Another species of false sublime, is still more faulty than bombast; and that is, to force an elevation by introducing imaginary beings without preserving any propriety in their actions; as if it were lawful to ascribe every extravagance and inconsistence to beings of the poet’s creation. No writers are more licentious in this article than Johnson and Dryden. Methinks I see Death and the furies waiting What we will do, and all the heaven at leisure For the great spectacle. Draw then your swords: And if our destiny envy our virtue The honour of the day, yet let us care To sell ourselves at such a price, as may Undo the world to buy us, and make Fate, While she tempts ours, to fear her own estate. _Catiline, act 5._ ---- The furies stood on hills Circling the place, and trembled to see men Do more than they: whilst Piety left the field, Griev’d for that side, that in so bad a cause They knew not what a crime their valour was. The Sun stood still, and was, behind the cloud The battle made, seen sweating to drive up His frighted horse, whom still the noise drove backward. _Ibid. act. 5._ _Osmyn._ While we indulge our common happiness, He is forgot by whom we all possess, The brave Almanzor, to whose arms we owe All that we did, and all that we shall do; Who like a tempest that outrides the wind, Made a just battle ere the bodies join’d. _Abdalla._ His victories we scarce could keep in view, Or polish ’em so fast as he rough drew. _Abdemelech._ Fate after him below with pain did move, And Victory could scarce keep pace above. Death did at length so many slain forget, And lost the tale, and took ’em by the great. _Conquest of Granada, act. 2. at beginning._ The gods of Rome fight for ye; loud Fame calls ye, Pitch’d on the topless Apenine, and blows To all the under world, all nations, The seas and unfrequented deserts, where the snow dwells, Wakens the ruin’d monuments, and there Where nothing but eternal death and sleep is, Informs again the dead bones. _Beaumont and Fletcher, Bonduca, act. 3. sc. 3._ I close with the following observation, That an actor upon the stage may be guilty of bombast as well as an author in his closet. A certain manner of acting, which is grand when supported by dignity in the sentiment and force in the expression, is ridiculous where the sentiment is mean, and the expression flat. CHAP. V. Motion and Force. That motion is agreeable to the eye without relation to purpose or design, may appear from the amusement it gives to infants. Juvenile exercises are relished chiefly upon that account.