The Spectator Volume Iii Part 40

No. 489. Sat.u.r.day, September 20, 1712. Addison.

[Greek: Bathyrrheitao mega sthenos 'okeaneio]--Hom.

SIR,

Upon reading your _Essay_ concerning the Pleasures of the Imagination, I find, among the three Sources of those Pleasures which you have discovered, [that] _Greatness_ is one. This has suggested to me the reason why, of all Objects that I have ever seen, there is none which affects my Imagination so much as the Sea or Ocean. I cannot see the Heavings of this prodigious Bulk of Waters, even in a Calm, without a very pleasing Astonishment; but when it is worked up in a Tempest, so that the Horizon on every side is nothing but foaming Billows and floating Mountains, it is impossible to describe the agreeable Horrour that rises from such a Prospect. A troubled Ocean, to a Man who sails upon it, is, I think, the biggest Object that he can see in motion, and consequently gives his Imagination one of the highest kinds of Pleasure that can arise from Greatness. I must confess, it is impossible for me to survey this World of fluid Matter, without thinking on the Hand that first poured it out, and made a proper Channel for its Reception. Such an Object naturally raises in my Thoughts the Idea of an Almighty Being, and convinces me of his Existence as much as a metaphysical Demonstration. The Imagination prompts the Understanding, and by the Greatness of the sensible Object, produces in it the Idea of a Being who is neither circ.u.mscribed by Time nor s.p.a.ce.

As I have made several Voyages upon the Sea, I have often been tossed in Storms, and on that occasion have frequently reflected on the Descriptions of them in ancient Poets. I remember _Longinus_ highly recommends one in _Homer_, because the Poet has not amused himself with little Fancies upon the occasion, as Authors of an inferiour Genius, whom he mentions, had done, but because he has gathered together those Circ.u.mstances which are the most apt to terrify the Imagination, and which really happen in the raging of a Tempest. [1]

It is for the same reason, that I prefer the following Description of a s.h.i.+p in a Storm, which the Psalmist has made, before any other I have ever met with.

'They that go down to the Sea in s.h.i.+ps, that do Business in great Waters: These see the Works of the Lord, and his Wonders in the Deep. For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy Wind, which lifteth up the Waters thereof. They mount up to the Heaven, they go down again to the Depths, their Soul is melted because of Trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken Man, and are at their Wits End. Then they cry unto the Lord in their Trouble, and he bringeth them out of their Distresses. He maketh the Storm a Calm, so that the Waves thereof are still. Then they are glad because they be quiet, so he bringeth them unto their desired Haven.' [2]

By the way, how much more comfortable, as well as rational, is this System of the Psalmist, than the Pagan Scheme in _Virgil_, and other Poets, where one Deity is represented as raising a Storm, and another as laying it? Were we only to consider the Sublime in this Piece of Poetry, what can be n.o.bler than the Idea it gives us of the Supreme Being thus raising the Tumult among the Elements, and recovering them out of their Confusion; thus troubling and becalming Nature?

Great Painters do not only give us Landskips of Gardens, Groves, and Meadows, but very often employ their Pencils upon Sea-Pieces: I could wish you would follow their Example. If this small Sketch may deserve a Place among your Works, I shall accompany it with a divine Ode, made by a Gentleman [3] upon the Conclusion of his Travels.

I. How are thy Servants blest, O Lord!

How sure is their Defence!

Eternal Wisdom is their Guide, Their Help Omnipotence.

II. In foreign Realms, and Lands remote, Supported by thy Care, Thro' burning Climes I pa.s.s'd unhurt, And breath'd in tainted Air.

III. Thy Mercy sweeten'd ev'ry Soil, Made ev'ry Region please; The h.o.a.ry Alpine Hills it warm'd, And smooth'd the Tyrrhene Seas:

IV. Think, O my Soul, devoutly think, How with affrighted Eyes Thou saw'st the wide extended Deep In all its Horrors rise!

V. Confusion dwelt in ev'ry Face, And Fear in ev'ry Heart; When Waves on Waves, and Gulphs in Gulphs, O'ercame the Pilot's Art.

VI. Yet then from all my Griefs, O Lord, Thy Mercy set me free, Whilst in the Confidence of Pray'r My Soul took hold on thee;

VII. For tho' in dreadful Whirles we hung High on the broken Wave, I knew thou wert not slow to Hear, Nor impotent to Save.

VIII. The Storm was laid, the Winds retir'd, Obedient to thy Will; The Sea that roar'd at thy Command, At thy Command was still.

IX. In midst of Dangers, Fears and Death, Thy Goodness I'll adore, And praise Thee for Thy Mercies past; And humbly hope for more.

X. My Life, if thou preserv'st my Life, Thy Sacrifice shall be; And Death, if Death must be my Doom, Shall join my Soul to thee.

O. [4]

[Footnote 1: On the Sublime, -- 10, where he compares a description of the terrors of the sea in a lost poem on the Arimaspians, by Aristaeus the Procomnesian, with the pa.s.sage in the 15th Book of the Iliad, which Pope thus translates:

'He bursts upon them all: Bursts as a wave that from the cloud impends, And swell'd with tempests on the s.h.i.+p descends; White are the decks with foam; the winds aloud Howl o'er the masts, and sing through every shroud: Pale, trembling, tir'd, the sailors freeze with fears, And instant death on every wave appears.']

[Footnote 2: Psalm cvii. 23-30.]

[Footnote 3: Addison.]

[Footnote 4: Appended to this number is the following

ADVERTIs.e.m.e.nT.

The Author of the_ SPECTATOR _having received the Pastoral Hymn in his 441st Paper, set to Musick by one of the most Eminent Composers of our own Country and by a Foreigner, who has not put his name to his ingenious Letter, thinks himself obliged to return his thanks to those Gentlemen for the Honour they have done him.]

No. 490. Monday, September 22, 1712. Steele.

'Domus et placens Uxor.'

Hor.

I have very long entertain'd an Ambition to make the Word _Wife_ the most agreeable and delightful Name in Nature. If it be not so in it self, all the wiser Part of Mankind from the Beginning of the World to this Day has consented in an Error: But our Unhappiness in _England_ has been, that a few loose Men of Genius for Pleasure, have turn'd it all to the Gratification of ungovern'd Desires, in spite of good Sense, Form and Order; when, in truth, any Satisfaction beyond the Boundaries of Reason, is but a Step towards Madness and Folly. But is the Sense of Joy and Accomplishment of Desire no way to be indulged or attain'd? and have we Appet.i.tes given us not to be at all gratify'd? Yes certainly.

Marriage is an Inst.i.tution calculated for a constant Scene of as much Delight as our Being is capable of. Two Persons who have chosen each other out of all the Species, with design to be each other's mutual Comfort and Entertainment, have in that Action bound themselves to be good-humour'd, affable, discreet, forgiving, patient and joyful, with respect to each other's Frailties and Perfections, to the End of their Lives. The wiser of the two (and it always happens one of them is such) will for her or his own sake, keep things from Outrage with the utmost Sanct.i.ty. When this Union is thus preserved (as I have often said) the most indifferent Circ.u.mstance administers Delight. Their Condition is an endless Source of new Gratifications. The married Man can say, If I am unacceptable to all the World beside, there is one whom I entirely love, that will receive me with Joy and Transport, and think herself obliged to double her Kindness and Caresses of me from the Gloom with which she sees me overcast. I need not dissemble the Sorrow of my Heart to be agreeable there, that very Sorrow quickens her Affection.