After looking for some time at the sun,two black spots,the impression which it leaves,seem to dance before our eyes.Thus are two ideas as opposite as can be imagined reconciled in the extremes of both;and both,in spite of their opposite nature,brought to concur in producing the sublime.And this is not the only instance wherein the opposite extremes operate equally in favour of the sublime,which in all things abhors mediocrity.
XV
Light In Building As the management of light is a matter of importance in architecture,it is worth inquiring,how far this remark is applicable to building.I think then,that all edifices calculated to produce an idea of the sublime,ought rather to be dark and gloomy,and this for two reasons;the first is,that darkness itself on other occasions is known by experience to have a greater effect on the passions than light.The second is,that to make an object very striking,we should make it as different as possible from the objects with which we have been immediately conversant;when therefore you enter a building,you cannot pass into a greater light than you had in the open air;to go into one some few degrees less luminous,can make only a trifling change;but to make the transition thoroughly striking,you ought to pass from the greatest light,to as much darkness as is consistent with the uses of architecture.A night the contrary rule will hold,but for the very same reason;and the more highly a room is then illuminated,the grander will the passion be.
XVI
Colour Considered As Productive Of The Sublime Among colours,such as are soft or cheerful (except perhaps a strong red which is cheerful)are unfit to produce grand images.An immense mountain covered with a shining green turf,is nothing,in this respect,to one dark and gloomy;the cloudy sky is more grand than the blue;and night more sublime and solemn than day.Therefore in historical painting,a gay or gaudy drapery can never have a happy effect:and in buildings,when the highest degree of the sublime is intended,the materials and ornaments ought neither to be white,nor green,nor yellow,nor blue,nor a pale red,nor violet,nor spotted,but of sad and fuscous colours,as black,or brown,or deep purple,and the like.
Much of gilding,mosaics,painting,or statues,contribute but little to the sublime.
This rule need not be put in practice,except where an uniform degree of the most striking sublimity is to be produced,and that in every particular;for it ought to be observed,that this melancholy kind of greatness,though it be certainly the highest,ought not to be studied in all sorts of edifices,where yet grandeur must be studied:in such cases the sublimity must be drawn from the other sources;with a strict caution however against anything light and riant;as nothing so effectually deadens the whole taste of the sublime.
XVII
Sound And Loudness The eye is not the only organ of sensation by which a sublime passion may be produced.Sounds have a great power in these as in most other passions.
I do not mean words,because words do not affect simply by their sounds,but by means altogether different.Excessive loudness alone is sufficient to overpower the soul,to suspend its action,and to fill it with terror.The noise of vast cataracts,raging storms,thunder,or artillery,awakes a great and awful sensation in the mind,though we can observe no nicety or artifice in those sorts of music.The shouting of multitudes has a similar effect;and,by the sole strength of the sound,so amazes and confounds the imagination,that,in this staggering and hurry of the mind,the best-established tempers can scarcely forbear being borne down,and joining in the common cry,and common resolution of the crowd.
XVIII
Suddenness A sudden beginning or sudden cessation of sound of any considerable force,has the name power.The attention is roused by this;and the faculties driven forward,as it were,on their guard.Whatever,either in sights or sounds,makes the transition from one extreme to the other easy,causes no terror,and consequently can be no cause of greatness.In everything sudden and unexpected,we are apt to start;that is,we have a perception of danger,and our nature rouses us to guard against it.It may be observed that a single sound of some strength,though but of short duration,if repeated after intervals,has a grand effect.Few things are more awful than the striking of a great clock,when the silence of the night prevents the attention from being too much dissipated.The same may be said of a single stroke on a drum,repeated with pauses;and of the successive firing of cannon at a distance.
All the effects mentioned in this section have causes very nearly alike.
XIX
Intermitting [Footnote 1:Sect.3.]
