glorious Shows and Apparitions, than can be found in any Part of it.

WE have now discovered 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 Diftafte and Terror; for the Imagination is as liable to Pain as Pleafure. When the Brain is hurt by any Accident, or the Mind disordered by Dreams or Sicknefs, the Fancy is over-run with wild difmal Ideas, and terrified with a thousand hideous Monsters of its own framing.

Eumenidum veluti demens videt Agmina Pentheus,
Et falem geminum, & duplices fe oftendere Thebas:
Aut Agamemnonius fcenis agitatus Orefies,
Armatam facibus matrem & ferpentibus atris
Cum fugit, ultricefque fedent in limine Dira.

Virg. Æn. 4. v. 469.

Like Pentheus, when, diftracted with his Fear,
He faw two Suns, and double Thebes appear:
Or mad Oreftes, when his Mother's Ghost
Full in his Face infernal Torches toft,

And shook her fnaky Locks: he fhuns the fight,
Flies o'er the Stage, furpriz'd with mortal fright;
The Furies guard the Door, and intercept his flight.

DRYDEN.

THERE is not a Sight in Nature fo mortifying as that of a Diftracted Perfon, when his Imagination is troubled, and his whole Soul difordered and confused. Babylon in Ruins is not fo melancholy a Spectacle. But to quit fo difagreeable a Subject, I fhall only confider by way of Conclufion, what an infinite Advantage this Faculty gives an Almighty Being over the Soul of Man, and how great a measure of Happiness or Mifery we are capable of receiving from the Imagination only.

W E have already feen the Influence that one Man has over the Fancy of another, and with what Ease 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 thofe 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 present to the Eye without the Affistance of Bodies or Exterior Objects. He can transport the Imagination with fuch beautiful and glorious Vifions, as cannot poffibly enter into our prefent Conceptions, or haunt it with fuch ghaftly Spectres 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 Soul 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 feparate Papers, I fhall conclude it with a Table of the principal Contents of each Paper.

T

The CONTENT S.

PAPER I.

HE Perfection of our Sight above our other Senfes. The Pleafures of the Imagination arife originally from Sight. The Pleasures of the Imagination divided under two Heads. The Pleafures of the Imagination in Some Refpects equal to thofe of the Understanding. The Extent of the Pleafures of the Imagination. The Advan tages a Man receives from a Relish of thefe Pleasures. In what Refpect they are preferable to thofe of the Un-· derftanding.

PAPER II.

own

THREE Sources of all the Pleasures of the Imagination, in our Survey of outward Objects. How what is Great pleafes the Imagination. How what is New pleases the Imagination. How what is Beautiful in our Species pleafes the Imagination. How what is Beautiful in general pleafes the Imagination. What other accidental Caufes may contribute to the heightning of these Pleafures.

PAPER III.

WHY the Neceffary Caufe of our being pleafed with what is Great, New, or Beautiful, unknown. Why the

E 4

Final

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 Species. The Final Cause of our being pleased with what is Beautiful in general.

PAPER IV.

THE Works of Nature more pleasant to the Imagination than thofe of Art. The Works of Nature ftill more pleafant, the more they refemble thofe of Art. The Works of Art more pleasant, the more they resemble thofe of Nature. Our English Plantations and Gardens confidered in the foregoing Light.

PAPER V.

OF Architecture, as it affects the Imagination. 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 confirm'd, 1. From the Advantages for raifing fuch Works, in the firft Ages of the World, and in the Eaftern Climates: 2. From feveral of them which are still extant. Inftances how Greatnefs of Manner affects the Imagination. A French Author's Obfervation on this Subject. 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 Secondary Pleasures of the Imagination. The feveral Sources of thefe Pleafures,. (Statuary, Painting, Defcription and Mufick) compared together. The Final Caufe of our receiving Pleafure from thefe feveral Sources. Of Defcriptions in particular. The Power of Words over the Imagination. Why one Reader more pleased with Defcriptions than another.

PAPER VII.

HOW a whole Set of Ideas Hang together, &c. A Natural Caufe affigned for it. How to perfect the Imagination of a Writer. Who among the Ancient Poets had this Faculty in its greatest Perfection. Homer excelled in Ima

gining 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, pleases 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 ftill heightned, 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 Defcriptions. A particular Advantage the Writers in Poetry and Fiction have to please the Imagination. What Liberties are allowed them.

PAPER IX.

OF that kind of Poetry which Mr. Dryden calls the Fairy Way of Writing. How a Poet should be Qualified for it. The Pleafures of the Imagination that arife from it. In this refpect why the Moderns excel the Ancients. Why the English excel the Moderns. Who the best among the English. Of Emblematical Perfons.

PAPER X.

WHAT Authors please the Imagination, who have nothing to do with Fiction. How Hiftory pleafes the Imagination. How the Authors of the new Philofophy pleafe the Imagination. The Bounds and Defects of the Imagination. Whether thefe Defects are Effential to the Imagination.

PAPER XI.

HOW thofe please the Imagination, who treat of Subjects abftracted from Matter, by Allufions taken from it. What Allufions most pleafing to the Imagination. Great Writers bow Faulty in this Refpect. Of the Art of Imagining in general. The Imagination capable of Pain as well as Pleasure. In what Degree the Imagination is capable either of Pain or Pleasure.

Hæc fcripfi non otii abundantiâ, fed amoris erga te.

Tull. Epift.

I have written this, not out of Abundance of Leifure, but of my Affection towards you.

T

Do not know any thing which gives greater Difturbance to Converfation, than the falfe Notion some People have of Rallery. It ought certainly to be the first Point to be aimed at in Society, to gain the Goodwill of those with whom you converfe. 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 sharp 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 raifing himself an Enemy. Your Gentleman of a Satirical Vein is in the like Condition. To fay a Thing which perplexes the Heart of him you speak to, or brings Blushes into his Face, is a degree of Murder; and it is, I think, an unpardonable Offence to fhew a Man you do not care, whether he is pleafed or difpleafed. But won't you then take a Jeft? Yes: but pray let it be a Jeft. It is no Jeft to put me, who am so unhappy as to have an utter Averfion to speaking to more than one Man at a time, under a Neceffity to explain myself in much Company, and reducing me to Shame and Derifion, except I perform what my Infirmity of Silence difables me to do.

CALLISTHENES has great Wit accompanied with that Quality (without which a Man can have no Wit at all) a found Judgment. This Gentleman rallies the best of any Man I know, for he forms his Ridicule upon a Circumftance which you are in your Heart not unwil