and Grandeur Beauty, in its original signification, is confined to objects of sight; but as many other objects, intellectual Sublimity. as well as moral, raise emotions resembling that of beauty, the resemblance of the effects prompts us to extend the term beauty to these objects. This equally accounts for the terms grandeur and sublimity taken in a figurative sense. Every emotion, from whatever cause proceeding, that resembles an emotion of grandeur or elevation, is called by the same name: thus generosity is said to be an elevated emotion, as well as great courage; and that firmness of soul which is superior to misfortunes obtains the peculiar name of magnanimity. On the other hand, every emotion that contracts the mind, and fixeth it upon things trivial or of no importance, is termed low, by its resemblance to an emotion produced by a little or low object of sight: thus an appetite for trifling amusements is called a low taste. The same terms are applied to characters and actions: we talk familiarly of an elevated genius, of a great man, and equally so of littleness of mind: some actions are great and elevated, and others are little The sub- and grovelling. Sentiments, and even expressions, are characterized in the same manner: an expression or sentiment that raises the mind is denominated great or elevated; and hence the SUBLIME in poetry. In such figurative terms, we lose the distinction between great and elevated in their proper sense; for the resemblance is not so entire as to preserve these terms distinct in their figurative application. We carry this figure still farther. Elevation, in its proper sense, imports superiority of place; and lowness, inferiority of place: and hence a man of superior talents, of superior rank; of inferior parts, of inferior taste, and such like. The veneration we have for our ancestors, and for the ancients in general, being similar to the emotion produced by an elevated object of sight, justifies the figurative expression of the ancients being raised above us, or possessing a superior place. The notes of the gamut, proceeding regularly from the blunter or grosser sounds to the more acute and piercing, produce in the hearer a feeling somewhat similar to what is produced by mounting upward; and this gives occasion to the figurative expressions, a high note, a low note. 7 lime in poetry. The resemblance in feeling between real and figurative grandeur is humorously illustrated by Addison in criticising upon English tragedy t. "The ordinary Spectator, method of making a hero is to clap a huge plume of No. 42. feathers upon his head, which rises so high, that there is often a greater length from his chin to the top of his head than to the sole of his foot. One would believe, that we thought a great man and a tall man the same thing. As these superfluous ornaments upon the head make a great man, a princess generally receives her grandeur from those additional incumbrances that fall into her tail: I mean the broad sweeping train that follows her in all her motions, and finds constant employment for a boy who stands behind her to open and spread it to advantage." The Scythians, impressed with the fame of Alexander, were astonished when they found him a little man. A gradual progress from small to great is not less remarkable in figurative than in real grandeur or elevation. Every one must have observed the delightful effect of a number of thoughts or sentiments, artfully disposed like an ascending series, and making impressions deeper and deeper such disposition of members in a period is termed a climax. 9 Within certain limits grandeur and sublimity produce their strongest effects, which lessen by excess as well as by defect. This is remarkable in grandeur and sublimity taken in their proper sense: the grandest emotion that can be raised by a visible object is where the object can be taken in at one view if so immense as not to be comprehended but in parts, it tends rather to distract than satisfy the mind (A): in like manner, the strongest emotion produced by elevation is where the object is seen distinctly; a greater elevation lessens in appearance the object, till it vanish out of sight with its pleasant emotions. The Figurative same is equally remarkable in figurative grandeur and grandeur. elevation; which shall be handled together, because, as observed above, they are scarcely distinguishable. Sentiments may be so strained as to become obscure, or to exceed the capacity of the human mind: against such license of imagination, every good writer will be upon his guard. And therefore it is of greater importance to observe, that even the true sublime may be carried beyond that pitch which produces the highest entertainment. We are undoubtedly susceptible of a greater elevation than can be inspired by human actions the most heroic and magnanimous; witness what we feel from Milton's description of superior beings: yet every man must be sensible of a more constant and sweet elevation when the history of his own species is the Real and connected. Such is the resemblance in feeling between real and figurative figurative grandeur, that among the nations on the east grandeur coast of Africa, who are directed purely by nature, the intimately officers of state are, with respect to rank, distinguished by the length of the batoon each carries in his hand; and in Japan, princes and great lords show their rank by the length and size of their sedan-poles. Again, it is a rule in painting, that figures of a small size are proper for grotesque pieces: but that an historical subject, grand and important, requires figures as great as the life. The resemblance of these feelings is in reality so strong, that elevation in a figurative sense is observed to have the same effect, even externally, with real elevation. (A) It is justly observed by Addison, that perhaps a man would have been more astonished with the majestic air that appeared in one of Lysippus's statues of Alexander, though no bigger than the life, than he might have been with Mount Athos, had it been cut into the figure of the hero, according to the proposal of Phidias, with a river in one hand and a city in the other. Spectator, No 415. Grandeur the subject: he enjoys an elevation equal to that of nd the greatest hero, of an Alexander or a Cæsar, of a Sublimity. Brutus or an Epaminondas: he accompanies these heroes in their sublimest sentiments and most hazardous exploits, with a magnanimity equal to theirs; and finds it no stretch to preserve the same tone of mind for hours together without sinking. The case is not the same in describing the actions or qualities of superior beings the reader's imagination cannot keep pace with that of the poet; the mind, unable to support itself in a strained elevation, falls as from a height; and the fall is immoderate like the elevation: where that effect is not felt, it must be prevented by some obscurity in the conception, which frequently attends the descriptions of unknown objects. Hence the St Francises, St Dominics, and other tutelary saints among the Roman Catholics. A mind unable to raise itself to the Supreme Being self-existent and eternal, or to support itself in a strained elevation, finds itself more at ease in using the intercession of some saint whose piety and penances while on earth are supposed to have made him a favourite in heaven. A strained elevation is attended with another inconvenience, that the author is apt to fall suddenly as well as the reader; because it is not a little difficult to descend, sweetly and easily, from such elevation to the ordinary tone of the subject. The following passage is a good illustration of that observation : Sæpe etiam immensum cœlo venit agmen aquarum, Et foedam glomerant tempestatem imbribus atris Collectæ ex alto nubes. Ruit arduus æther, Et pluvia ingenti sata læta, boumque labores Diluit. Implentur fossa, et cava flumina crescunt Cum sonitu, fervetque fretis spirantibus æquor. Ipse Pater, media nimborum in nocte, corusca Fulmina molitur dextra. Quo maxima motu Terra tremit: fugere feræ, et mortalia corda Per gentes humilis stravit pavor. Ille flagranti Aut Atho, aut Rhodopen, aut alta Ceraunia telo Dejicit: ingeminant Austri, et densissimus imber. VIRG. Georg. i. 322. In the description of a storm, to figure Jupiter throwing down huge mountains with his thunderbolts, is hyperbolically sublime, if we may use the expression: the tone of mind produced by that image is so distant from the tone produced by a thick shower of rain, that the sudden transition must be unpleasant. : Objects of sight that are not remarkably great nor high, scarce raise any emotion of grandeur or of sublimity and the same holds in other objects; for we often find the mind roused and animated, without being carried to that height. This difference may be discerned in many sorts of music, as well as in some musical instruments: a kettle-drum rouses, and a hautboy is animating; but neither of them inspires an emotion of sublimity: revenge animates the mind in a considerable degree; but it never produceth an emotion that can be termed grand or sublime; and perhaps no disagreeable passion ever has that effect. No desire is more universal than to be exalted and honoured; and upon that account, chiefly, are we ambitious of power, riches, titles, fame, which would suddenly lose their relish did they not raise us above : and others, and command submission and deference and Grandeur it may be thought that our attachment to things grand and lofty, proceeds from their connection with Sublimity. our favourite passion. This connection has undoubtedly an effect; but that the preference given to things grand and lofty must have a deeper root in human nature, will appear from considering, that many bestow their time upon low and trifling amusements, without having the least tincture of this favourite passion: yet these very persons talk the same language with the rest of mankind; and prefer the more elevated pleasures: they acknowledge a more refined taste, and are ashamed of their own as low and grovelling. This sentiment, constant and universal, must be the work of nature; and it plainly indicates an original attachment in human nature to every object that elevates the mind: some men may have a greater relish for an object not of the highest rank; but they are conscious of the preference given by mankind in general to things grand and sublime, and they are sensible that their peculiar taste ought to yield to the general taste. 10 What is said above suggests a capital rule for reaching the sublime in such works of art as are susceptible of it; and that is, to present those parts or Grandeur circumstances only which make the greatest figure, of manner. keeping out of view every thing low or trivial; for the mind, elevated by an important object, cannot, without reluctance, be forced down to bestow any share of its attention upon trifles. Such judicious selection of capital circumstances, is by an eminent critic styled grandeur of manner*. In none of the fine * Spectator, arts is there so great scope for that rule as in poetry; N° 415. which, by that means, enjoys a remarkable power of bestowing upon objects and events an air of grandeur when we are spectators, every minute object presents itself in its order; but in describing at second band, these are laid aside, and the capital objects are brought close together. A judicious taste in thus selecting the most interesting incidents, to give them an united force, accounts for a fact that may appear surprising; which is, that we are more moved by spirited narrative at second hand, than by being spectators of the event itself, in all its circumstances. Longinus exemplifies the foregoing rule by a com- + Chap. 3. parison of two passages. Ye pow'rs, what madness! how on ships so frail Burst as a wave that from the cloud impends, In and Grandeur In the latter passage, the most striking circumstances are selected to fill the mind with terror and astonishSublimity ment. The former is a collection of minute and low circumstances, which scatter the thought, and make no impression it is at the same time full of verbal antitheses and low conceit, extremely improper in a scene of distress. Then o'er the pavements glides with grace divine Virgil sometimes errs against this rule in the following passages minute circumstances are brought into full view; and what is still worse, they are described with all the pomp of poetical diction, Æneid, lib. is 1. 214. to 219. lib. vi. l. 176. to 182. lib. vi. 1. 212. to 231. and the last, which describes a funeral, is the less excusable, as the man whose funeral it is makes no figure in the poem. Grandeur and Sublimity. The speech of Clytemnestra, descending from her chariot, in the Iphigenia of Euripides *, is stuffed with * Act iii. a number of common and trivial circumstances. But of all writers, Lucan in this article is the most injudicious: the sea fight between the Romans and Massilians + is described so much in detail, without Lib. iii. exhibiting any grand or total view, that the reader is 567. fatigued with endless circumstances, without ever feeling any degree of elevation; and yet there are some fine incidents, those, for example, of the two brothers, and of the old man and his son, which, taken separately, would affect us greatly. But Lucan, once engaged in a description, knows no end. See other passages of the same kind, lib. iv. 1. 292. to 337. lib. iv. 1. 750. to 765. The episode of the sorceress Erictho, end of book sixth, is intolerably minute and prolix. In This rule is also applicable to other fine arts. painting it is established, that the principal figure must be put in the strongest light; that the beauty of attitude consists in placing the nobler parts most in view, and in suppressing the smaller parts as much as possible; that the folds of the drapery must be few and large; that foreshortenings are bad, because they make the parts appear little; and that the muscles ought to be kept as entire as possible, without being divided into small sections. Every one at present subscribes to that rule as applied to gardening, in opposition to parterres split into a thousand small parts in the stiffest regularity of figure. The most eminent architects have governed themselves by the same rules in all their works. to be avoid Another rule chiefly regards the sublime, though it General is applicable to every sort of literary performance in- terins ought tended for amusement: and that is, to avoid as much ed where as possible abstract and general terms. Such terms, sublimity is similar to mathematical signs, are contrived to express intended. our thoughts in a concise manner; but images, which are the life of poetry, cannot be raised in any per fection but by introducing particular objects. General terms, that comprehend a number of individuals, must be expected from that rule: our kindred, our clan, our country, and words of the like import, though they K The following description of a battle is remarkably sublime, by collecting together, in the fewest words, those circumstances which make the greatest figure. "Like autumn's dark storms pouring from two echoing hills, toward each other approached the heroes; as two dark streams from high rocks meet and roar on the plain, loud, rough, and dark in battle, meet Lochlin and Inisfail. Chief mixes his strokes with chief, and man with man: steel sounds on steel, and helmets are cleft on high: blood bursts and smokes around: strings murmur on the polish'd yew: darts rush along the sky spears fall like sparks of flame that gild the stormy face of night. "As the noise of the troubled ocean when roll the waves on high, as the last peal of thundering heaven, such is the noise of battle. Though Cormac's hundred bards were there, feeble were the voice of a hundred bards to send the deaths to future times; for many were the deaths of the heroes, and wide poured the blood of the valiant." FINgal. The following passage in the 4th book of the Iliad is a description of a battle wonderfully ardent. "When now gathered on either side, the host plunged together in fight; shield is harshly laid to shield; spears crash on the brazen corslets: bossy buckler with buckler meets; loud tumult rages over all; groans are mixed with boasts of men; the slain and slayer join in noise; the earth is floating round with blood. As when two rushing streams from two mountains come roaring down, and throw together their rapid waters. below, they roar along the gulphy vale; the startled shepherd hears the sound as he stalks o'er the distant bills: so, as they mixed in fight, from both armies clamour with loud terror arose." But such general descriptions are not frequent in Homer. Even his single combats are rare. The fifth book is the longest account of a battle that is in the Iliad; and yet contains nothing but a long catalogue of chiefs killing chiefs, not in single combat neither, but at a distance with an arrow or a javelin; and these chiefs named for the first time and the last. The same scene is continued through a great part of the sixth book. There is at the same time a minute description of every wound, which for accuracy may do honour to an anatomist, but in an epic poem is tiresome and fatiguing. There is no relief from horrid languor, but the beautiful Greek language and melody of Homer's versifica tion. In the twenty-first book of the Odyssey, there is a passage which deviates widely from the rule above laid down: it concerns that part of the history of Penelope and her suitors, in which she is made to declare in favour of him who should prove the most dexterous in shooting with the bow of Ulysses: Now gently winding up the fair ascent, scarce Grandeur scarce raise any image, have, however, a wonderful and power over the passions: the greatness of the complex Sublimity object overbalances the obscurity of the image. Herodot. lib. 7. Grandeur, being an extremely vivid emotion, is not readily produced in perfection but by reiterated impressions. The effect of a single impression can be but momentary; and if one feel suddenly somewhat like a swelling or exaltation of mind, the emotion vanisheth as soon as felt. Single thoughts or sentiments, are often cited as examples of the sublime; but their effect is far inferior to that of a grand subject displayed in its capital parts. We shall give a few examples, that the reader may judge for himself. In the famous action of Thermopyla, where Leonidas the Spartan king, with his chosen band, fighting for their country, were cut off to the last man, a saying is reported of Dieneces, one of the band, which, expressing cheerful and undisturbed bravery, is well entitled to the first place in examples of that kind: talking of the number of their enemies, it was observed, that the arrows shot by such a multitude would intercept the light of the sun; "So much the better (says he), for we shall then fight in the shade." Somerset. Ah! Warwick, Warwick, wert thou as we are The cloud-capt tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces, The elevation of the mind in the former part of this beautiful passage, makes the fall great in proportion, when the most humbling of all images is introduced, that of an utter dissolution of the earth and its inhabitants. The mind, when warmed, is more susceptible of impressions than in a cool state; and a depressing or melancholy object listened to, makes the strongest impression when it reaches the mind in its highest state of elevation or cheerfulness. Grandeur and Sublimity. But a humbling image is not always necessary to produce that effect: a remark is made above, that in describing superior beings, the reader's imagination, unable to support itself in a strained elevation, falls often as from a height, and sinks even below its ordinary tone, The following instance comes luckily in view; for a better cannot be given: "God said, Let there be light, and there was light." Longinus quotes this passage from Moses as a shining example of the sublime; and it is scarce possible, in fewer words, to convey-so clear an image of the infinite power of the Deity: but then it belongs to the present subject to remark, that the emotion of sublimity raised by this image is but momentary; and that the mind, unable to support itself in an elevation so much above nature, immediately sinks down into humility and veneration for a Being so far exalted above grovelling mortals. Every one is acquainted with a dispute about that passage between two French critics, the one po- * Boikors sitively affirming it to be sublime, the other as posi- and Huck tively denying. What has been remarked, shows, that both of them have reached the truth, but neither of them the whole truth: the primary effect of the pas sage is undoubtedly an emotion of grandeur; which so far justifies Boileau: but then every one must be sensible, that the motion is merely a flash, which, vanishing instantaneously, gives way to humility and veneration. That indirect effect of sublimity justifies Huet, on the other hand, who being a man of true piety, and probably not much carried by imagination, felt the humbling passions more sensibly than his antagonist did. And laying aside difference of character, Huet's opinion may perhaps be defended as the more solid; because, in such images, the depressing emotions are the more sensibly felt, and have the longer endurance. 13 12 Grandeur We might recover all our loss again. Third part, Henry VI. act v. sc. 3. To cite in opposition many a sublime passage, en- The cloud-capt tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces, As, on the one hand, no means directly applied and subli- have more influence to raise the mind than grandeur nity em- and sublimity; so, on the other, no means indirectly ployed in applied have more influence to sink, and depress it: for dircetly to in a state of elevation, the artful introduction of an humbling object, makes the fall great in proportion to the elevation. Of this observation Shakespeare gives a beautiful example in the passage last quoted:. sink the mind. The straining an elevated subject beyond due bounds, False sudand beyond the reach of an ordinary conception, is lime. not a vice so frequent as to require the correction of criticism. But false sublime is a rock that writers of more fire than judgment commonly split on; and therefore a collection of examples may be of use as a beacon to future adventurers. One species of false sublime, known by the name of bombast, is common among writers of a mean genius; it is a serious endeavour, by strained description, to raise a low or familiar subject above its rank; which, instead of being sublime, fails not to be ridiculous. The mind, indeed, is extremely prone, in some animating passions, to magnify its ob jects Grandeur jects beyond natural bounds: but such hyperbolical and description has ite limits; and when carried beyond Sublimity the impulse of the propensity, it degenerates into burlesque. Take the following examples: Sejanus. -Great and high The world knows only two, that's Rome and I. BEN JOHNSON, Sejanus, act v. A writer who has no natural elevation of mind deviates readily into bombast: he strains above his natural powers; and the violent effort carries him beyond the bounds of propriety. Guildford. Give way, and let the gushing torrent come; Behold the tears we bring to swell the deluge, Lady Jane Gray, act iv. near the end. Another species of false sublime is still more faulty than bombast and that is, to force elevation by introducing imaginary beings without preserving any propriety in their actions; as if it were lawful to ascribe every extravagance and inconsistence to beings of the poet's creation. No writers are more licentious in that article than Johnson and Dryden. Methinks I see Death and the Furies waiting Catiline, act v. -The Furies stood on hills Osmyn. While we indulge our common happiness, The brave Almanzor, to whose arms we owe move, And Victory could scarce keep pace above. Conquest of Granada, act ii. at beginning. An actor on the stage may be guilty of bombast as Grandeut well as an author in his closet: a certain manner of act and D Granicus. ing, which is grand when supported by dignity in the Sublimity sentiment and force in the expression, is ridiculous where the sentiment is mean and the expression flat. GRANDGOR is used in Scotland for the pox. In the Philosophical Transactions, No 469. sect. 5. we have a proclamation of King James IV. of Scotland, ordering all who had this disease, or who had attended others under it, forthwith to repair to an island (Inchkeith) in the frith of Forth. If the grandgor was the pox, and this distemper came into Europe at the siege of Naples in 1495, it must have made a very quick progress to cause such an alarm at Edinburgh in 1497. GRANGE, an ancient term for a barn or place wherein to lay up and thresh corn. The word is formed of the Latin granea: or of granum, “ grain, corn,' &c. Hence also granger or grangier, 66 a grangekeeper or farmer." GRANGE is also used, in a more extensive sense, for a whole farm, with all the appendages of stables for horses, stalls for cattle, &c. and for an inn. GRANI, in our ancient writers, mustachoes or whiskers of a beard. The word seems formed from the ancient British or Irish greann, "a beard." It is given for a reason why the cup is refused to the laity, Quia barbati, et prolixos habent granos, dum po culum inter epulas sumunt, prius liquore pilos inficiunt, quam ori infundunt. GRANICUS, a small river near the Hellespont in Lesser Asia, remarkable for the first victory gained by Alexander the Great over the armies of Darius.— Authors disagree very much about the number of the Persians, though all agree that they were vastly more numerous than the Greeks. Justin and Orosius tell us, that the Persian army consisted of 600,000 foot and 20,000 horse; Arian makes the foot amount to 200,000; but Diodorus tells us, that they were not more than 100,000 foot and 10,000 horse. The Ma-. cedonian army did not exceed 30,000 foot and 5000 horse. The Persian cavalry lined the banks of the Granicus, in order to oppose Alexander wherever he should attempt a passage; and the foot were posted behind the cavalry on an easy ascent. Parmenio would have had Alexander to allow his troops some time to refresh themselves; but he replied, that after having crossed the Hellespont, it would be a disgrace to him and his troops to be stopped by a rivulet. Accordingly a proper place for crossing the river was no sooner found, than he commanded a strong detachment of horse to enter; he himself followed with the right wing, which he commanded in person; the trumpets in the mean time sounding, and loud shouts of joy being heard through the whole army. The Persians let fly such showers of arrows against the detachment of Macedonian horse as caused some confusion; several of their horses being killed or wounded. As they drew near the bank a most bloody engagement ensued; the Macedonians attempting to land, and the Persians pushing them back into the river. Alexander, who observed the confusion they were in, took the command of them himself; and landing in spite of all opposition, obliged the Persian cavalry, after an obstinate resistance, K 2 |