Gambol around him on the watry way, And heavy whales in aukward measures play; So again, Psalm lxxvii. 16-19.

"The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee, " and were afraid; the depths also were troubled. The "clouds poured out water, the air thundered, and thine "arrows went abroad. The voice of thy thunder was "heard round about, the lightnings shone upon the "ground, the earth was moved and shook withal. Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in great waters, and thy footsteps are not known."

And in general, wherever there is any description of the works of omnipotence, or the excellence of the Divine Being, the same vein of sublimity is always to be discerned. I beg the reader to peruse in this view the following Psalms, xlvi, lxviii, lxxvi, xcvi, xcvii, civ, cxiv, cxxxix, cxlviii, as also the iiid Chapter of Habakkuk, and the description of the Son of God in the book of Revelation, chap. xix. 11-17.

Copying such sublime images in the poetical parts of Scripture, and heating his imagination with the combat of the gods in Homer, has made Milton succeed so well in his fight of Angels. If Homer deserves such vast encomiums from the critics, for describing Neptune with so much pomp and magnificence, how can we sufficiently admire those divine descriptions which Milton gives of the Messiah?

He on the wings of cherub rode sublime
On the crystalline sky, in sapphire thron'd,
Illustrious far and wide.-

Before him pow'r divine his way prepar'd ;
At his command th' up-rooted hills retir'd
Each to his place, they heard his voice and went
Obsequious: Heav'n his wonted face renewed,
And with fresh flowrets hill and valley smil❜d.

The

The sea subsiding spreads a level plain,
Exults and owns the monarch of the main:
The parting waves before his coursers fly;
The wond'ring waters leave the axle dry*.

MR. POPE.

11 So likewise the Jewish legislator, no ordinary person, having conceived a just idea

* Iliad. y. ver. 18-27

of

"This divine passage has furnished a handle for many of those who are willing to be thought critics, to shew their pertness and stupidity at once. Though bright as the light of which it speaks, they are blind to its lustre, and will not discern its Sublimity. Some pretend that Longinus never saw this passage, though he has actually quoted it; and that he never read Moses, though he has left so candid an acknowledgment of his merit. In such company, some, no doubt, will be surprised to find the names of Huet and Le Clerc. They have examined, taken to pieces, and sifted it as long as they were able, yet still they cannot find it sublime. It is simple, say they, and therefore not grand. They have tried it by a law of Horace misunderstood, and therefore condemn it.

Boileau undertook its defence, and has gallantly performed it. He shews them, that Simplicity of expression is so far from being opposed to Sublimity, that it is frequently the cause and foundation of it (and indeed there is not a page in Scripture which abounds not with instances to strengthen this remark.) Horace's law, that a beginning should be unadorned, does not by any means forbid it to be grand, since grandeur consists not in ornament and dress. He then shews at large, that whatever noble and majestic expression, elevation

of

of the power of God, has nobly expressed it in the beginning of his Law†. "And God

of thought, and importance of event can contribute to Sublimity, may be found united in this passage. Whoever has the curiosity to see the particulars of this dispute, may find it in the edition of Boileau's works, in four volumes 12mo.

It is however remarkable, that though Monsieur Huet will not allow the Sublimity of this passage in Moses, yet he extols the following in the xxxiiid Psalm: "For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and "it stood fast."

There is a particularity in the manner of quoting this passage by Longinus, which I think has hitherto escaped observation. "God said-What?-Let there be light, "&c." That Interrogation between the narrative part and the words of the Almighty himself, carries with it an air of reverence and veneration. It seems designed to awaken the reader, and raise his awful attention to the voice of the great Creator.

Instances of this majestic simplicity and unaffected grandeur, are to be met with in great plenty through the sacred writings. Such as St. John xi. 43. "Lazarus,

come forth." St. Matt. viii. 3. "Lord, if thou wilt, "thou canst make me clean."- 'I will; be thou clean." And St. Mark iv. 39. where Christ hushes the tumultuous sea into a calm, with "Peace (or rather, be silent) be still." The waters (says a critic, Sacred Classics, p. 325.) heard that voice, which commanded universal nature into being. They sunk at his command, who has the sole privilege of saying to that unruly element, "Hitherto shalt thou pass, and no farther: Here "shall thy proud waves be stopped."

+ Gen. i. 3.

66

said,

"said,-What?-Let there be light, and "there was light. Let the earth be, and the "earth was."

I hope my friend will not think me tedious, if I add another quotation from the Poet, in regard to his Mortals; that you may see how he accustoms us to mount along with him to heroic grandeur. A thick and impenetrable cloud of darkness had on a sudden enveloped the Grecian army, and suspended the battle. Ajar, perplexed what course to take, prays thus*,

Accept a warrior's pray'r, eternal Jove;

This cloud of darkness from the Greeks remove;
Give us but light, and let us see our foes,
We'll bravely fall, tho' Jove himself oppose.

The sentiments of Ajar are here pathetically expressed: it is Ajar himself. He begs not for life: a request like that would be beneath a hero. But because in that darkness he could display his valour in no illustrious exploit, and his great heart was unable to brook a sluggish inactivity in the field of action, he only prays for light, not doubting to crown his fall with some notable performance, though Jove himself should oppose

his efforts. Here Homer, like a brisk and favourable gale, renews and swells the fury of the battle; he is as warm and impetuous as his heroes are, or (as he says of Hector) With such a furious rage his steps advance, As when the god of battles shakes his lance, Or baleful flames on some thick forest cast, Swift marching lay the wooded mountain waste: Around his mouth a foamy moisture stands*.

Yet Homer himself shews in the Odyssey (what I am going to add is necessary on several accounts), that when a great genius is in decline, a fondness for the fabulous clings fast to age. Many arguments may be brought to prove that this poem was written after the Iliad, but this especially, that in the Odyssey he has occasionally mentioned the sequel of those calamities, which began at Troy, as so many episodes of that fatal war; and that he introduces those terrible dangers and horrid disasters, as formerly undergone by his heroes. For in reality, the Odyssey is no more than the epilogue of the Iliad.

There warlike Ajax, there Achilles lies,
Patroclus there, a man divinely wise;
There too my dearest sont.

* Iliad. o. ver. 605.

+ Odyss. y. ver. 109.