Think not the King did banifh thee;

But thou the King. Wo doth the heavier fit,
Where it perceives it is but faintly borne.
Go fay, I fent thee forth to purchase honour:
And not, the King exil'd thee. Or fuppofe,
Devouring pestilence hangs in our air,
And thou art flying to a fresher clime,
Look what thy foul holds dear, imagine it.
To lie that way thou go'ft, not whence thou com'ft.
Suppofe the finging birds muficians;

The grafs whereon thou tread'ft, the prefence-floor
The flow'rs, fair ladies; and thy fteps, no more
Than a delightful measure or a dance.

For gnarling Sorrow hath lefs power to bite
The man that mocks at it, and fets it light.

Bolingbroke. Oh, who can hold a fire in his hand,
By thinking on the frofty Caucafus ?
Or cloy the hungry edge of Appetite,
By bare imagination of a feaft?

Or wallow naked in December (now,
By thinking on fantastic fummer's heat?
Oh, no! the apprehenfion of the good
Gives but the greater fecling to the worse.

King Richard 11. að 1. Sc. 6.

The appearance of danger gives fometimes pleafure, fometimes pain. A timorous perfon upon the battlements of a high tower, is feized with fear, which even the confcioufnefs of fecurity cannot diffipate. But upon one of a firm head, this fituation has a contrary effect the appearance of danger heightens, by oppofition, the conscioufness of fecurity, and confequently, the fatisfaction that arifes from fecurity: here the feeling resembles that above mentioned, occafioned by a fhip labouring in a storm.

The effect of magnifying or leffening objects by means of comparifon, is fo familiar, that no philof

opher

opher has thought of fearching for a cause.* The obfcurity of the fubject may poffibly have contributed to their filence; but luckily, we discover the cause to be a principle unfolded above, which is, the influence of paffion over our opinionst. We have had occafion to fee many illuftrious effects of that fingular power of paffion; and that the magnifying or diminishing objects by means of comparison, proceeds from the fame caufe, will evidently appear, by reflecting in what manner a fpectator is affected, when a very large animal is for the first time placed befide a very small one of the fame fpecies. The first thing that ftrikes the mind, is the difference between the two animals, which is fo great as to occafion furprife; and this, like other emotions, magnifying its objects, makes us conceive the difference to be the greatest that can be we fee, or feem to fee, the one animal extremely little, and the other extremely large. The emotion of furprise arifing from any unusual resemblance, ferves equally to explain, why at first view we are apt to think fuch refemblance more entire than it is in reality. And it must not escape obfervation, that the circumstances of more and lefs, which are the proper fubjects of comparifon, raise a perception fo indiftinct and vague as to facilitate the effect defcribed: we have no mental ftandard of great and little, nor of the several degrees of any attribute; and the mind thus unreAtrained, is naturally difpofed to indulge its furprise.

to the utmost extent.

In

* Practical writers upon the fine arts will attempt any thing, being blind both to the difficulty and danger, De Piles, accounting why contraft is agreeable, fays, "That it is a fort of war, which puts the oppofite parties in motion." Thus, to account for an effect of which there is no doubt, any caufe, however foolifh, is made welcome.

+ Chap. 2. part 5.

In exploring the operations of the mind, fome of which are extremely nice and flippery, it is neceffary to proceed with the utmost caution: and after all, feldom it happens that speculations of that kind af ford any fatisfaction. Luckily, in the prefent cafe, our fpeculations are fupported by facts and folid argument. First, a fmall object of one fpecies oppof ed to a great object of another, produces not, in any degree, that deception which is fo remarkable when both objects are of the fame fpecies. The greatest disparity between objects of different kinds, is fo common as to be observed with perfect indifference; but fuch disparity between objects of the fame kind, being uncommon, never fails to produce furprise: and may we not fairly conclude, that furprise, in the latter cafe, is what occafions the deception, when we find no deception in the former? In the next place, if furprise be the fole cause of the deception, it follows neceffarily, that the deception will vanifh as foon as the objects compared become familiar. This holds fo unerringly, as to leave no reasonable doubt that furprise is the prime mover: our furprise is great the first time a small lap-dog is feen with a large mastiff; but when two fuch animals are conftantly together, there is no furprife, and it makes no difference whether they be viewed feparately or in company we fet no bounds to the riches of a man who has recently made his fortune, the furprising difproportion between his present and his past fituation being carried to an extreme; but with regard to a family that for many generations hath enjoyed great wealth, the fame falfe reckoning is not made it is equally remarkable, that a trite fimile has no effect; a lover compared to a moth fcorching itself at the flame of a

candle,

candle, originally a sprightly fimile, has by frequent ufe loft all force; love cannot now be compared to fire, without fome degree of difguft: it has been justly objected against Homer, that the lion is too often introduced into his fimilies; all the variety he is able to throw into them, not being fufficient to keep alive the reader's furprise.

To explain the influence of comparison upon the mind, I have chosen the simplest case, to wit, the first fight of two animals of the fame kind, differing in fize only; but to complete the theory, other circumftances must be taken in. And the next fuppofition I make, is where both animals, feparately familiar to the fpectator, are brought together for the first time. In that cafe, the effect of magnifying and diminishing, is found remarkably greater than in that first mentioned; and the reafon will appear upon analyfing the operation: the first feeling we have is of furprise at the uncommon difference of two creatures of the fame fpecies; we are next fenfible, that the one appears lefs, the other larger than they did formerly; and that new circumstance, increasing our furprife, makes us imagine a ftill greater oppofition between the animals than if we had formed no notion of them beforehand.

I fhall confine myfelf to one other fuppofition; That the fpectator was acquainted beforehand with one of the animals only, the lap-dog for example. This new circumftance will vary the effect: for inftead of widening the natural difference, by enlarging in appearance the one animal, and diminishing the other in proportion, the whole apparent alteration will reft upon the lap-dog: the furprife to find it lefs than it appeared formerly, directs to it our whole attention, and makes us conceive it to be a moft diminutive creature the maftiff in the mean time is quite overlooked

:

overlooked. I am able to illuftrate this effect, by a familiar example. Take a piece of paper, or of lin-. en tolerably white, and compare it with a pure white of the fame kind: the judgment we formed of the first object is inftantly varied; and the furprise occafioned by finding it lefs white than was thought, produceth a hafty conviction that it is much lefs white than it is in reality: withdrawing now the pure white, and putting in its place a deep black, the surprise occafioned by that new circumstance carries us to the other extreme, and makes us conceive the object first mentioned to be a pure white: and thus experience compels us to acknowledge, that our emotions have an influence even upon our eye-fight. This experiment leads to a general obfervation. That whatever is found more strange or beautiful than was expected, is judged to be more strange or beautiful than it is in reality. Hence a common artifice to depreciate beforehand what we wish to make a figure in the opinion of others.

The comparisons employed by poets and orators, are of the kind laft mentioned; for it is always a known object that is to be magnified or leffened. The former is effected by likening it to fome grand object, or by contrafting it with one of an oppofite characTo effectuate the latter, the method must be reverfed the object must be contrafted with fomething fuperior to it, or likened to fomething inferior. The whole effect is produced upon the principal object, which by that means is elevated above its rank, or depreffed below it.

ter.

In accounting for the effect that any unufual refemblance or diffimilitude hath upon the mind, no caufe has been mentioned but' furprife; and to prevent confufion, it was proper to difcufs that caufe

first.