The Sublime: A Reader in British Eighteenth-Century Aesthetic Theory

325 Pages·1996·18.64 MB·English

by  Andrew Ashfield

This collection of texts on the sublime provides the historical context for the
foundation and discussion of one of the most important aesthetic debates of
the enlightenment. The significance of the sublime ranged across a number of
fields in the eighteenth century - literary criticism, empirical psychology,
political economy, connoisseurship, landscape design and aesthetics,
painting and the fine arts, and moral philosophy — and has continued to
animate aesthetic and theoretical debates to this day. However, the
unavailability of many of the crucial texts of the founding tradition has
resulted in a conception of the sublime often limited to the definitions of its
most famous theorist Edmund Burke. Andrew Ashfield and Peter de Bolla's
anthology, which includes an introduction, and headnotes to each entry,
now offers students and scholars ready access to a much deeper and more
complex tradition of writings on the sublime, many of them never before
printed in modern editions.

The sublime: a reader
in British eighteenth-century aesthetic theory

The sublime: a reader in
British eighteenth-century aesthetic theory
Edited by
Andrew Ashfield and Peter de Bolla
M CAMBRIDGE
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UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© Cambridge University Press 1996
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no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1996
Reprinted 1998
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
The sublime: a reader in British eighteenth-century aesthetic theory
edited by Andrew Ashfield and Peter de Bolla.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references,
ISBN 0 521 39545 3. – ISBN 0 521 39582 8 (pbk.)
1 Sublime, The. 1 Ashfield, Andrew, 1956- II. De Bolla, Peter, 1957-
BH301.S7S82 1996
111´.85–dc20 95-43245 CIP

isbn 978-0-521-39545-8 Hardback
isbn 978-0-521-39582-3 Paperback
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Contents
List of Abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
Part I: The Longinian tradition 17
1. from Dionysius Longinus on the sublime (1743) 22
2. John Dennis, from Remarks on a book entitled, Prince Arthur (1696) 30
3. John Dennis, from The advancement and reformation of modern poetry 32
(1701)
4. John Dennis, from The grounds of criticism in poetry (1704) 35
5. Sir Richard Blackmore, from Essays upon several subjects (1716) 40
6. Tamworth Reresby, from A miscellany of ingenious thoughts (1721) 43
7. Jonathan Richardson, the elder, from An essay on the theory of painting 45
(1725)
8. Thomas Stackhouse, from Reflections on the nature and property of 49
languages (London 1731)
9. Hildebrand Jacob, from The works (1735) 53
10. Joseph Trapp, from Lectures on poetry (1742) 55
Part II: Rhapsody to rhetoric 5 7
11. Joseph Addison, from The spectator, (1712-1714) 62
12. Joseph Addison, from A discourse on ancient and modern learning (1734) 70
13. Anthony Ashley Cooper, Third Earl of Shaftesbury, from Characteristicks 72
(1714)
14. HenryNeedler,fromTheworks(1724) 80
15. Mark Akenside, from To David Fordyce, 18th June 1742 84
16. MarkAkenside,fromThepleasuresofimagination(1744) 86
17. John Baillte, An essay on the sublime (1747) 87
18. DavidHartley,fromObservationsonman(1749) 101
19. Robert Lowth, from Lectures on the sacred poetry of the Hebrews 106
(1753/1787)
20. Samuel Johnson, fromAdictionaryoftheEnglishlanguage(1755) 111
21. Edward Young, from Conjectures on original composition (1759) 113
vii
viii Contents
22. James Burgh, from The art of speaking (1761) 116
23. Joseph Priestley, from A course of lectures on oratory and criticism (1777) 119
24. Frances Reynolds, from An enquiry concerning the principles of taste (1785) 124
Part III: Irish Perspectives 127
25. Edmund Burke, from A philosophical enquiry into the origin of our ideas 131
of the sublime and beautiful (1759)
26. JohnLawson,fromLecturesconcerningoratory(1758) 144
27. JamesUsher,fromClio:or,adiscourseontaste(1769) 147
Part IV: The Aberdonian Enlightenment 157
28. Thomas Blackwell, from An enquiry into the life and writings of Homer 163
(1735)
29. David Fordyce, from Theodorus: a dialogue concerning the art of 166
preaching (1752)
30. Alexander Gerard, from An essay on taste (1759) 168
31. William Duff, from An essay on original genius (1767) 173
32. ThomasReid,fromEssaysontheintellectualpowersofrnan(1785) 178
33. James Beattie, from Dissertations moral and critical (1783) 180
Part V: Edinburgh and Glasgow 195
34. David Hume, from A treatise of human nature (1739-40) 199
35. Hugh Blair, from A critical dissertation on the poems of Ossian (1763) 207
36. HughBlair,fromLecturesonrhetoricandbelleslettres(1783) 213
37. Henry Home, Lord Kames, from Elements of criticism (1765) 224
38. Adam Smith, from Essays on philosophical subjects (1758/1795) 233
39. Adam Smith, from The theory of moral sentiments (1759/1790) 244
40. Adam Ferguson, from An essay on the history of civil society (1767) 253
Part VI: From the Picturesque to the Political 263
41. Sir William Chambers, from A dissertation on oriental gardening (1772) 268
42. Uvedale Price, from An essay on the picturesque (1794) 271
43. WilliamMarshall,fromAreviewofThelandscape(1795) 276
44. William Godwin, from The history of the life of William Pitt, 278
Earl of Chatham (1783)
45. William Godwin, from Enquiry concerning political justice (1798) 280
46. Edmund Burke, from Reflections on the revolution in France (1790) 286
47. Edmund Burke, from A letter from the right honourable Edmund Burke 292
to a noble lord (1796)
48. Mary Wollstonecraft, from A vindication of the rights of man (1790) 294
49. Helen Maria Williams, from Letters written in France (1790) 300
50. Helen Maria Williams, from A tour in Switzerland (1798) 303
Sources and further reading 307
Abbreviations
BJA British Journal of Aesthetics
CI Critical Inquiry
ECS Eighteenth-Century Studies
ELH Journal of English Literary History
ESQ Emerson Studies Quarterly
JAAC Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism
JBS Journal of British Studies
JEGP Journal of English and Germanic Philology
JHI Journal of the History of Ideas
KCS Kobe College Studies
MLN Modern Language Notes
MP Modern Philology
NLH New Literary History
PMASAL Publications of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters
PMLA Publications of the Modern Language Association
PQ Philosophical Quarterly
QJE Quarterly Journal of Economics
QJS Quarterly Journal of Speech
RES R eview of English Studies
SEC Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture
SM Speech Monographs
SP Studies in Philology
SVEC Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century
WS Western Speech
IX