved, I think it leaves us with as many difficulties as it found us. That great chain of caufes, which links one to another, even to the throne of God him- felf, can never be unravelled by any in- duftry of ours. When we go but one ftep beyond the immediately fenlible qua- lities of things, we go out of our depth. All we do after is but a faint flruggle, that ffiews we are in an element which does not belong to us. So that when I fpeak of caufe, and efficient caufe, I only mean certain affedions of the mind, that caufe certain changes in the body ; or R 2 certain 2 44 On the SUBLIME certain powers and properties in bodies, that work a change in the mind. As if 1 were to explain the motion of a body falling to the ground, I would fay it was caufed by gravity; and I would endeavour to fhew after what manner this power operated, without attempting to (hew why it operated in this manner : or if I were to explain the effe&s of bodies finking one another by the common laws of percuffion, I fhould not endeavour to explain how motion itfelf is communi- cated. SECT. II. ASSOCIATION. I T is no finall bar in the way of our enquiry into the caufe of our pallions, that the occafion of many of them are given, and that their governing motions are communicated at a time when we have not capacity to refleft on them ; at a time >, I and BEAUTIFUL, 245 time of which all fort of memory is worn out of our minds. For befides fuch things as affed us in various manners, ac- cording to their natural powers, there are affociations made at that early feafon, which we find it very hard afterwards to diftinguiih from natural effects. Not to mention the unaccountable antipathies which we find in many perfcns, we all find it impoffible to remember when a fteep became more terrible than a plain ; or fire or water more terrible than a clod of earth ; though all thefe are very probably either conclufions from expe- rience, or arifing from the premonitions of others ; and feme of them imprefl'ed, in all likelihood, pretty late. But as it muft be allowed that many things affed us after a certain manner, not by any na- tural powers they have for that purpofe, but by affociation ; fo it would be abfurd, on the other hand, to fay that all things af- fed us by affociation only; fince feme things muft have been originally and na- il 3 rurally 246 On the SUBLIME turally agreeable or difagreeable, from which the others derive their affociated powers ; and it would be, I fancy, to little purpofe to look for the caufe of our paf- fions in affociation, until we fail of it in the natural properties of things. SECT. III. Caufe of P A I N and FEAR. I Have before obferved that whatever is qualified to caufe terror, is a foun- dation capable of the fublime 5 to which 1 add, that not only thefe, but many things from which we cannot probably apprehend any danger, have a fimilar effeCt, becaufe they operate in a fimilar manner. I obferved too, that J f- what- ever produces pleafure, pofitive and ori- ginal pleafure, is fit to have beauty en- grafted on it. Therefore, to clear up the nature of thefe qualities, it may be ne~ f Part I. fe&. 10. cefTary t Part I. fe£t. 8 . and BEAUTIFUL. 247 c diary to explain the nature of pain and pleafure on which they depend. A man who . fuffers under violent bodily pain, (I fuppofe the moft violent, becaufe the effed may be the more obvious ;) I fay a man in great pain has his teeth fet, his eyes- brows are violently contraded, his forehead is wrinkled, his eyes are dragged inwards, and rolled with great ' vehemence, his hair ftands an end, the voice is forced out in fhort fhrieks and groans, and the whole fabric totters. Fear or terror, which is an apprehen- fion of pain or death, exhibits exadly the fame effeds, approaching in violence to thofe jofl mentioned, in proportion to the nearnefs of the caufe, and the weak- nefs of the fubjed. This is not only fo in the human fpecies : but I have more than once obferved in dogs, under an apprehension of punishment, that they have writhed their bodies, and yelped, and howled, as if they had adually felt the blows. From hence I conclude, R 4 that 24S On the SUBLI M E that pain and fear ad upon the dma parts of the body, and in the fame man- ner, though fomewhat differing in de- gree : That pain and fear confid in an unnatural tendon of the nerves ; that this is fometimes accompanied with an unnatural drength, which fometimes fuddenly changes into an extraordinary weaknefs $ that the effeds often come on alternately, and are fometimes mixed with each other. This is the nature of all cony^tfive agitations, efpecially in weaker fubjeds, which are the mod liable to the fevered impreflions of pain and fear. The only difference between pain and terror is, that things which caufe pain operate on the mind, by the intervention of the body ; whereas things that caufe terror, generally affcd: the bodily organs by the operation of the mind fuggeding the danger ; but both agreeing, either primarily, or feccnda- rily, in producing a tendon, con t Fac- tion 3 or violent emotion of the nerves. \ ' 1 and BEAUTIFUL. 249 nerves they agree likewife in every thing elfe. For it appears very clearly to me, from this, as well as from many other examples, that when the body is difpofed, by any means whatfoever, to fuch emotions as it would acquire by the means of a certain paffion it will of itfelf excite fomething very like that paf- fion in the mind. SECT. IV. Continued. T O this purpofe Mr. Spon, in his Recherches d’Antiquite, gives us a curious ftory of the celebrated phy- fiognomift Campanella. This mar , it feems, had not only made very ace urate * I do not here enter into the queftlon debated among phyfiologifls, whether pain be t ,e efieCt of a contraction, or a tenfion of the nerves. Either will ferve my purpofe ; for by tenhon, I mean no more than a violent pulling of the fibres, which compofe any mufcle 6 Oil the SUBLI ME of fach, appears from hence $ that a long exercife of the mental powers induces a remarkable latitude of the whole bo- dy ; and on the other hand, that great bodily labour, or pain, weakens and fometimes adually deftroys the mental faculties. Now, as a due exercife is ef- fential to the coarfe mufcular parts of the confutation, and that without this roofing they would become languid and difeafed, the very fame rule holds with regard to thofe finer parts we have men- tioned ; to have them in proper order, they mull: be fhaken and worked fo a proper degree. SECT. VII. EXERCISE neceffary for the finer organs. A S common labour, which is a JL mode of pain, is the exercife of the grofier, a mode of terror is the ex- ercife of the finer parts of the fyftem ; and and BEAUTIFUL. 2 57 and if a certain mode of pain be of fuch a nature as to adt upon the eye or the ear, as they are the mod delicate organs, the af- fection approaches more nearly to that which has a mental caufe. In all thefe cafes, if the pain and terror are fo modified as not to be actually noxious ; if the pain is not carried to violence, and the terror is not converfant about the prefent de- flrution of the perfon, as thefe emotions clear the parts, whether fine or grofs, of a dangerous and troublefome incum- brance, they are capable of producing delight ; not pleafure, but a fort of de- lightful horror, a fort of tranquillity tinged with terror ; which, as it belongs to felf-prefervation, is one of the ftrongeft of all the pafiions. Its objedt is the fublime Its higheft degree I call ajlonijhment ; the fubordinate degrees are awe, reverence, and refpedt, which, by the very etymology of the words, fhew * Part II. fedh 2* S from 258 On the SUBLIME from what fource they are derived, and how they ftand diftinguiihed from po- sitive pleafure. SECT. VIII. Why things not dangerous produce a paffion like TERROR. Mode of terror or pain is al- ways the caufe of the fublime. For terror, or afiociated danger, the foregoing explanation is, I believe, Suffi- cient.- It* will require fomeC.b: : more trouble to fhew, that fueh examples as I have given of the fublime in the Se- cond part, are capable of producing a mode of pain, and of being thus allied to terror, and to be accounted for on the fame principles. And firft of fuch objects as are great in their dimenfions. I fpeak of vifual objects. * Part I. feffi 7. Part II. fe£h 2. % SECT* and BEAUTIFUL. : 59 SECT. IX. Why vifual objedts of great dimenfions are Sublime. \ T IS I ON is performed by having a pidture formed by the rays of light which are refledted from the ob- ject painted in one piece* inftanta- neoufly, on the retina, or laft nervous part of the eye. Or, according to others* there is but one point of any objedt painted on the eye in fuch a manner as to be perceived at once ; but by moving the eye, we gather up with great celerity, the feveral parts of the objedt, fo as to form one uniform piece. If the former opinion be allowed, it will be confidered ** that though all the light refledted from a large body fhould ftrike the eye in one inftant ; yet we muft fuppofe that the * Part II. feel 7. . S 2 body 260 On the SUBLIME body itfelf is formed of a vaft number of diftindt points, every one of which, or the ray from every one, makes an im- preffion on the retina. So that, though the image of one point fhould caufe but a fmall tenfion of this membrane, ano- ther, and another, and another ftroke, muft in their progrefs caufe a very great one, until it arrives at laft to the higheft degree ; and the whole capacity of the eye, vibrating in all its parts, mud ap- proach near to the nature of what caufes pain, and confequehtly muft produce an idea of the fublime. Again, if we take it, that one point only of an objedt is diftinguifhable at once ; the matter will amount nearly to the fame thing, or ra- ther it will make the origin of the fub- lime from greatnefs of dimenfion yet clearer. For if but one point is obferved at once, the eye muft traverfe the vaft fpace of fuch bodies with great quick- nefs, and confequently the fine nerves i and and BE AUTIFUL. 261 and m nicies deftined to the motion of that part muft be very much ftrained ; and their great fenfibility muft make them highly . affedted by this ftraining. Befides, it fignifies juft nothing to the effedt produced, whether a body has its parts connected and makes its impreftion at once ; or, making but one impreftion of a point at a time, it caufes a fuccefllon of the fame, or others fo quickly as to make them fee in united ; as is evident from the common effedt of whirling about a lighted torch or piece of wood ; which, if done with celerity, fee ms a circle of fire. SECT. X. UNITY why requifite to vaftnefs. I T may be objedted to this theory, that the eye generally receives an equal number of rays at all times, and S 3 that 262 On the SUBLIME that therefore a great objedt cannot affedt it by the number of rays, more than that variety of objedts which the eye muft always difcern whilft it remains open. But to this I anfwer, that ad- mitting an equal number of rays, or ail equal quantity of luminous particles to ftrike the eye at all times, yet if thefe rays frequently vary their nature, now to blue, now to red, and fo on, or their manner of termination as to a number of petty fquares, triangles, or the like, at every change, whether of colour or £hape, the organ has a fort of a relaxation or reft ; but this relaxation and labour fo often interrupted, is by no means pro- ductive of eafp; neither has it the effedt of vigorous and uniform labour. Who- ever has 'remarked the different effedts of fome ftrong exercife, and fome little piddling adtion, will underftand why a teafing fretful employment, which at pnce wearies and weakens the body, fhould and BEAUTIFUL. 263 Hiould have nothing greats thefe forts of impulfes, which are rather teafing than painful, by continually and fuddenly al- tering their tenor and direction, prevent that full tendon, that fpecies of uniform labour, which is allied to ftrong pain, and caufes the fubiime. The fum total of things of various kinds, though it fhould equal the number of the uniform parts compofing fome one entire objed, is not equal in its effed upon the organs of our bodies. Befides the one already affigned, there is another very firong reafon for the difference. The mind in reality hardly ever can attend diligently to more than one thing at a time s if this thing be little, the effed is little, and a number of other little objeds cannot engage the attention ; the mind is bounded by the bounds of the objeds and what is not attended to, and what does not exift, are much the fame in the effeds but the eye or the mind (for in this cafe there is no difference) in S 4 great s 64 On the S U B L I M E great uniform obje&s does not readily arrive at their bounds ; it has no reft* whilft it contemplates them ; the image is much the fame every where. So that every thing great by its quantity mu ft ne« cefiarily be one, fimple and entire. SECT, XL The artificial IN FI NT T E. E have obferved, that a fpecies of greatnefs arifes from the artifi- cial infinite ; and that this infinite con- fifts in an uniform^. fucceflion of great parts : we obferved too, that the fame uniform fucceflion had a like power in founds. But becaufe the effects of many things are dearer in one of the fenfes than in ano- ther, and that all the fenfes bear an ana- logy to, and illuftrate one another, I (hall begin with this power in founds, as the caufe of the fublimity from fucceflion is and BEAUTIFUL. 265 is rather more obvious in the fenfe of hearing. And I fliall here once for all obferve, that an invefligation of the na- tural and mechanical caufes of our paf- fions, belides the curiofity of the fub- jedt, gives, if they are difcovered, a double flrength and luftre to any rules we deliver on fuch matters. When the ear receives any fimple found, it is ftruck by a Angle pulfe of the air, which makes the ear-drum and the other membranous parts vibrate according to the nature and fpecies of the ftroke. If the ftroke be ftrong, the organ of hearing buffers a confiderable degree of tenfion. If the ftroke be repeated pretty foon after, the repetition caufes an expectation 7 of another ftroke. And it muft be obferved, that expectation itfelf caufes a tenlion. This is apparent in many animals, who, when thev prepare for hearing any found, roufe themfelves, and prick up their ears : fo that here the effedt of the founds is confiderably augmented by a new auxi- liary. 266 On the SUBLIME liary, the expe&ation. But though af- ter a number of ftrokes, we exped: ftill more, not being able to afcertain the exad time of their arrival, when they arrive, they produce a fort of furprife, which increafes this tenfion yet further. For I have obferved, that when at any time I have waited very earneftly for fome found, that returned at intervals, (as the fuccefiive firing of cannon) though I fully expeded the return of the found, when it came, it always made me ftart a little ; the ear-drum fuffered a convulfion, and the whole body confented with it. The tenfion of the part thus increafing at every blow, by the united forces of the ftroke itfelf, the expectation, and the furprife, it is worked up to fuch a pitch as to be capable of the fublime; it is brought juft to the verge of pain. Even when the caufe has ceafed, the organs of hearing being often fuc- ceifiveiy ftruck in a fimilar manner, continue to vibrate in that manner for fome and BEAUTIFUL. 267 fome time longer ; this is an additional he]p to the greatnefs of the effedt. U T if the vibration be not fimilar at every impreffion, it can never be carried beyond the number of adtuai impreffions ; for move any body as a pendulum, in one way, and it will con- tinue to ofcillate in an arch of the fame circle, until the known caufes make it reft; but if after firft putting it in mo- tion in one direction, you puih it into another, it can never reaffume the firft direction 5 becaufe it can never move itfelf, and cqnfequently it can have but the effedt of that laft motion ; whereas, if in the fame diredtion you adl upon it feveral times, it will defcribe a greater arch, and move a longer time. SECT. XII. The vibrations muft be fimilar. SECT, 268 On the SUBLIME SECT. XIII. The effect of S U C C E S S I O N in vifual objects explained. J F we can comprehend clearly how things operate upon one of our fenfes, there can be very little difficulty in con- ceiving in what manner they affeCt the reft. To fay a great deal therefore upon the correfponding affections of every fenfe, would tend rather to fatigue us by an iifelefs repetition, than to throw any new light upon the fubjeCl, by that am- ple and diffufe manner of treating it ; but as in this difcourfe we chiefly attach our- felves to the fublime, as it affeCts the eye, we ffiall confider particularly why a fucceffive difpofttion of uniform parts in the fame right line fhould be fublime and upon what principle this difpofition is enabled to make a comparatively fmall * Part II, feft. 10. quantity and BEAUTIFUL 269 quantity of matter produce a grander effedt, than a much larger quantity dif- pofed in another manner. To avoid the perplexity of general notions ; let us fet before our eyes a colonnade of uniform pillars planted in a right line ; let us take our ftand in fuch a manner, that the eye may fhoot along this colonnade, for it has its bed effedl in this view. In our prefent lituation it is plain, that the rays from the firft round pillar will caufe in the eye a vibration of that fpe- cies $ an image of the pillar itfelf. The pillar immediately fucceeding increafes it $ that which follows renews and en- forces the impreflion ; each in its order as it fucceeds, repeats impulfe after im- pulfe, and flroke after flroke, until the eye, long exercifed in one particular way, cannot lofe that objedl immediately ; and being violently roufed by this continued agitation, it prefents the mind with a grand or fublime conception. But in- ftead of viewing a rank of uniform pil- lars ; 2 7 o On the SUBLI M E lars ; let us fuppofe, that they fucceed each other, a round and a fquare one alter- nately. In this cafe the vibration cauf- ed by the firft round pillar perifhes as foon as it is formed ; and one of (quite another fort (the fquare) diredly occu- pies its place ; which however it refigns as quickly to the round one ; and thus the eye proceeds, alternately, taking up one image, and laying down another, as long as the building continues. From whence it is obvious, that at the laft pillar, the imprefiion is as far from con- tinuing as it was at the very firft ; be- caufe in fad, the fenfory can receive no diftind imprefiion but from the laft ; and it can never of itielf refume a difii- milar imprefiion : befides, every varia- tion of the objed is a reft and relaxa- tion to the organs of fight j and thefe reliefs prevent that powerful emotion fa neceflary to produce the fublime. To produce therefore a perfed grandeur in fuch things as we have been mention- ing. and BEAUTIFUL. \ 271 ing> there fhould be a perfed fimplicity, an abfolute uniformity in difpofition, lhape, and colouring. Upon this prin- ciple of fucceffion and uniformity it may be afked, why a long bare wall fhould not be a more fublime object than a co- lonnade ; fince the fucceffion is no way interrupted ; fince the eye meets no check ; fince nothing more uniform can be conceived ? A long bare wall is cer- tainly not fo grand an objed as a colon- nade of the fame length and height. It is not altogether difficult to account for this difference. When we look at a naked wall, from the evennefs of the objed, the eye runs along its whole fpace, and arrives quickly at its termination ; the eye meets nothing which may inter- rupt its progrefs ; but then it meets no- thing which may detain it a proper time to produce a very great and lafling e fi- fed. The view of a bare wall, if it be of a great height and length, is undoubt- edly grand : but this is only one idea, and 2 7 2 On the SUBLIME and not a repetition of fimilar ideas; it is therefore great, not fo much upon the principle of infinity , as upon that of vafi - nefis . But we are not fo powerfully af- fected with any one impulfe, unlefs it be one of a prodigious force indeed, as we are with a fucceffion of fimilar impulfes ; becaufe the nerves of the fenfory do not (if I may ufe the exprefiion) acquire a habit of repeating the fame feeling in fuch a manner as to continue it longer than its caufe is in aCtion ; befides, all the efteCts which I have attributed to expectation and furprife in feCt. 1 1. can have no place In a bare wall. SECT. XIV. Locke’s opinion concerning darknefs, confidered. I T is Mr. Locke’s opinion, that dark- nefs is not naturally an idea of terror ; and that though an exceflive light is painful and BEAUTIFUL. 273 painful to the fenfe, that the greateft excels of darknefs is no ways trouble- some. He obferves indeed in another place, that a none or an old woman having once affociated the ideas of ghofts and goblins with that of dark- nefs, night ever after becomes painful and horrible to the imagination. The authority of this great man is doubtlefs as great as that of any man can be, and it feems to Hand in the way of our general principle W e have considered darknefs as a caufe of the fublime ; and we have all along considered the fublime as depending on feme modification of pain or terror * fo that, if darknefs be no way painful or terrible to any, who have not had their minds early tainted with fuperititions, it can be no fource of the fublime to them. But, with all de- ference to fuch an authority, it feems to me, that an affociation of a more gene- ral nature, an affociation which takes in * Part II. left. 3. T all 274 On the SUBLIME all mankind, may make darknefs terrible $ for in utter darknefs, it is impoffible to know in what degree of fafety we (land ; we are ignorant of the objeds that fur- round us ; we may every moment flrike againfc fome dangerous obftrudion ; we may fall down a precipice the firft ftep we take ; and if an enemy approach, we know not in what quarter to defend ourfelves ; in fuch a cafe ftrength is no fare protedion ; wifdom can only ad: by guefs ; the boldeft are daggered, and he who would pray for nothing elfe towards his defence, is forced to pray for light. Z«V TTCiisp, &AA Ct <7V p'JCTcll V7T tJZpo$ VlcL$ A^ctt&V* II otnrov cT* cLi&pm/ t J'oi cT’ c and therefore it derives feme of its powers from being mixed and furrounded with coloured bodies. In its own na- ture, it cannot be confidered as a co- lour. Black bodies, reflecting none, or but a few rays, with regard to fight, are but as fo many vacant fpaces difperfed among the objedts we view. When the eye lights on one of thefe vacuities,* af- ter having been kept in fome degree of tendon by the play of the adjacent co- lours upon it, it fuddenly falls into a re- laxation ; out of which it as fuddenly recovers by a convullive Iprlng. To il- luftrate 282 On the SUBLIME lufirate this ; let us confider, that when we intend to fit in a chair, and find it much lower than vve expected, the fhock is very violent ; much more violent than could be thought from fo flight a fall as the difference between one chair and another can poflibly make. If, after descending a flight of flairs, we attempt inadvertently to take another ftep in the manner of the former ones, the fhock is extremely rude and difagree- able ; and by no art can we caufe fuch a iliock by the fame means when we expeCt and prepare for it. When I fay that this is owing to having the change made contrary to expectation ; I do not mean folely, when the mind expedts. I mean like wife, that when any organ of fenfe is for fome time affedted in fome one manner, if it be fuddenly af- fected otherwlfe, there enfues a convul- five motion ; fuch a convulflon as is caufed when any thing happens againfl the expectance pf the mind. And though it and BEAUTIFUL. 283 it may appear ftrange that fuch a change as produces a relaxation, fhould imme- diately produce a fudden convulfion ; it is yet mod certainly fo, and fo in all the fenfes. Every one knows that fieep is a relaxation ; and that filence, where nothing keeps the organs of hearing in aCtion, 13 in general fitted: to bring on this relaxation : yet when a fort of mur- muring founds difpofe a man to fieep, let thefe founds ceafe fuddenly, and the perfon immediately awakes ; that is* the parts are braced up fuddenly, and he awakes. Tins I have often experienced myfelf, and I have heard the fame from obferving perfons. In like manner, if a perfon in broad day light were falling afleep, to introduce a fudden darknefs, would prevent his fieep for that time, though filence and darknefs in themfelves, and not fuddenly introduced, are very favourable to it. This I knew only by conjecture on the analogy of the fenfes when I fir ft digefted thefe obfervations ; but 284 On the S U B LI M E but I have fince experienced it. And I have often experienced, and fo have a thoufand others, that on the firft in- clining towards deep, we have been fuddenly awakened with a mod violent dart ; and that this dart was generally preceded by a fort of dream of our fal- ling down a precipice : whence does this ftrange motion arife, but from the too Hidden relaxation of the body, which by fome mechanifm in nature redores it- felf by as quick and vigorous an exer- tion of the contra&ing power of the mufcles ? The dream itfelf is caufed by ' this relaxation : and it is of too uniform a nature to be attributed to any other caufe. The parts relax too fuddenly, which is in the nature of falling ; and this accident of the body induces this image in the mind. When we are in a confirmed date of health and vigour, as all changes are then Ids Hidden, and lefs on the extreme, we can feldom complain of this difagreeable fenfation. SECT. and BEAUTIFUL. 285 SECT, XVIIL The effeds of BLACKNESS moderated. HOUGH the effeds of black be painful originally, we muff not think they always continue fo. Cuftom reconciles us to every thing. After we have been ufed to the fight of black ob~ jeds, the terror abates, and the fonooth- nefs and glofiinefs or fome agreeable acci- dent of bodies fo coloured, foftens in fome meafure the horror and fternnefs of their original nature 1 yet the nature of the original imprefilon It ill continues. Black will always have fomething melancholy in it, becaufe the fenfory will always find the change to it from other colours too violent ; or if it occupy the whole compafs of the fight, it will then be darknefs ; and what was faid of dark- nefs, will be applicable here. I do not purpofe to go into all that might be faid 286 On the SUBLIME faid to illuftrate this theory of the effects of light and darknefs ; neither will I examine all the different effects produced by the various modifications and mixtures of thefe two caufes. If the foregoing obfervations have any foundation in na- ture, I conceive them very fufficient to account for all the phenomena that can arife from all the combinations of black with other colours. To enter into every particular, or to anfwer every objection, would be an endlefs labour. We have only followed the mod leading roads ; and we fhall obferve the fame conduct in our enquiry into the caufe of beauty. SECT. XIX. The phyfical caufe of LOVE. HEN we have before us fuch objefts as excite love and com- placency ; the body is affeded, fo far as I could obferve, much in the following manner : and BEAUTIFUL. 287 manner : The head reclines fomething on one fide ; the eye-lids are more clofed than ufual, and the eyes roll gently with an inclination to the objedt ; the mouth is a little opened, and the breath drawn llowly, with now and then a low figh ; the whole body is co mooted, and the hands fall idly to the fides. All this is accompanied with an inward fenfe of melting and languor. Thefe appearances are always proportioned to the degree of beauty in the objedt, and of fenfibility in the obferver. And this gradation from the higheft pitch of beauty and fenfibi- lity, even to the lowed: of mediocrity and indifference, and their correfpondent effects, ought to be kept in view, elfe this defcription will feem exaggerated, which it certainly is not. But from this defcription it is almoft impoffible not to conclude, that beauty adls by relaxing the folids of the whole fyflem. There are all the appearances of fuch a relaxa- tion ; and a relaxation fomewhat below the 288 On the S U B L I M E the natural tone fee ms to me to be the caufe of all pofitive pleafure. Who is a ilranger to that manner of expreffion fo common in all times and in all countries, of being foftened, relaxed, enervated, dil- folved, melted away by pleafure ? The univerfal voice of mankind, faithful to their feelings, concurs in affirming this uniform and general effect : and although fome odd and particular inftance may per- haps be found, wherein there appears a coniiderable degree of pofitive pleafure, without all the characters of relaxation, we mull: not therefore reject the conclu- iion we had drawn from a concurrence of many experiments ; but we mufl ftill retain it, fubjoining the exceptions which may occur according to the judicious rule laid down by Sir Ifaac Newton in the third book of his Optics. Our pofition will, I conceive, appear confirmed beyond any reafonable doubt, if we can fhew that fuch things as we have already obferved to be the genuine condiments of beauty, have and BEAUTIFUL. have each of them, feparately taken, a natural tendency to relax the fibres. And if it mud be allowed us, that the appear- ance of the human body, when ^11 thefe condiments are united together before the fenfory, further favours this opinion, we may venture, I believe, to conclude* that the paffion called love is produced by this relaxation. By the fame method of reafoning which we have ufed in the enquiry into the eaufes of the fublime, we may likewife conclude, that as a beautiful objedl prefented to the fenfe, by caufing a relaxation in the body, pro- duces the paffion of love in the mind | fo if by any means the paffion fhould drft have its origin in the mind, a relaxation of the outward organs will as certainly enfue in a degree propor- tioned to the caufe. SECT, 290 On the SUBLIME SECT. XX. Why SMOOTHNESS is beautiful. I T is to explain the true caufe of vi- fual beauty, that I call in the affift- ance of the other fenfes. If it appears that fmoothnefs is a principal caufe of pleafure to the touch, tafte, fmell, and hearing, it will be eafily admitted a con- flituent of vifual beauty ; efpecially as we have before fhewn, that this quality is found almofl: without exception in all bodies that are by general confent held beautiful. There can be no doubt that bodies which are rough and angular, roufe and vellicate the organs of feeling, caufing a fenfe of pain, which coniifts in the vio- lent tenfion or contra&ion of the muf- cuiar fibres. On the contrary, the ap- plication of fmooth bodies relax ; gentle broking with a fmooth hand allays vio- lent and fe'EAUTIFU L . 2 ;gi lent pains and cramps, and relaxes the fuffering parts from their unnatural ten- lion ; and it has therefore very often no mean effed: in removing fvvellings and obftrudions. The fenfe of feeling is highly gratified with fmooth bodies. A bed fmoothly laid, and foft, that is, where the refinance is every way incon- fiderable, is a great luxury, difpofing to an univerfal relaxation, and inducing be- yond any thing elfe, that fpecies of it called fieep* SECT. XXL S¥/EETNESS, its nature* N r O R is it only in the touch, that fmooth bodies caufe pofitive plea- fare by relaxation. In the fmell and tafte, we find all things agreeable to them, and which are commonly called fweet, to be of a fmooth mature, and U 2 that 292 On the S U B L I M E that they all evidently tend to relax their refpedive fenfories. Let us firft confider the tafle. Since it is mod eafy to en- quire into the property of liquids, and fince all things feem to want a fluid ve- hicle to make them tufted at all, I in^ tend rather to confider the liquid than the folid parts of our food. The vehicles of all tafles are 'water and oil . And what determines the tafle is fome fait, which affe&s varioufly according to its nature, or its manner of being com- bined with other things. Water and oil, limply confidered, are capable of giving fome pleafure to the tafle. Water, when fimple, is infipid, inodorous, colourlefs, and fmooth j it is found when not cold to be a great refolver of fpafms, and lubri- cator of the fibres : this power it pro- bably owes to its fmoothnefs. For as fluidity depends, according to the moft general opinion, on the roundnefs, fmooth- nefs, and weak cohefion of the compo- nent and BEAUTIFUL. 293 nent parts of any body ; and as water ads merely as a Ample fluid ; it follows, that the caufe of its fluidity is likewife the caufe of its relaxing quality ; namely, the fmoothnefs and flippery texture of its parts. The other fluid vehicle of taftes is oiL This too, when Ample, is infipid, inodorous, colourlefs, and fmooth to the touch and tafte. It is fmoother than water, and in many cafes yet more relaxing. Oil is in fome degree pleafant to the eye, the touch, and the tafte, in li- pid as it is. Water is not fo grateful ; which I do not know on what principle to account for, other than that water is not fo foft and fmooth. Suppofe that to this oil or water were added a certain quantity of a fpeeific fait, which had a power of putting the nervous papillae of the tongue into a gentle vibratory mo- tion ; as fuppofe fugar diffolved in it. The fmoothnefs of the oil, and the vibra- tory power of the fait, caufe the fenfe we call fweetnefs. In all fweet bodies, U 3 fugar* 294 On the SUBLIME fogar, or a fubftance very little different from fogar, is conftantly found ; every fpecies of fait, examined by the micro- fcope, has its own diftindt, regular, inva- riable form. That of nitre is a pointed oblong; that of fea-falt an exadt cube ; that of fogar a perfect globe. If you have tried how fmooth globular bodies, as the marbles with which boys amufe themfelves, have affedted the touch when they are rolled backward and forward and over one another, you will eaflly con- ceive how fweetnefs, which confifts in a fait of fuch nature, affedls the tafte; for a Angle globe, (though fomewhat plea- fant to the feeling) yet by the regularity of its form, and the fomewhat too hidden deviation of its parts from a right line, it is nothing near fo pleafant to the touch as feveral globes, where the hand gently rifes to one and falls to another; and this pleafure is greatly increafed if the globes are in motion, and Aiding over one another; for this foft variety prevents that and BEAUTIFUL, *95 that wearinefs, which the uniform dif- pofition of the feveral globes would other- wife produce. Thus in fweet liquors, the parts of the fluid vehicle, though moft probably round, are yet fo minute, as to conceal the figure of their compo- nent parts from the nicefi: inquifition of the microfcope ; and confequently being fo excefiively minute, they have a fort of flat fimplicity to the tafte, refembling the effe&s of plain fmooth bodies to the touch $ for if a body be compofed of round parts excefiively final], and packed pretty clofely together, the furface will be both to the fight and touch as if it were nearly plain and fmooth. It is clear from their unveiling their figure to the microfcope, that the particles of fugar are confiderably larger than thofe of water or oil, and confequently, that their effects from their roundnefs will be more diftindt and palpable to the ner- vous papilla of that nice organ the tongue : they will induce that fenfe called fweet- U 4 nefs. 296 On the SUBLIME nefs, which in a weak manner we dii- cover in oil, and in a yet weaker in wa- ter ; for, inlipid as they are, water and oil are in fome degree fweet ; and it may be obferved, that inlipid things of all kinds approach more nearly to the nature of fweetnefs than to that of any other tafte. SECT, XXII. SWEETNESS relaxing.' I N the other fenfes we have remarked, that fmooth things are relaxing. Now it ought to appear that fweet things, which are the fmooth of tafte, are relax- ing too. It is remarkable, that in fome languages loft and fweet have but one name. Doux in French lignifies foft as well as fweet. The Latin Dulcis , and the Italian Dolce, have in many cafes the fame double lignification. That fweet things are generally relaxing, is evident ; l became and BEAUTIFUL. 297 becaufe all fuch, efpecially thofe which are in oft oily, taken frequently or in a large quantity, very much enfeeble the tone of the ftomach. Sweet fmells, which bear a great affinity to fweet taftes, relax very remarkably. The fmeli of flowers difpofes people to drowfinefs ; and this relaxing eflfe merely as fuch, has nothing contrary to the idea of beauty. The humming bird, both in fhape and colouring, yields to none of the winged fpecies, of which it is the leaft ; and perhaps his beauty is enhanced by his fmallnefs. But there are animals, which when they are ex- tremely fmall are rarely (if ever) beauti- ful. There is a dwarfifh fize of men and and BEAUTIFUL. Joj and women, which is almoft conflantly fo grofs and maffive in comparifon of their height, that they prefent us with a very difagreeable image. But fhould a man be found not above two or three feet high, fuppofmg fuch a perfon to have all the parts of his body of a delicacy fuitable to fuch a fize, and otherwife en- dued with the common qualities of other beautiful bodies, I am pretty well con- vinced that a perfon of fuch a ftature might be confidered as beautiful j might be the objedt of love $ might give us very pleaiing ideas on viewing him. The only thing which could poffibly inter- pofe to check our pleafure is, that fuch creatures, however formed, are unufual, and are often therefore confidered as fomething monftrous. The large and gigantic, though very compatible with the fublime, is contrary to the beauti- ful . It is impoffible to fuppofe a giant the objedt of love. When we let ou& imagination loofe in romance, the ideas X we &7m+cjl~- . in' - ' ’" v - ■ - . 3 c 6 On the SUBLIME we naturally annex to that fize are thofe of tyranny, cruelty, injuftice, and every thing horrid and abominable. We paint the giant ravaging the country, plunder- ing the innocent traveller* and after- wards gorged with his half-living flefh : fuch are Polyphemus, Cacus, and others, who make fo great a figure in romances and heroic poems. The event we at- tend to with the greateft fatisfadtion is their defeat and death. I do not re- member, in all that multitude of deaths with which the Iliad is filled, that the fall of any man remarkable for his great feature and ftrength touches us with pity ; nor does it appear that the author, fo well read in human nature, ever intended it fhould. It is Simoifius, in the foft bloom of youth, torn from his parents, who tremble for a courage fo ill fuited to his ftrength ; it is ano- ther hurried by war from the new em- braces of his bride, young, and fair, and a novice to the field, who melts us I by and BEAUTIFUL. 30 f by his untimely fate. Achilles, in fpite of the many qualities of beauty, which Homer has be ho wed on his outward form, and the many great virtues with which he has adorned his mind, can never make us love him. It may be obferved, that' Homer has given the Trojans, whofe fate he has defig ned to excite our com- panion, infinitely more of the amiable focial virtues than he has difiributed among his Greeks. With regard to the Trojans, ,the paflion he choofes to raife is pity ; pity is a paflion founded on love $ and thefe lejj'er , and if I may fay domeftie virtues, are certainly the moft amiable. But he has made the Greeks far their fuperiors in politic and military virtues. The councils of Priam are weak ; the arms of Hedor comparatively feeble; his courage far below that of Achilles. Yet we love Priam more than Agamem- non, and H/CCtor more than his con- queror Achilles. Admiration is the paf- fion which Homer would excite in favour X 2 of 3 o8 Oa the SUBLIME of the Greeks, and he has done it by- bellowing on them the virtues which have but little to do with love. This fhorfc digreffion is perhaps not wholly hefide our purpofe, where our bufinefs is to fhew, that objects of great dimenfions are incompatible with beauty, the more incompatible as they are greater; whereas the fmall, if ever they fail of beauty, this failure is not to be attributed to their fize. SEC T. XXVI. Of C O L O U R. W ITH regard to colour, the dif- quifition is almcft infinite; but I conceive the principles laid down in the beginning of this part are fufficient to account for the effects of them all, as well as for the agreeable effeds of tranfpa- rent bodies, whether fluid or folid. Sup- pcfe I look at a bottle of muddy liquor, i of and BEAUTIFUL. 309 of a blue or red colour : the blue or red rays cannot pafs cleanly to the eye, but are fuddenly and unequally flopped by the intervention of little opaque bodies, which without preparation change the idea, and change it too into one difagree- able in its own nature, conformable to the principles laid down in fedt. 24. But when the ray paffes without fuch appo- rtion through the glafs or liquor, when the glafs or liquor are quite Iran (parent, the light is fomething foftened in the paffage, which makes it more agreeable even as light $ and the liquor reflecting all the rays of its proper colour evenly , it has fuch an effect on the eye, as fmooth opaque bodies have on the eye and touch. So that the pleafure here is compounded of the foftnefs of the tranfmitted, and the evennefs of the refledled light. This plea- fure may be heightened by the common principles in other things, if the fhape of the glafs which holds the trans- parent liquor be fo judicioufly varied, as X 3 to 3 io On tk SUBLIME, &e. to prefent the colour gradually and inter- ch ogeably weakened and flrengthened with all the variety which judgment in affairs of this nature (hall fuggeft. On a review of all that has been faid of the effedts, as well as the caufes of both ; it will appear, that the fublime and beauti- ful are built on principles very different, and that their affediions are as different : the great has terror for its bails which, when it is modified, caufes that emotion in the mind, which I have called afto- niflim.ent ; the beautiful is founded on mere poiitive pleafure, and excites in the foul that feeling, which is called love. Their caufes have made the fubjedt of this fourth part. The End of the Fourth Part [ 3 1 1 1 A Philofophical Enquiry INTO THE Origin of our Ideas OF THE Sublime and Beautiful, PART V. SECT. J. Of WORDS. N ATURAL objects affedt os, by the laws of that connexion, which Providence has eftablifhed between cer- tain motions and configurations of bo- dies, and certain confequent feelings in our mind. Painting affedts in the fame manner, but with the fuperadded pleafure of imitation. Architecture affedts by the X 4 laws 3 12 On the SUBLIME laws of nature, and the law of reafon $ from which latter refuit the rules of pro- portion, which make a work to be praif- ed or cenlured, in the whole or in feme part, when the end for which it was de- signed is or is not properly anfwered. But as to words $ they feem to me to affed us in a manner very different from that in which we are affeded by natural ob~ jeds, or by painting or architedure •, yet words have as confiderable a {hare in ex- citing ideas of beauty and of the fublime as any of thofe, and fometimes a much greater than any of them ; therefore an enquiry into the manner by which they excite fuch emotions is far from being un- neceffarv in a difcourfe of this kind. 4 j - * SECT. and BEAUTIFUL* 313 SECT. II. The common efted of POETRY, not by raifing ideas of things. T H E common notion of the power of poetry and eloquence, as well as that of words in ordinary converfa- tion, is, that they affed the mind by raifing in it ideas of thole things for which cnftom has appointed them to ftand. To examine the truth of this notion, it may be requifite to obferve that words may be divided into three forts. The firft are fuch as reprefent many fimple ideas united by nature to form fome one determinate compofition, as man, horfe, tree, caftle, &c. Thefe I call aggregate words . The fecond, are they that ftand for one fimple idea of fuch compofitions, and no more; as red # blue, round, fquare, and the like. Thefe J call fimple abfradi words. The third. are 3 1 4 ° n the SUBLIME are thole, which are formed by an union, an arbitrary union of both the others, and of the various relations between them in greater or lefTer degrees of complexity ; as, virtue, honour, perfuafion, magiftrate, and the like. Thefe I call compound ab - Jirabt words. Words, I am fenlible, are capable of being clafied into more cu- rious diftin&ions > but thefe feem to be natural, and enough for our purpofe; and they are difpofed in that order in which they are commonly taught, and in which the mind gets the ideas they are fubftitut- ed for. \ fhall begin with the third fort of words compound abllrafts, fiich i as virtue, honour, perfuafion, docility. Of thefe I am convinced, that whatever power they may have on the paffions, they do not derive it from any reprefen- tation raifed in the mind of the things for which they fland. As compofi- tions, they are not real effences, and hardly caufe, I think, any real ideas. No- body, I believe, immediately on hearing the and BEAUTIFUL. 3*5 the founds, virtue, liberty, or honour, con- ceives any precife notions of the particu- lar modes of adion and thinking, to- gether with the mixt and Ample ideas, and the feveral relations of them for which thefe words are fubftituted ; nei- ther has he any general idea, compound- ed of them 3 for if he had, then fome of thofe particular ones, though indif- tind perhaps, and confufed, might come foon to be perceived. But this, I take it, is hardly ever the cafe. For put your- felf upon analyfing one of thefe words, and you mult reduce it from one fet of general words to another, and then into the ft mple abftrads and aggregates, in a much longer feries than may be at firft imagined, before any real idea emerges to light, before you come to difcover any thing like the firft principles of fuch compofitionsj and when you have made fuch a difcovery of the original ideas, the effed: of the compoiition is utterly loft. A train of thinking of this fort. is 3 x6 On the SUBLIME is much too long to be purfued in the ordinary ways of eonverfation, nor is it at all neceiTary that it lhould. Such words are in reality but mere founds ; but they are founds, which being ufed on particular occaiions, wherein we re- ceive feme good, or fuffer fome evil ; or fee others affected with good or evil ; or which vve hear applied to other intereft- ing things or events ; and being applied in fuch a variety of cafes, that we know readily by habit to what things they be- long, they produce in the mind, when*- ever they are afterwards mentioned, ef- fects fimilar to thofe of their occafions. The founds being often ufed without re- ference to any particular occafion, and carrying fiill their firft impreffions, they at laft utterly lofe their connexion with the particular occafions that gave rife to them ; yet the found, without any annex- ed notion, continues to operate as before. SECT. and BEAUTIFUL, 317 SEC T. III. General words before IDEAS. R. Locke has fomewhere ohferved. with his ufual fagacity, that molt general words, thofe belonging to virtue and vice, good and evil, efpecially, are taught before the particular modes of adtion to which they belong are preferr- ed to the mind ; and with them, the love of the one, and the abhorrence of the other ; for the minds of children are fo dudtiie, that a nurfe, or any perfon about a child, by feeming pleafed or difpleafed. with any thing, or even any word, may give the difpofition of the child a limilar- turn. When afterwards, the feveral oc- currences in life come to be applied to thefe words, and that which is pleafant often appears under the name of evil ; and what is difagreeable to nature is called good and virtuous 1 a ftrange con- fufion 3 i8 On the S U B L i M E fufion of ideas and affections arifes in the minds of many ; and an appearance of no fmall contradiction between their no- tions and their aCtions. There are many who love virtue and who detefl vice, and this not from hypocrify or affecta- tion, who notwithftanding very frequent- ly aCt ill and wickedly in particulars without the lead remorfe ; becaufe thefe particular occafions never came into view, w r hen the paffions on the fide of virtue were fo warmly affeCted by certain words heated originally by the breath of others; and for this reafon, it is hard to repeat certain fets of words, though owned by themfelves unoperative, without being in feme degree affeCted, efpecially if a warm and affeCting tone of voicb accompanies them, as fuppofe. Wife, valiant, generous, good , and great* Thefe words, by having no application, ought to be unoperative ; but when words and BEAUTIFUL 319 words commonly facred to great occa*° Hons are ufed, we are affedted by them even without the occafions. When words which have been generally fo ap- plied are put together without any ratio- nal view, or in fuch a manner that they do not rightly agree with each other, the ftyle is called bombaft. And it requires in feveral cafes much good fenfe and ex- perience to be guarded againft the force of fuch language ; for when propriety is .negledied, a greater number of thefe affedting words may be taken into the fer- vice, and a greater variety may be in- dulged in combining them. SEC T. IV. The effedt of WORD S. I F words have all their poffible extent of power, three effedt s arife in the mind of the hearer. The firft is, the found ; the fecond, the picture, or repre- fentation 3 2 o On the SUBLIME fentation of the thing fignified by the found : the third is, the affedlion of the foul produced by one or by both of the foregoing. Compounded abjlradi words, of which we have been fpeaking, (ho- nour, judice, liberty, and the like), pro- duce the fird and the lad of thefe effedts, but not the fecond. Simple abjlraffis, are ufed to fignify fome one fimple idea with- out much adverting to others which may chance to attend it, as blue, green, hot, cold, and the like ; thefe are capable of affefting all three of the purpofes of words as the aggregate words, man, cadle, horfe, &c. are in a yet higher degree. But I am of opinion, that the mod general ejffedt even of thefe words, does not arife from their forming pictures of the feveral things they v/ould repre- fen t in the imagination ^ becaufe, on a very diligent examination of my own mind, and getting others to confider theirs, I do not find that once in twenty times any fuch pidlure is formed, and when when it is, there is moft commonly a particular effort of the imagination for that purpofe. But the aggregate words operate, as I faid of the compound ab- ftracls, not by prefenting any image to the mind, but by having from ufe the fame effedl on being mentioned, that their original has when it is feen. Suppofe we were to read a paffage to this effedl: : and fie looks a queen . Pope* Here and BEAUTIFU L. 331 Here is not one word faid of the par- ticulars of her Beauty ; nothing which can in the leaft help us to any precife idea of her perfon ; but yet we are much more touched by this manner of mentioning her than by thofe long and laboured defcriptions of Helen, whether handed down by tradition, or formed by fancy, which are to be met with in fome authors. I am fare it affedts me- much more than the minute defcription which Spencer has given of Beipfaebe ; though I own that there are parts in that de- fcription, as there are in all the defcrip- tions of that excellent writer, extremely fine and poetical. The terrible pidture which Lucretius has drawn of Religion, in order to difplay the magnanimity of his philofophical hero in op poling her, is thought to be defigned with great bold- nefs and fpirit $ Humana ante ocuhs feed} cum vita jaceret , In terns* opp ref a gravi fub religion?^ 4 w 332 On the SUBLIME §ucs caput e cosh regionibus ojiendebat Horribill defuper vifu morialibus injians ; Primus Grams homo mor tales t oiler e contra. Eft oculos aufus. — — What idea do you derive from fo excel- lent a picture ? none at all, molt cer- tainly i neither has the poet faid a fingle word which might in the leaft ferve to mark a fingle limb or feature of the phantom, which he intended to reprefent in all the horrors imagination can con- ceive. In reality poetry and rhetoric do not fucceed in exadt defcription fo well as painting does ; their bufinefs is, to affedt rather by fympathy than imitation ; to difplay rather the effedt of things on the mind of the fpeaker, or of others, than to prefent a clear idea of the things themfelves. This is their moll exten- five province, and that in which they fucceed the befL SECT. and BEAUTIFUL. 333 SECT. VI. POETRY not ftridtly an imitative art* H ENCE we may obferve that poe- try, taken in its mo ft general fenfe, cannot with ftridt propriety be called an art of imitation. It is indeed an imi- tation fo far as it defcribes the manners and pafiions of men which their words can exprefs ; where animi motus effert interprets lingua . There it is ftri&ly imitation ; and all merely dramatic poe- try is of this fort. But defcriptive poe- try operates chiefly by JubJlitution ; by the means of founds, which by cuftom have the effedl of realities. Nothing is an imitation further than as it refembles fome other thing ; and words undoubt- edly have no fort of refemblance to the ideas for which they ftand. SECT. 334 On the SUBLIME SEC T. VIL How W O R D S influence the paflions. O W, as words affedt, not by any original power, but by reprefen- tation, it might be fuppofed, that their influence over the paflions fhould be but light ; yet it is quite otherwife ; for we find by experience that eloquence and poetry are as capable, nay indeed much more capable, of making deep and lively imprefiions than any other arts, and even than nature itfelf in very many cafes. And this arifes chiefly from thefe three caufes. Fird, that vve take an extraordinary part in the paflions of others, and that we are eafily aflfedted and brought into fym- pathy by any tokens which are fhewn of them ; and there are no tokens which can exprefs all the circumflances of mod paflions fo fully as words ; fo that if a perfon and BEAUTIFUL. 335 perfon fpeaks upon any fubjed, lie can not only convey the fubjed to you, but likewife the manner in which he is him- felf affeded by it. Certain it is, that the influence of mod things on our paf- fions is not fo much from the things themfelves, as from our opinions con- cerning them $ and thefe again depend very much on the opinions of other men, conveyable for the mod part by words only. Secondly, there are many things of a very affecting nature, which can feldom occur in the reality, but the words which reprefent them often do^ and thus they have an opportunity of making a deep imprefiion and taking root in the mind/ whild the idea of the reality was tranfient 5 and to feme per- haps never really occurred in any fhape, to whom it is notwithdanding very af- fecting, as war, death, famine, &c. Be- fides, many ideas have never been at all prefented to the fenfes of any men but by 1 33 6 On the SUBLIME by words, as God, angels, devils, hea- ven, and hell, all of which have how- ever a great influence over the paflions. Thirdly, by words we have it in our power to make fuch combinations as we cannot poffibly do otherwife. By this power of combining we are able, by the addition of well-chofen circumftances, to give a new life and force to the Ample objeift. Tn painting we may reprefent any fine figure we pleafe ; but we never can give it thofe enlivening: touches which it may receive from words. To reprefent an angel in a plfture, you can only draw a beautiful young man winged : but what painting can fur nidi out any thing fo grand as the addition of one word, “ the