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. He 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 specиlations; 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 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 Imagin"ation, I mean such pleasures only as arise from " sight." 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. It It 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. is somewhat clogged by a tedious phraseology. My design being first of all to discourse - in the next place to speak of such objects as are before our eyes -things that are either absent or fictitious. Several words might have been spared here; and the Style made more neat and compact. 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 improvement 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. Besides, the pleasures of the Imagination have this advantage, above those of the Understanding, that they are more obvious, and more easy to be acquired. This is also an unexceptionable sentence. It is but opening the eye, and the scene enters. This sentence is lively and picturesque. By the gaiety and briskness which it gives the style, it shews the advantage of intermixing such a short sentence as this amidst a run of longer ones, which never fails to have a happy effect. I must remark, however, a small inaccuracy. A scene cannot be said to enter; an actor enters; but a scene appears or presents itself. The colours paint themselves on the fancy, with very little attention of thought or application of mind in the beholder. This is still beautiful illustration; carried on with that agreeable floweriness of fancy and Style, which is so well suited to those pleasures of the Imagination, of which the author is treating. We are struck, we know not how, with the symmetry of any thing we see, and immediately assent to the beauty of an object, without inquiring into the particular causes and occasions of it. There is a falling off here from the elegance of the former sentences. We assent to the truth of a proposition; but cannot so well be said to assent to the beauty of an object. Acknowledge would have expressed the sense with more propriety. The close of the sentence too is heavy and ungraceful- the particular causes and occasions of it-both particular and occasions are words quite superfluous; and the pronoun it is in some measure ambiguous, whether it refers to beauty or to object. It would have been some amendment to the Style to have run thus: "We " immediately acknowledge the beauty of an object, "without inquiring into the cause of that beauty." A man of a polite imagination is let into a great many pleasures that the vulgar are not capable of receiving. Polite is a term more commonly applied to manners or behaviour, than to the mind or imagination. There is nothing farther to be observed on this sentence, unless the use of that for a relative pronoun, instead of which; an usage which is too frequent with Mr. Addison. Which is a much more definite word than that, being never employed in any other way than as a relative; whereas that is a word of many senses; sometimes a demonstrative pronoun, often a conjunction. In some cases we are indeed obliged to use that for a relative, in order to avoid the ungraceful repetition of which in the same sentence. But when we are laid under no necessity of this kind, which is always the preferable word, and certainly was so in this sentence - Pleasures which the vulgar are not capable of receiving, is much better than pleasures that the vulgar, &c. He can converse with a picture and find an agreeable companion in a statue. He meets with a secret refreshment in a description; and often feels a greater satisfaction in the prospect of fields and meadows, than another does in the possession. It gives him, indeed, a kind of property in every thing he sees; and makes the most rude uncultivated parts of nature administer to his pleasures; so that he looks upon the world, as it were, in another light, and discovers in it a multitude of charms that conceal themselves from the generality of mankind. All this is very beautiful. The illustration is happy; and the Style runs with the greatest ease and harmony. We see no labour, no stiffness, or affectation; but an author writing from the native flow of |