30

EMOTION OF THE SUBLIME.

tion which accompanied the genuine emotion of the sublime, Many years afterwards, I again visited the bridge. I entertained the belief, that I had preserved in my mind, all along, the idea of the object; and that now I should see it without emotion. But the fact was not so. The view, at this time, produced a revival of the original emotion, with the conscious feeling that the idea of the object had faded away, and become both obscure and diminutive, but was now restored, in an instant, to its original vividness, and magnitude. The emotion produced by an object of true sublimity, as it is very vivid, so it is very short in its continuance. It seems, then, that novelty must be added to other qualities in the object, to produce this emotion distinctly. A person living near the bridge, who should see it every day, might be pleased with the object, but would experience, after a while, nothing of the vivid emotion of the sublime. Thus, I think, it must be accounted for, that the starry heavens, or the sun shining in his strength, are viewed with little emotion of this kind, although much the sublimest objects in our view; we have been accustomed to view them daily, from our infancy. But a bright-coloured rainbow, spanning a large arch in the heavens, strikes all classes of persons with a mingled emotion of the sublime and beautiful; to which a sufficient degree of novelty is added, to render the impression vivid, as often as it occurs. I have reflected on the reason why the Natural Bridge produces the emotion of the sublime, so well defined and so vivid; but I have arrived at nothing satisfactory. It must be resolved into an ultimate law of our nature, that a novel object of that elevation and form will produce such an

effect. Any attempt at analyzing objects of beauty and sublimity only tends to produce confusion in our ideas. To artists, such analysis may be useful; not to increase the emotion, but to enable them to imitate more effectually the objects of nature by which it is produced. Although I have conversed with many thousands who had seen the Natural Bridge; and although the liveliness of the emotion is very different in different persons; yet I never saw one, of any class, who did not view the object with considerable emotion. And none have ever expressed disappointment from having had their expectations raised too high, by the description previously received. Indeed, no previous description communicates any just conception of the object as it appears; and the attempts to represent it by the pencil, as far as I have seen them, are pitiful. Painters would show their wisdom by omitting to represent some of the objects of nature, such as a volcano in actual ebullition, the sea in a storm, the conflagration of a great city, or the scene of a battle-field. The imitation must be so faint and feeble, that the attempt, however skilfully executed, is apt to produce disgust, instead of admiration.”

EFORE we accompany the youthful teacher on his travels,

BEFOR

it is proper that we should gather some notices of his moral and religious experience, during the period of childhood and youth. This we shall do chiefly from certain volumes of manuscript Reminiscences, in the hands of his children.

Having been religiously and even strictly educated, after the manner of the old Presbyterians, he was not without solemn awakenings from time to time. At an early age, he received deep impressions from the sermon of a travelling minister; but, as a caution to parents, he records that these instantly vanished upon his hearing the discourse disparaged by his father and mother. At the particular period last mentioned by us, his religious views were crude and insufficient. "My only notion of religion was that it consisted in becoming better. I had never heard of any conversion among the Presbyterians.The state of morals and religion in that country, after the Revolutionary War, was very

STATE OF MORALS.

33

bad. The old continental soldiers, many of whom in that quarter were convicts, now returned, and having received certificates for their wages, were able to live for a while in idleness and dissipation. Robert, a shrewd, intelligent man, who was one of this number, had acquired a house in Lexington, the old farm-house of Isaac Campbell, who owned the land. Here he collected all the vagrants in the country, and a drunken bout would be kept up for weeks. They called themselves the Congress, and made Bob their president. Hard battles were fought here. The better class of people were as much injured by the profane and licentious manners of the officers of the disbanded army, as the lower classes by the soldiery.

"There were a few pious people in the land, who kept up the power of religion, and were as salt to preserve the mass from universal putrefaction. Among these, the elder John Lyle, and his wife Flora, my aunt, were conspicuous; to whom may be added an old Mr. M'Nutt, Alexander Walker, John Wilson and Hugh Weir; the two last being ruling elders in Monmouth. These persons spake often one with another about the affairs of the Kingdom. They were exceedingly dreaded by the wildest of the people, being both reverenced and hated. I remember having been at a dance in Lexington, when John Lyle, the elder, called to see a man with whom he had business; and it is inconceivable what a consternation was spread through the company, when his grave and stately form was seen to approach the house. "Much of our time, which should have been spent in study, was consumed in playing cards, at which I became a

34

DEPARTURE FROM HOME.

great adept; so managing, however, as to avoid detection, except in one instance. The vacation had taken place, and a number of us agreed to meet in the Academy, and there pursue our usual amusement. But while we surrounded the

table, and after the cards had been dealt, Mr. Roane entered the room. Seeing what we were about, he seemed confounded and passed along. We were in great alarm, and fell into a hot dispute as to whether he had made any discovery ; when after a few minutes he returned and spoke to us in a very serious and admonitory manner. But he said that if we would pledge ourselves never to be guilty of such an offence again while we were students, he would not inform against us. To this we readily agreed, and I kept my promise, for I have never thrown a card from that day to this."

From what has been said, it is sufficiently obvious, that he left his father's house with no tokens as to the manner of life which he was destined to lead. His journey was a solitary one, across the Blue Ridge, a distance of one hundred and forty miles. And this brought him to a new and important period of his history.

At the early age of seventeen Archibald Alexander left his father's house, to become a private tutor in the family of General John Posey, of the Wilderness, in the county of Spotsylvania. The family residence was in a very retired situation, where a few persons of wealth had valuable estates. Among these, visits were frequent, but few other persons came into the neighbourhood. General Posey had done service in the Revolution as a commander of riflemen in Morgan's