There are few words in the English language, which are employed in a more loofe and uncircumfcribed fenfe than thofe of the fancy and the imagination.

Except when fome affertion of confequence is advanced, these little words, it is and there are, ought to be avoided, as redundant and enfeebling. The two first words of this fentence therefore fhould have been omitted. The article prefixed to fancy and imagination ought alfo to have been omitted, fince he does not mean the powers of the fancy and the imagination, but the words only. The fentence should have run thus ; "Few words' "in the English language are employed in a more loofe and uncircumfcribed fenfe, than fancy and imagina❝tion."

I therefore thought it neceffary 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 conceive rightly what is the fubject which I proceed upon.

The words fix and determine, though they may appear fo, are not fynonymous. We fix, wha tis loose; we determine, what is uncircumfcribed. They may be viewed. therefore, as applied here with peculiar delicacy.

The notion of thefe words is rather harfh, and is not fo commonly used, as the meaning of thefe words. As I intend to make use of them in the thread of my fpeculations is. evidently faulty. A fort of metaphor is improperly

mixed with words in their literal fenfe. The fubject which I proceed upon is an ungraceful close of a sentence; it should have been the fubject upon which I proceed.

I must therefore defire him to remember, that by the pleafures of imagination, I mean only fuch pleasures as arife originally from fight, and that I divide thefe pleasures into two kinds.

This fentence begins in a manner too fimilar to the preceding. I mean only fuch pleafures-the adverb only is not in its proper place. It is not intended here to qualify the verb mean, but such pleasures; and ought therefore to be placed immediately after the latter.

My defign being, first of all, to difcourfe of thofe primary pleafures of the imagination, which entirely proceed from such objects as are before our eyes; and, in the next place, to speak of thofe fecondary 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.

Neatnefs and brevity are peculiarly requifite in the divifion of a subject. This fentence is fomewhat clogged by a tedious phrafeology. My defign being first of all to difcourfe in the next place to speak of-fuch objects as are before our eyes-things that are either abfent or fictitious.

Several words might have been omitted, and the style made more neat and compact.

The pleasures of the imagination, taken in their full extent, are not fo grofs as thofe of fenfe, nor fo refined as thofe of the understanding.

This fentence is clear and elegant.

The laft are indeed more preferable, because they are founded on fome 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..

The phrafe, more preferable, is fo palpable an inaccuracy, that we wonder how it could efcape the obfervation of Mr. Addison. The propofition, contained in the last member of this fentence, is neither clearly, nor elegantly expreffed. It must be confeffed, that thofe of the imagination are as great, and as transporting as the other. In the beginning of this fentence he had called the pleafures of the understanding the last; and he concludes with obferving, that thofe of the imagination are as Befide that the other

great and transporting, as the other. makes not a proper contrast with the left it is left doubtful, whether by the other are meant the pleafures of the understanding, or the pleafures of fenfe; though without doubt it was intended to refer to the pleafures of the understanding only.

A beautiful profpect delights the foul as much as a demonftration; and a description in Homer has charmed more readers than a chapter In Ariftotle.

This is a good illustration of what he had been afferting, and is expreffed with that elegance, by which Mr. Addifon is diftinguished.

Befides, the pleafures of the imagination have this advantage above thofe of the understanding, that they are more obvious, and more eafy to be acquired.

This fentence is unexceptionable.

It is but opening the eye, and the scene enters,

Though this is lively and picturesque; yet we must remark a small inaccuracy. A fcene cannot be faid to enter; an actor enters; but a fcene appears, or presents itfelf.

The colours paint themfelves on the fancy, with very little attention of thought or application of mind in the beholder.

This is beautiful and elegant, and well fuited to those pleasures of the imagination, of which the author is treating.

We are fruck, we know not how, with the fymmetry of any thing we fee; and immediately affent to the beauty of an objet, without enquiring into the particular caufes and occdfions of it.

We affent to the truth of a propofition; but cannot with propriety be faid to affent to the beauty of an object. In the conclufion particular and occafions are fuperfluous words; and the pronoun it is in fome measure ambigu

ous.

A man of a polite imagination is let into a great many pleafures, that the vulgar are not capable of receiving.

The term polite is oftener applied to manners, than to the imagination. The ufe of that inftead of which is too common with Mr. Addison. Except in cafes, where it is neceffary to avoid repetition, which is preferable to that, and is undoubtedly fo in the present instance.

He can converfe with a picture, and find an agreeable companion in a ftatue. He meets with a secret refreshment in a defcription; and often feels a greater fatisfaction in the profpect of fields and meadows, than another does in the poffeffion. It gives him, indeed, a kind of property in every thing he fees; and makes the most rude uncultivated parts of nature adminifler to his pleafures: So that he looks upon the world, as it were, in another light, and difcovers in it a multitude of charms that conceal themselves from the generality of mankind.

This fentence is eafy, flowing, and harmonious. We must however obferve a light inaccuracy. It gives him a kind of property-to this it there is no antecedent in the whole paragraph. To difcover its connection, we