Headlong. Deep-echoing groan the thickets brown, Then rustling, crackling, crashing, thunder down. Iliad, xxiii. 144. But when loud furges lash the founding shore 1 No person can be at a lofs about the cause of this beauty. It is obviously that of imitation. That there is any other natural refemblance betwixt sound and fignification, muft not be taken for granted. There is evidently no resemblance betwixt found and motion, nor betwixt found and fentiment. In this matter, we are apt to be deceived by artful reading or pronouncing. The fame passage may be pronounced in many different tones, elevated or humble, fweet or harsh, brifk or melancholy, fo as to accord with the thought or fentiment. Such concord, depending on artful pronunciation, must be diftinguished from that concord betwixt found and sense, which is perceived in fome expressions independent of artful pronunciation. ciation. The latter is the poet's workt the former must be attributed to the reader Another thing contributes still more to the deceit. In language, found and sense are so intimately connected, as that the proper ties of the one are readily communicated to the other. An emotion of grandeur, of sweetness, of melancholy, or of compaffion, though occafioned by the thought folely, is transferred upon the words, which by that means resemble in appearance the thought that is expressed by them *. I have great reason to recommend these observations to my reader, confidering how inaccurately the present subject is handled by critics. Not one of them distinguishes the natural re semblance of found and signification, from the artificial resemblance now described. Witness Vida in particular, who in a very long passage has given very few examples, but what are of the latter kind this That there may be a resemblance betwixt natural and artificial founds, is felf-evident, See chap. 2. part.fect: 4 quzdamaych and that in fact there exist such resemblances successfully employ'd by writers of genius, is clear from the foregoing examples, and many others that might be given. But we may safely pronounce, that this natural resemblance can be carried no farther. The objects of the several senses, differ fo widely from each other as to exclude any resemblance. Sound in particular, whether articulate or inarticulate, resembles not in any degree taste, smell, or motion; and as little can it resemble any internal sentiment, feeling, or emotion. But must we then agree, that nothing but natural found can be imi. tated by that which is articulate? Taking imitation in its proper sense, as involving a resemblance betwixt two objects, the proposition must be admitted. And yet in many passages that are not defcriptive of natural found, every one must be sensible of a peculiar concord betwixt the found of the words and their meaning. As there can be no doubt of the fact, what remains is, to inquire into its cause. Resembling causes may produce effects that have no resemblance; and causes that have VOL. II. Uu have no resemblance may produce resembling effects. A magnificent building, for example, resembles not in any degree an heroic action; and yet the emotions they produce, being concordant, bear a resemblance to each other. We are still more sensible of this resemblance, in a fong where the mufic is properly adjusted to the sentiment. There is no resemblance betwixt thought and found; but there is the strongest resemblance betwixt the emotion raised by mufic tender and pathetic, and that raised by the complaint of an unfuccessful lover. To apply these examples to the present subject, I observe, that the found even of a fingle word makes, in some instances, an impression resembling that which is made by the thing it fignifies; witness the word running, composed of two short fyllables; and more remarkably the words rapidity, impetuofity, precipitation. Brutal manners produce in the spectator, an emotion not unlike what is produced by a harsh and rough found. Hence the figurative expression, rugged manners; an expreffion peculiarly agreeable by the relation of the found to the sense. Again, the word little, being pronounced with a very small aperture of the mouth, has a weak and faint found, which makes an impreffion refembling that made by any diminutive object. This resemblance of effects, is ftill more remarkable where a number of words are connected together in a period. Words pronounced in fuccession make often a strong impression; and when this impression happens to accord with that made by the sense, a peculiar pleasure arifes. The thought or sentiment produces one pleasant emotion: the melody or tone of the words produces another. But the chief pleasure proceeds from having these two concordant emotions combined in perfect harmony, and carried on in the mind to a full close *. Except in the fingle cafe where found is described, all the examples given by critics of sense being imitated in found, resolve into a resemblance of effects. Emotions raised by found and signification may have a resemblance; but found itself cannot have a resemblance to any thing but found. * Sce chap. 2. part 4. Uu2 Proceeding |