redundant and enfeebling. "Those of the fancy "and the imagination." The article ought to have been omitted here. As he does not mean the powers of "the fancy and the imagination," but the words only, the article certainly had no proper place; neither, indeed, was there any occasion for other two words, those of. Better, if the sentence had run thus: "Few words in the English language "are employed in a more loose and uncircum"scribed sense, than fancy and imagination."

"I therefore thought it necessary to fix and "determine the notion of these two words, as I "intend to make use of them in the thread of my following speculations, that the reader may con"ceive rightly what is the subject which I proceed 66 upon.

. THOUGH fix and determine may appear synonymous words, yet a difference between them may be remarked, and they may be viewed, as applied here, with peculiar delicacy. The author had just said, that the words of which he is speaking were loose and uncircumscribed. Fix relates to the first of these, determine to the last. We fix what is loose; that is, we confine the word to its proper place, that it may not fluctuate in our imagination, and pass from one idea to another; and we determine what is uncircumscribed, that is, we ascertain its termini or limits, we draw the circle round it, that we may see its boundaries. For we cannot

VOL. II.

conceive the meaning of a word, nor indeed of any other thing, clearly, till we see its limits, and know how far it extends. These two words, therefore, have grace and beauty as they are here applied; though a writer, more frugal of words than Mr. Addison, would have preferred the single word ascertain, which conveys, without any metaphor, the import of them both.

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"THE notion of these words," is somewhat of a harsh phrase, at least not so commonly used, as the meaning of these words." "As I intend to make use of them in the thread of my speculations;" this is plainly faulty. A sort of metaphor is improperly mixed with words in the literal sense. might very well have said, " as I intend to make use "of them in my following speculations." This was plain language; but if he chose to borrow an allusion from thread, that allusion ought to have been supported; for there is no consistency in "making "use of them in the thread of speculations;" and, indeed, in expressing any thing so simple and familiar as this is, plain language is always to be preferred to metaphorical. "The subject which I proceed

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upon," is an ungraceful close of a sentence; better," the subject upon which I proceed."

"I must, therefore, desire him to remember, "that by the pleasures of the imagination, I mean

only such pleasures as arise originally from sight, "and that I divide these pleasures into two kinds."

As the last sentence began with, "I therefore "thought it necessary to fix," it is careless to begin this sentence in a manner so very similar, "I must "therefore desire him to remember;" especially, as the small variation of using, on this account, or, for this reason, in place of therefore, would have amended the style. When he says, "I mean only "such pleasures," it may be remarked, that the adverb only is not in its proper place. It is not intended here to qualify the verb mean, but such pleasures; and therefore should have been placed in as close connection as possible with the word which it limits or qualifies. The style becomes more clear and neat when the words are arranged thus : ، By the pleasures of the imagination, I mean such pleasures only as arise from sight."

،،

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" My design being, first of all, to discourse of " those primary pleasures of the imagination, which entirely proceed from such objects as are before "our eyes; and, in the next place, to speak of ،، those secondary pleasures of the imagination, "which flow from the ideas of visible objects, when "the objects are not actually before the eye, but are called up into our memories, or formed into "agreeable visions of things that are either absent "or fictitious."

،،

Ir is a great rule in laying down the division of a subject, to study neatness and brevity as much as possible. The divisions are then more distinctly

apprehended, and more easily remembered. This sentence is not perfectly happy. in that respect. It is somewhat clogged by a tedious phraseology. My design being first of all to discourse-in the

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next place to speak of such objects as are before

our eyes-things that are either absent or ficti "tious." Several words might have been spared here; and the style made more neat and compact.

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"The pleasures of the imagination, taken in their

full extent, are not so gross as those of sense, nor so refined as those of the understanding."

This sentence is distinct and elegant.

"The last are indeed more preferable, because they are founded on some new knowledge or im. provement in the mind of man: yet it must be "confessed, that those of the imagination are as great, and as transporting as the other."

In the beginning of this sentence, the phrase, more preferable, is such a plain inaccuracy, that one wonders how Mr. Addison should have fallen into it; seeing preferable, of itself, expresses the comparative degree, and is the same with more eligible or more excellent.

I MUST observe farther, that the proposition contained in the last member of this sentence is neither

clear nor neatly expressed, "It must be confessed

"that those of the imagination are as great, and

as transporting as the other." In the former sentence, he had compared three things together; the pleasures of the imagination, those of sense, and those of the understanding In the beginning of this sentence, he had called the pleasures of the understanding, the last: and he ends the sentence, with observing, that those of the imagination are as great and transporting as the other. Now, besides that the other makes not a proper contrast with the last, he leaves it ambiguous, whether, by the other, he meant the pleasures of the understanding, or the pleasures of sense; for it may refer to either by the construction; though, undoubtedly, he intended that it should refer to the pleasures of the understanding only. The proposition, reduced to perspicuous language, runs thus: "Yet it must be *"confessed, that the pleasures of the imagination, "when compared with those of the understanding, are no less great and transporting."

"A beautiful prospect delights the soul as "much as a demonstration; and a description in "Homer has charmed more readers than a chapter " in Aristotle."

THIS is a good illustration of what he had been asserting, and is expressed with that happy and elegant turn, for which our author is very remarkable.