Aaron Hill to Samuel Richardson, 13 October 1746, on a past conversation with Alexander Pope on the sublime in poetry:
'I informed him [Pope], that, at reading a new play at Lord Tyrconnel's, there was present a gentleman, distinguished for rank and genius, who [...] repeated those fine lines to the earl of Oxford, printed before Dr Parnell's poems [...] this gentleman had been so generously warmed, in his repeating them, that he was the most undeniable example I had ever seen of all Longinus's effect of the sublime, in its most amiable force of energy! [...] he told us, "He could never read those verses without rapture; for, that sentiments such as those were, appeared to carry more of the god in them than the man, and he was never weary of admiring them!" [goes on to relate how he identified this reader to Pope as the Speaker of the House of Commons]'
Unknown
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Earl of Tyrconnel and guests including Aaron Hill
