ideas he pleafes, 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 fcenes rife up before us and feem prefent to the eye without the afliftance of bodies or exterior objects. He can tranfport the imagination with fuch beautiful and glorious vifions, 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 fhort, he can fo exquifitely ravish or torture the foul through this fingle faculty, as might fuffice to make up the whole, heaven or hell of ary finite being.

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

The CONTENT S.

PAPE
PER I.

THE perfection of our fight above our other fenfes. The pleafures of the imagination arise originally from fight. The pleafures of the imagination divided ' under two heads. The pleasures of the imagination in fome refpects equal to thofe of the understanding. The extent of the pleasures of the imagination. The advantages a man receives from a relifh of thefe pleafures. In what refpect they are preferable to those of the understanding.'

་

PAPE R II.

Three fources of all the pleafures of the imagination in our furvey of outward objects. How what is great pleases the imagination. How what is new pleases the imagination. How what is beautiful in our fpecies pleafes the imagination. How what is beautiful in general pleases the imagination. What other accidental caufes may contribute to the heightening of thefe pleasures.'

PAPE R III.

Why the neceffary caufe of our being pleafed with 'what is great, new, or beautiful, unknown. Why the

N° 421. final caufe more known and more ufeful. The final 'caufe of our being pleafed with what is great. The final caufe of our being pleafed 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 pleased with what is beautiful in general.'

6

PAPER IV.

The works of nature more pleasant to the imagination than thofe of art. The works of nature still more pleafant, the more they refemble thofe of art. The works of art more pleafant, the more they resemble thofe of nature. Our English plantations and gardens ⚫ confidered in the foregoing light.'

1

་

PAPER V.

Of architecture, as it affects the imagination. Greatness 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. Inftances how greatnefs of manner 'affects the imagination. A French author's obferva⚫tion on this fubject. Why concave and convex figures give a greatnefs of manner to works of architecture. Every thing that pleafes the imagination in architecture, is either great, beautiful, or new.'

PAPER VI.

The fecondary pleafures of the imagination. The feveral fources of thefe pleafures ftatuary, painting, defcription, and mufic, compared together. The final cause of our receiving pleasure from thefe feveral fources. Of defcriptions in particular. The power of words over the imagination. Why one reader more pleafed with defcriptions than another.'

PAPER VII.

'How a whole fet of ideas hang together, &c. A 'natural caufe affigned for it. How to perfect the imagination of a writer. Who among the antient poets had this faculty in its greatest perfection. Homer ex

celled 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 respects.'

6

PAPER VIII.

Why any thing that is unpleasant to behold, pleases the imagination when well defcribed. Why the ima gination receives a more exquifite pleasure from the defcription of what is great, new, or beautiful. The pleafure ftill heightened, if what is defcribed raifes 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 poe ry and fiction have to please the imagination. . What liberties are allowed them."

Of that kind of poetry which Mr. Dryden calls the fairy way of writing. How a poet fhould 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 pleafe the imagination. Who have nothing to do with fiction. How history pleafes the imagination How the authors of the new philofophy please the imagination. The bounds and defects of the imagination. Where thefe defects are effential to the imagination.

PAPER XI.

How thofe please the imagination, who treat of fubjects abtracted from matter, by allufions taken from it. What allufions moft pleafing 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° 422.

I

Friday, July 4.

Hæc fcripfi non otii abundantiâ, fed amoris erga te.

TULL. Epift.

I have written this, not out of abundance of leisure, but of my affection towards you.

Do not know any thing which gives greater difturbance to converfation, than the falfe notion fome people have of raillery. It ought certainly to be the first point to be aimed at in fociety, to gain the goodwill 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 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 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 fpeak 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 will you not then take a jeft? 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 speaking to more than one man at a time, under a neceflity 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 unwill

ing to grant him, to wit, that you are guilty of an excefs 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 lavith, and the valiant as rafh, without being provoked to refentment against their monitor. What has been faid to be a mark of a good writer will fall in with the character of a good companion. The good wiiter makes his reader better pleafed with himfelf, and the agreeable man makes his friends enjoy themfelves, rather than him, while he is in their company. Callithencs 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 compary, 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 confent, and not expofed as fuch whether he will or no. I take it therefore that, to make raillery agreeable, a man muft 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 gcnerally admired than Callifthenes, but not with juftice. Acetus has no regard to the modefty or weakness of the perfon he ralies; but if his 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 pleased to fee his best friend out of counter ance, while the laugh is loud in his own applaufe. His raillery always puts the company into little divifions and feparate interests, while that of Callifthenes cements it, and makes every man not only better pleafed with himself, but also with all the rest in the converfation.

To rally well, it is abfolutely neceffary that kindness muft run through all you fay, and you must ever preferve the character of a friend to fupport your pretenfions