paffions are vastly diftant from grandeur, and are in themselves of a low degree; as lamentation, forrow, fear; and on the contrary, (2) there are many things grand and lofty without any paffion; as, among a thousand inftances, we may fee, from what (3) the Poet has faid, with fo much boldness, of the Aloides *.

(4) to raise

Huge Offa on Olympus' top they ftrove,
And place on Offa Pelion with its grove;

That heaven itself thus climb'd, might be affail'd.

But the boldnefs of what he afterwards adds, is yet greater,

Nor would fuccefs their bold attempts have fail'd, &c.

Among the orators, all panegyrics, and orations compofed for pomp and show, may be grand throughout, but yet are for the most part void of paffion. So that those orators, who excel in the Pathetic, fcarcely ever fucceed

as

(2) The first book of Paradise Loft is a continued inftance of Sublimity without Paffion. The defcriptions of Satan and the other fallen angels are very grand, but terrible. They do not fo much exalt as terrify the imagination. See Mr. Addifon's obfervations, Spectator, N° 339.

* Odyff. λ. v. 314.

(3) The

as Panegyrifts; and those, whofe talents lye chiefly at Panegyric, are very feldom able to affect the Paffions. But on the other hand, if Cecilius was of opinion, that the Pathetic did not contribute to the Sublime, and on that account judg'd it not worth his mention, he is guilty of an unpardonable error. For I confidently aver, that nothing fo much raises discourse, as a fine Pathos feasonably applied. It animates a whole performance with uncommon life and spirit, and gives mere words the force (as it were) of inspiration.

BUT tho' the first and most important of thefe divifions, I mean, Elevation of Thought, be rather a natural than an acquired qualification, yet we ought to fpare no pains to educate our fouls to grandeur, and impregnate them with generous and enlarged ideas.

"But

(3) The Poet.] Longinus, as well as many other writers, frequently ftiles Homer in an eminent manner, the Poet, as if none but he had deserved that title.

(4) Milton has equalled, if not excelled, these bold lines of Homer in his fight of angels. See Mr. Addifon's fine obfervations upon it, Spectator, No 333.

(1) The

"But how, it will be afk'd, can this be " done?" Why, I have hinted in another place, that the Sublime is an image reflected from the inward greatnefs of the foul. Hence it comes to pafs, that a naked thought with

(1) The filence of Ajac.] Dido in Virgil behaves with the fame greatnefs and majefty as Homer's Ajax. He difdains the converfation of the man, who, to his thinking, had injuriously defrauded him of the arms of Achilles; and fhe fcorns to hold conference with him, who, in her own opinion, had bafely forfook her; and by her filent retreat, fhews her refentment, and reprimands Eneas, more than she could have done in a thousand words.

Illa folo fixos oculos averfa tenebat,

Nec magis incepto vultum fermone movetur,
Quàm fi dura filex, aut ftet Marpefia cautes.
Tandem corripuit fefe, atque inimica refugit
In nemus umbriferum.

En. vi. v. 469.

Difdainfully fhe look'd; then turning round,
She fix'd her eyes, unmov'd upon the ground,
And what he looks and fwears, regards no more
Than the deaf rocks, when the loud billows roar.
But whirl'd away to fhun his hateful fight,
Hid in the foreft and the shades of night.

Dryden.

The Pathetic, as well as the Grand, is expreffed as ftrongly by filence or a bare word, as in a number of periods. There is an admirable inftance of it in Shakespear's Julius Cæfar, A& 4. Sc. 4. The preceding scene is wrought up in a masterly manner: we see there, in the trusft light, the noble and generous resentment of Brutus, and the hafty choler and as hafty repentance of Caffius. After the reconciliation,

out words challenges admiration, and strikes by its grandeur. Such is (1) the Silence of Ajax in the Odyffey, which is undoubtedly noble, and far above expreffion.

To arrive at excellence like this, we muft needs ciliation, in the beginning of the next scene, Brutus addreffes himself to Caffius.

Bru. O Caffius, I am fick of many griefs.
Caf. Of your philofophy you make no use,
If you give place to accidental evils.

Bru. No man bears forrow better
Caf. Ha! Portia!

Bru. She is dead.

Portia's dead.

Caf. How 'fcap'd I killing when I croft you fo?

The stroke is heavier, as it comes unexpected. The grief is abrupt, because it is inexpreffible. The heart is melted in an instant, and tears will start at once in any audience, that has generosity enough to be moved, or is capable of forrow and pity.

When words are too weak, or colours too faint to reprefent a Pathos, as the poet will be filent, fo the painter will hide what he cannot fhew. Timanthes, in his facrifice of Iphigenia, gave Calchas a forrowful look, he then painted Ulyffes more forrowful, and afterwards her uncle Menelaus with all the grief and concern in his countenance, which his pencil was able to difplay. By this gradation he had exhaufted the paffion, and had no art left for the distress of her father Agamemnon, which required the ftrongest heightning of all. He therefore covered up his head in his garment, and left the fpectator to imagine that excess of anguifh, which colours were unable to express.

needs fuppofe that, which is the cause of it, I mean, that an orator of the true genius must have no mean and ungenerous way of thinking. For it is impoffible for those, who have grov❜ling and fervile ideas, or are engaged in the fordid purfuits of life, to produce any thing worthy of admiration, and the perufal of all pofterity. Grand and fublime expreffions must flow from them and them alone, whofe conceptions are ftored and big with greatness. And hence it is, that the greatest thoughts

(2) I would accept these proposals—&c.] There is a great gap in the original after thefe words. The fenfe has been fupplied by the editors, from the well-known records of hiftory. The propofals here mentioned were made to Alexander by Darius; and were no less than his own daughter, and half his kingdom, to purchase peace. They would have contented Parmenio, but were quite too fmall for the extenfive views of his master.

Dr. Pearce, in his note to this paffage, has inftanced a brave reply of Iphicrates. When he appeared, to answer an accufation preferred against him by Ariftophon, he demanded of him, "Whether he would have betrayed his "country for a fum of money?" Ariftophon replied in the negative: "Have I then done, cried Iphicrates, what even 66 you would have fcorned to do?"

There is the fame evidence of a generous heart, in the prince of Orange's reply to the duke of Buckingham, who, to incline him to an inglorious peace with the French, demanded, what he could do in that defperate fituation of himself and his country?" Not live to fee its ruin, but die "in the laft dike.

These