To whose huge spokes, ten thousand lesser things
Are mortised and adjoin'd; which when it falls,
Each small annexment, petty consequence,
Attends the boist'rous ruin.

Hamlet, Act III. Sc. 8.

The poets have also made good use of the emotion produced by the elevated situation of an object:

Antony. Why was I raised the meteor of the world,
Hung in the skies, and blazing as I travell'd,

Till all my fires were spent; and then cast downward,
To be trod out by Cæsar?-Dryden, All for Love, Act I.

The description of Paradise in the fourth book of Paradise Lost,
is a fine illustration of the impression made by elevated objects :
So on he fares, and to the border comes
Of Eden, where delicious Paradise,

Now nearer, crowns with her inclosure green,
As with a rural mound, the champain head
Of a steep wilderness; whose hairy sides,
With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild,
Access denied; and overhead up grew
Insuperable height of loftiest shade,
Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
A sylvan scene; and as the ranks ascend,
Shade above shade, a woody theatre
Of stateliest view. Yet higher than their tops
The verd'rous wall of Paradise up sprung;
Which to our general sire gave prospect large
Into his nether empire neighb'ring round.
And higher than that wall a circling row

Of goodliest trees, loaden with fairest fruit,
Blossoms and fruits at once of golden hue,

Appear'd with gay enamell'd colors mix'd.-B. iv. 1. 181.

217. Though a grand object is agreeable, we must not infer that a little object is disagreeable; which would be unhappy for man, considering that he is surrounded with so many objects of that kind. The same holds with respect to place: a body placed high is agreeable; but the same body placed low is not by that circumstance rendered disagreeable. Littleness and lowness of place are precisely similar in the following particular, that they neither give pleasure nor pain. And in this may visibly be discovered peculiar attention in fitting the internal constitution of man to his external circumstances were littleness and lowness of place agreeable, greatness

216. Pleasant emotions raised by large objects illustrated from the poets; those also raised by high objects, especially from Paradise Lost.

and elevation could not be so; were littleness and lowness of place disagreeable, they would occasion perpetual uneasiness.

The difference between great and little with respect to agreeableness, is remarkably felt in a series, when we pass gradually from the one extreme to the other. A mental progress from the capital to the kingdom, from that to Europe-to the whole earth-to the planetary system-to the universe, is extremely pleasant; the heart swells and the mind is dilated at every step. The returning in an opposite direction is not positively painful, though our pleasure lessens at every step till it vanish into indifference: such a progress may sometimes produce pleasure of a different sort, which arises from taking a narrower and narrower inspection. The same observation holds in a progress upward and downward. Ascent is pleasant because it elevates us: but descent is never painful; it is for the most part pleasant from a different cause, that it is according to the order of nature. The fall of a stone from any height is extremely agreeable by its accelerated motion. I feel it pleasant to descend from a mountain, because the descent is natural and easy. Neither is looking downward painful; on the contrary, to look down upon objects makes part of the pleasure of elevation. Looking down becomes then only painful when the object is so far below as to create dizziness; and even when that is the case we feel a sort of pleasure mixed with the pain. Witness Shakspeare's description of Dover Cliffs: -How fearful

And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low!

The crows and choughs, that wing the midway air,
Show scarce so gross as beetles. Half-way down
Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade!
Methinks he seems no bigger than his head.
The fishermen that walk upon the beach,
Appear like mice; and yon tall anchoring bark
Diminish'd to her cock; her cock, a buoy

Almost too small for sight. The murmuring surge,
That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes,
Cannot be heard so high. I'll look no more,
Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight

Topple down headlong.-King Lear, Act. IV. Sc. 6.

218. A remark is made above that the emotions of grandeur and sublimity are nearly allied. And hence it is that the one term is frequently put for the other: an increasing series of numbers, for example, producing an emotion similar to that of mounting upward, is commonly termed an ascending series; a series of numbers gradually decreasing, producing an emotion similar to that of going downward, is commonly termed a descending series. We talk familiarly of going up to the capital, and of going down to the country: from a lesser kingdom we talk of going up to a greater; whence the anabasis in the Greek language, when one travels from Greece

217. Comparison between great and small, high and low objects, as to agreeableness.Progress in an advancing series from one extreme to another, and in reverse order, as to agreeableness.--Progress upward and downward.--Shakspeare's description of Dover Cliffs.

to Persia. We discover the same way of speaking in the language even of Japan;* and it universally proves it the offspring of a natural feeling.

219. The foregoing observation leads us to consider grandeur and sublimity in a figurative sense, and as applicable to the fine arts. Hitherto these terms have been taken in their proper sense as applicable to objects of sight only; and it was of importance to bestow some pains upon that article, because, generally speaking, the figurative sense of a word is derived from its proper sense, which holds remarkably at present. Beauty, in its original signification, is confined to objects of sight; but as many other objects, intellectual 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 and grovelling. Sentiments, and even expressions, are characterized in the same manner; an expression or sentiment

Kempfer's History of Japan, b. v. chap. 2.

[Cousin gives the following classification of the objects of beauty:

"Among sensible objects, colors, sounds, figures, movements, are capable of producing the idea and the sentiment of the beautiful. All these beauties are arranged under that species of beauty, which, right or wrong, is called physical beauty.

"If, from the world of sense, we elevate ourselves to that of mind, truth, and science, we shall find there beauties more severe, but not less real. The universal laws that govern bodies, those that govern intelligences, the great principles that contain and produce long deductions, the genius that creates in the artist, poet, or philosopher, all these are beautiful, as well as nature herself: this is what is called intellectual beauty.

"Finally, if we consider the moral world and its laws, the idea of liberty, virtue, and devotedness; here the austere justice of an Aristides, there the heroism of a Leonidas, the prodigies of charity or of patriotism, we shall certainly find a third order of beauty that still surpasses the other two, to wit, moral beauty.

"Neither let us forget to apply to all these beauties the distinction between the beautiful and the sublime. There are, then, the beautiful and the sublimo at once in nature, in ideas, in sentiments, in actions. What an almost infinite variety in beauty!"-Lect. vi. pp. 143-4.]

218. Emotions of grandeur and sublimity nearly allied.-Increasing series of numbers termed ascending, &c.

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. And we may remark in passing, that as words are intimately connected with ideas, many, by this form of expression, are led to conceive their ancestors as really above them in place, and their posterity below them:

A grandam's name is little less in love,
Than is the doting title of a mother:
They are as children but one step below.

Richard III. Act IV. Sc. 5.

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.

220. Such is the resemblance in feeling between real and figurative grandeur, that among the nations on the east coast of Africa, who are directed purely by nature, the 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 a grotesque piece; 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.

K. Henry. This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.

He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,

Will stand a-tiptoe when this day is named,

And rouse him at the name of Crispian.- Henry V. Act IV. Sc. 8.

* Longinus gives a description of the Sublime that is not amiss, though far from being just in every circumstance: "That the mind is elevated by it, and so sensibly affected as to swell in transport and inward pride, as if what is only heard or read were its own invention.'

+ Kempfer's History of Japan.

219. Grandeur and sublimity in a figurative sense, as applied to the fine arts.-Beauty originally confined to what?-Cousin's classification of the objects of beauty.-Emotions resembling those of grandeur or sublimity are called by the same name.-Opposite emotions, how called.-Characters, actions. sentiments, and expressions characterized in the same manner. How we speak of ancestors and of the ancients.-Notes of the gamut.

The resemblance in feeling between real and figurative grandeur, is humorously illustrated by Addison in criticising upon English tragedy: "The ordinary method of making a hero, is to clap a huge plume of 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." (Spectator, No. 42.) The Scythians, impressed with the fame of Alexander, were astonished when they found him a little man.

221. A gradual progress from small to great is no 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.

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:* in like manner, the strongest emotion produced by elevation, is where the object is seen distinctly; a greater elevation lessens in appearance the object, until it vanishes out of sight with its pleasant emotion. The same is equally remarkable in figurative grandeur and elevation, which shall be handled together, because, as observed above, they are scarce 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

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.

220. How superiority of rank is expressed in Africa and Japan.-Rule in painting as to size of figures.-The resemblance in feeling between real and figurative grandeur, illus. trated by Addison.