of chaẩm, that wants to be filled with matter of a more fenfible bulk. We can neither widen nor contract the faculty to the dimenfions of either extreme. The object is too big for our capacity, when we would comprehend the circumference of a world; and dwindles into nothing, when we endeavour after the idea of an

atom.

It is poffible this defect of imagination may not be in the foul itfelf, but as it acts in conjunction with the body. Perhaps there may not be room in the brain for fuch a variety of impreffions,

TH

or the animal fpirits may be incapable of figuring them in fuch a manner, as is neceffary to excite fo very large or very minute ideas. However it be, we may well fuppofe that beings of a higher na ture very much excel us in this refpect, as it is probable the foul of man will be infinitely more perfect hereafter in this faculty, as well as in all the rett; infomuch that, perhaps, the imagination will be able to keep pace with the underítanding, and to form in itself distinct ideas of all the different modes and quantities of space.

HE pleafures of the imagination are not wholly confined to fuch particular authors as are converfant in material objects, but are often to be met with among the polite matters of morality, criticism, and other speculations abfracted from matter, who, though they do not directly treat of the vifible parts of nature, often draw from them their fimilitudes, metaphors, and allegories, By thefe allufions a truth in the underftanding is as it were reflected by the imagination; we are able to fee fomething like colour and fhape in a notion, and to discover a fcheme of thoughts traced out upon matter. And here the mind receives a great deal of fatisfaction, and has two of it's faculties gratified at the fame time; while the fancy is busy in copying after the understanding, and tranfcribing ideas out of the intellectual world into the material.

The great art of a writer fhews itself in the choice of pleafing allufions, which are generally to be taken from the great or beautiful works of art or nature; for though whatever is new or uncommon is apt to delight the imagination, the chief defign of an allufion being to ilJuftrate and explain the paffages of an author, it fhould be always borrowed from what is more known and common, than the paffages which are to be explained.

ADDISON.

Allegories, when well chofen, are like so many tracks of light in a difcourtè, that make every thing about them clear and beautiful. A noble metaphor, when it is placed to an advantage, cafts a kind of glory round it, and darts a Inftre through a whole fentence. Thefe different kinds of allufion are but so many different manners of fimilitude; and, that they may please the imagination, the likenefs ought to be very exact, or very agreeable, as we love to fee a picture where the resemblance is juft, or the pofture and air graceful. But we often find eminent writers very faulty in this refpect; great fcholars are apt to fetch their comparisons and allufions from the fciences in which they are most converfant, fo that a man may fee the compafs of their learning in a treatise on the most indifferent fubject. I have read a difcourfe upon love, which none but a profound chymift could understand, and have heard many a fermon that should only have been preached before a congregation of Cartefians. On the contrary, your men of business usually have recourfe to fuch inftances as are too mean and familiar. They are for drawing the reader into a game of chefs or tennis, or for leading him from thop to fhop in the cant of particular trades and employ ments. It is certain, there may be found an infinite variety of very agreeable al

Jufions

lufions in both these kinds; but, for the generality, the moft entertaining ones lie in the works of nature, which are obvious to all capacities, and more delightful than what is to be found in arts and sciences.

It is this talent of affecting the ima gination, that gives an embellishment to good fenfe, and makes one man's compolitions more agreeable than another's. It fets off all writings in general, but is the very life and highest perfection of poetry: where it fhines in an eminent degree, it has preferved feveral poems for many ages, that have nothing elfe to recommend them; and where all the other beauties are prefent, the work ap pears dry and infipid, if this fingle one be wanting. It has fomething in it like creation: it bestows a kind of existence, and draws up to the reader's view feve ral objects which are not to be found in being. It makes additions to nature, and gives greater variety to God's works. In a word, it is able to beautify and adorn the most illuftrious fcenes in the univerfe, or to fill the mind with more. glorious fhows and apparitions, than can be found in any part of it.

We have now difcovered the feveral originals of thofe pleasures that gratify the fancy; and here, perhaps, it would not be very difficult to caft under their proper heads thofe contrary objects, which are apt to fill it with diftate and terror; for the imagination is as liable to pain as pleature. When the brain is hurt by any accident, or the mind difordered by dreams or fickness, the fancy is over run with wild difmal ideas, and terrified with a thousand hideous monfters of it's own framing.

Eumenidum veluti demens videt agmina Pentheus,

Et folem geminum, et duplices fe eflendere The

bast

Aut Agamemnonius fcenis agitatus Oreftes,
Armatam facibus matrem et ferpentibus atris
Cùm fugit, ultricefque fedent in limine Dira.
VIRG. N. IV. V. 469.

Like Pentheus, when diftracted with his fear,
He faw two funs; and double Thebes appear:
Or mad Oreftes, when his mother's ghoft
Full in his face infernal torches toft,
And hook her fnaky locks: he fluns the
fight,

Flies o'er the ftage, furpriz'd with mortal
fright;

The furies guard the door, and intercept bis flight.

DRYDEN.

There is not a fight in nature fo mortifying as that of a diftracted perfon, when his imagination is troubled, and his whole foul difordered and confused. Babylon in ruins is not fo melancholy a fpectacle. But to quit fo difagreeable a fubject, I thall only confider, by way of conclufion, what an infinite advantage this faculty gives an almighty Being over the foul of man, and how great a measure of happiness or misery we are capable of receiving from the imagination only.

We have already feen the influence that one man has over the fancy of another, and with what eafe he conveys into it a variety of imagery; how great a power then may we fuppofe lodged in him, who knows all the ways of affecting the imagination, who can infufe what ideas he pleases, and fill those ideas with terror and delight to what degree he thinks fit? He can excite images in the mind without the help of words, and make scenes rife up before us and feem prefent to the eye without the affiftance of bodies or exterior objects. He can tranfport the imagination with fuch beautiful and glorious visions, as cannot poffibly enter into our prefent conceptions, or haunt it with fuch ghaftly fpectres and apparitions, as would make us hope for annihilation, and think existence no better than a curfe. In short, he can fo exquifitely ravish or torture the foul through this fingle faculty, as might fuffice to make the whole heaven or hell of any finite being.

This effay on the pleasures of the imagination having been published in feveral papers, I thall conclude it with a table of the principal contents of each paper.

THE CONTENTS.
PAPER I.

THE perfection of our fight above our

other fenfes. The pleasures of the imagination arife originally from fight. The pleafures of the imagination divided imagination in fome refpe&ts equal tothofe under two heads. The pleasures of the of the understanding. The extent of the pleafures of the imagination. The advantages a man receives from a relish of thefe pleafures. In what refpect they are preferable to those of the understanding.

PAPER II.

Three fources of all the pleafures of the imagination, in our furvey of out502 ward

.

ward objects. How what is great pleases the imagination. How what is new pleafes the imagination. How what is beautiful in our own fpecies pleafes the imagination. How what is beautiful in general pleases the imagination. What other accidental caules may contribute to the heightening of these pleafures.

PAPER III.

Why the neceffary cufe of our being pleased with what is great, new, or beautiful, unknown. Why the final caufe more known and more useful. The final caufe of our being pleafed with what is great. The final caufe of our being pleased with what is new. The final caufe of our being pleafed with what is beautiful in our own fpecies. The final caufe of our being pleafed with what is beautiful in general.

PAPER IV.

The works of nature more pleasant to the imagination than those of art. The works of nature ftill more pleasant, the more they refemble thofe of art. The works of art more pleasant, the more they refemble thofe of nature. Our English plantations and gardens confidered in the foregoing light.

PAPER V.

Of architecture, as it affects the ima. gination. Greatnefs in architecture relates either to the bulk or to the manner.

Greatness of bulk in the ancient oriental buildings. The ancient accounts of thefe buildings confirmed, 1. From the advantages for raifing fuch works, in the firft ages of the world, and in the eastern climates: 2. From feveral of them which are ftill extant. Inttances how greatness of manner affects the imagination. A French author's obfervation on this fubject. Why concave and convex figures give a greatness of manner to works of architecture. Every thing that pleases the imagination in architecture, is either great, beautiful,

or new.

PAPER VI.

The fecondary pleatures of the imagination. The feveral fources of thefe pleasures, ftatuary, painting, defcription, and mufic, compared together. The final caule of our receiving pleafure from these feveral fources. Of deferiptions in particular. The power of words over the imagination. Why one reader more pleafed with defcriptions than an

other.

PAPER VII.

How a whole set of ideas hang toge ther, &c. A natural caufe affigned for it. How to perfect the imagination of a writer. Who among the ancient poets had this faculty in it's greatest perfection. Homer excelled in imagining what is great; Virgil in imagining what is beautiful; Ovid in imagining what is new. Our own countryman Milton very perfect in all three refpects.

PAPER VIII.

Why any thing that is unpleasant to behold, pleafes the imagination when well defcribed. Why the imagination receives a more exquifite pleasure from the defcription of what is great, new, or beautiful. The pleafure still heightened, if what is defcribed raises paffion in the mind. Difagreeable paffions pleafing when raised by apt defcriptions. Why terror and grief are pleafing to the mind when excited by defcription. A particular advantage the writers in poetry and fiction have to please the imagination. What liberties are al

lowed them.

PAPER IX.

Of that kind of poetry which Mr. Dryden calls the fairy way of writing. How a poet fhould be qualified for it. The pleasures of the imagination that moderns excel the ancients. Why the arife from it. In this refpect why the English excel the moderns. Who the beft among the English. Of emblematical perfons.

PAPER X.

What authors please the imagination. Who have nothing to do with fiction. How hiftory pleates the imagination. How the authors of the new philofophy please the imagination. The bounds and defects of the imagination. Whether these defects are effential to the imagination.

PAPER XI.

How thofe please the imagination, who treat of fubjects abftracted from matter, by allufions taken from it. What allufions moft pleating to the imagination. Great writers how faulty in this refpect. Of the art of imagining in general. The imagination capable of pain as well as pleafure. In what degree the imagination is capable either of pain or pleasure.

N

TULL. EPIST.

Do not know any thing which gives greater disturbance to converfation, than the falfe rotion fome people have of raillery. It ought certainly to be the first point to be aimed at in fociety, to gain the good-will of thofe with whom you converse. The way to that, is to fhew you are well inclined towards them; what then can be more abfurd, than to fet up for being extremely fharp and biting, as the term is, in your expreffions to your familiars? A man who has no good quality but courage, is in a very ill way towards making an agreeable figure in the world, because that which he has fuperior to other people cannot be exerted, without railing himfelf an enemy. Your gentleman of a fatirical vein is in the like condition. To fay a thing which perplexes the heart of him you speak to, or brings blufhes into his face, is a degree of murder; and it is, I think, an unpardonable of fence, to fhew a man you do not care whether he is pleafed or difpleafed. But will you not then take a jett? Yes; but pray let it be a jeft. It is no jeft to put me, who am fo unhappy as to have an utter averfion to fpeaking to more than one man at a time, under a neceffity to explain myfelf in much company, and reducing me to fhame and derifion, except I perform what my infirmity of filence difables me to do.

Callifthenes has great wit, accompanied with that quality, without which a man can have no wit at all, a found judgment. This gentleman rallies the beft of any man I know; for he forms his ridicule upon a circumstance which you are in your heart not unwilling to grant him, to wit, that you are guilty of an excels in fomething which is in itfelf laudable. He very well understands what you would be, and needs not fear your anger for declaring you are a little too much that thing. The generous will bear being reproached as lavish, and the valiant as rafh, without being provoked to relentr.ent against their monitor. What has been laid to be a

mark of a good writer, will fall in with the character of a good companion. The good writer makes his reader better pleafed with himself, and the agreeable man makes his friends enjoy themselves, rather than him, while he is in their company. Callifthenes does this with, inimitable pleafantry. He whispered a friend the other day, fo as to be overheard by a young officer, who gave fymptoms of cocking upon the company-That gentleman has very much

of the air of a general officer.'. The youth immediately put on a compofed behaviour, and behaved himself fuitably to the conceptions he believed the company had of him. It is to be allowed that Callifthenes will make a man run into impertinent relations, to his own advantage, and exprefs the fatisfaction he has in his own dear felf until he is very ridiculous; but in this cafe the man is made a fool by his own consent, and not expofed as fuch whether he will or no. I take it therefore that, to make raillery agreeable, a man must either not know he is rallied, or think never the worfe of himself if he fees he is.

Acetus is of a quite contrary genius, and is more generally adinired than Callifthenes, but not with justice. Acetus has no regard to the modefty or weaknefs of the perfon he rallies; but if the quality or humility gives him any fuperiority to the man he would fall upon, he has no mercy on making the onfet. He can be pleafed to fee his best friend out of countenance, while the laugh is loud in his own applaufe. His raillery, always puts the company into little divilions and feparate interefts; while that of Callifthenes çements it, and makes every man not only better pleafed with himself, but also with all the rett in the converfation.

To rally well, it is abfolutely neceffary that kindnef's must run through all you fay, and you must ever preferve the character of a friend to fupport your pretenfions to be free with a man. Acetus ought to be banished human fociety,

because

because he raises his mirth upon giving pain to the perfon upon whom he is pleafant. Nothing but the malevolence, which is too general towards thofe who excel, could make his company tolerated; but they, with whom he converfes, are fure to fee fome man facrificed whereever he is admitted, and all the credit he has for wit is owing to the gratification it gives to other men's ill-nature.

Minutius has a wit that conciliates a man's love at the fame time that it is exerted against his faults. He has an art in keeping the perfon he rallies in countenance, by infinuating that he himfelf is guilty of the fame imperfec tion. This he does with fo much addrefs, that he feems rather to bewail himself, than fall upon his friend.

It is really monftrous to fee how unaccountably it prevails among men, to take the liberty of difpleafing each other. One would think sometimes that the contention is, who fhall be most disagreeable. Allufions to past follies, hints which revive what a man has a mind to forget for ever, and defires that all the reft of the world should, are commonly brought forth even in company of men of diftinction. They do not thrust with the fkill of fencers, but cut up with the barbarity of butchers. It is, methinks, below the character of men of humanity and good-manners, to be capable of mirth while there is any one of the company in pain and diforder. They who have the true talte of converfation, enjoy themselves in a communication of sach other's excellencies, and not in a

triumph over their imperfections. ForHus would have been reckoned a wit, if there had never been a fool in the world; he wants not foils to be a beauty, but has that natural pleasure in obferving perfection in others, that his own faults are overlooked out of gratitude by all his acquaintance.

After thefe feveral charaters of men who fucceed or fail in raillery, it may not be amifs to reflect a little further what one takes to be the most agreeable kind of it; and that to me appears when. the fatire is directed against vice, with an air of contempt of the fault, but no. ill-will to the criminal. Mr. Congreve's Doris is a mafter piece in this kind. It is the character of a woman utterly, abandoned, but her impudence by the finest piece of raillery is made only ge. nerofity.

Peculiar therefore is her way,
Whether by nature taught,
I shall not undertake to fay,
Or by experience bought;

For who o'er night obtain'd her grace,

She can next day difown,

And ftare upon the ftrange man's face,
As one the ne'er had known.

So well the can the truth disguise,
Such artful wonder frame,
The lover or diftrufts his eyes,

Or thinks 'twas all a dream.

Some cenfure this as lewd or low,
Who are to bounty blind;
But to forget what we bestow,
Befpeaks a noble mind.

myself as kind of guar

HOR. OD. XXVI. L. 3. v. 1.

not want admirers. She has had fince

watchful to obferve any thing which concerns their intereft. The prefent paper fhall be employed in the fervice of a very fine young woman; and the admonitions I give her, may not be un ufeful to the reft of her fex. Gloriana fhall be the name of the heroine in today's entertainment; and when I have told you that he is rich, witty, young, and beautiful, you will believe he does

thofe lovers, who make their addreffes by way of jointure and fettlement Thefe come and go with great indifference on both fides; and as beauteous as the is, a line in a deed has had exception enough againt it, to outweigh the luftre of her eyes, the readinefs of her understanding, and the merit of her general character. But among the crowd of fuch cool adorers, she has two

who