ture with grandeur. Dissimilar emotions have a fine effect in a slow succession; but in a rapid succession, which approaches to coexistence, they will not be relished in the midst of a laboured and elevated description of a battle, Virgil introduces a ludicrous image, which is certainly out of its place:

Obvius ambustum torrem Chorinæus ab ara
Corripit, et venienti Ebuso plágamque ferenti
Occupat os flammis illi ingens barba reluxit,
Nidoremque ambusta dedit.

The following image is no less ludicrous, nor less improperly placed:7 or sent/1

Mentre fan questi i bellici stromenti qu
Perche debbiano tosto in uso porse,
Il gran nemico de l'humane genti
Contra i Christiani i lividi occhi torse:

E lor veggendo à le bell' opre intenti,
Ambo le labra per furor si morse :
E qual tauro ferito, il suo dolore
Verso mugghiando e sospirando fuore,

Gerusal. cant. 4. st. 1.

C

It would, however, be too austere to banish altogether ludicrous images from an epic poem. This poem doth not always soar above the clouds: it admits great variety; and upon occasion can descend even to the ground without sinking. In its more familiar tones, a ludicrous scene may be introduced without impropriety. This is done by

:

Virgil in a foot-race; the circumstances of which, not excepting the ludicrous part, are copied from Homer.t. After a fit of merriment, we are, it is true, the less disposed to the serious and sublime; but then, a ludicrous scene, by unbending the mind from severe application to more interesting subjects, may prevent fatigue, and preserve our relish entire.

IN attempting to explain uniformity and variety, in order to show how we are affected by these circumstances, a doubt occurs, what method ought to be followed. In adhering close to the subject, I foresee difficulties; and yet by indulging such a circuit as may be necessary for a satisfactory view, I probably shall incur the censure of wandering.— Yet the dread of censure ought not to prevail over what is proper; beside that the intended circuit will lead to some collateral matters, that are not only curious, but of considerable importance in the science of human nature. or dich unsoq dinl el: ££G+nO{ The necessary succession of perceptions may be examined in two different views; one with respect

* Æn. lib. 5. 7 † Iliad, book 23.1.879.į (61.

to order and connexion, and one with respect to uniformity and variety. In the first view it is handled above; and I now proceed to the second. The world we inhabit is replete with things no less remarkable for their variety than for their number: these, unfolded by the wonderful mechanism of external sense, furnish the mind with many perceptions; which, joined with ideas of memory, of imagination, and of reflection, form a complete train that has not a gap or interval. This train of perceptions and ideas depends very little on will. The mind, as has been observed, t is so constituted, "That it can by no effort break off the succession "of its ideas, nor keep its attention long fixed "upon the same object:" we can arrest a perception in its course; we can shorten its natural duration, to make room for another; we can vary the succession, by change of place or of amusement; and we can in some measure prevent variety, by frequently recalling the same object after short intervals: but still there must be a succession, and a change from one perception to another. artificial means, the succession may be retarded or

By

accelerated, may be rendered more various or more uniform, but in one shape or another is unavoidable.

The train, even when left to its ordinary course, is not always uniform in its motion; there are natural causes that accelerate or retard it considerably. The first I shall mention, is a peculiar.

*Chap. 1.

.

+ Locke, book 2. chap. 14.

constitution of mind. One man is distinguished from another, by no circumstance more remark, ably, than his train of perceptions; to a cold languid temper belongs a slow course of perceptions, which occasions dulness of apprehension and sluggishness in action: to a warm temper, on the contrary, belongs a quick course of perceptions, which occasions quickness of apprehension and activity in business, The Asiatic nations, the Chinese especially, are observed to be more cool and deliberate than the Europeans: may not the reason be, that heat enervates by exhausting the spirits? and that a certain degree of cold, as in the middle regions of Europe, bracing the fibres, rouseth the mind, and produceth a brisk circulation of thought, accompanied with vigour in action? In youth is observable a quicker succession of perceptions than in old age; and hence, in youth, a remarkable avidity for variety of amusements, which in riper years give place to more uniform and more sedate occupation. This qualifies men of middle age for business, where activity is required, but with a greater proportion of uniformity than variety. In old age, a slow and languid succession makes variety unnecessary; and for that reason, the aged, in all their motions, are generally governed by an habitual uniformity. Whatever be the cause, we may venture to pronounce, that heat in the imagination and temper is always connected with a brisk flow of perceptions.

The natural rate of succession depends also, in some degree, upon the particular perceptions that

compose the train. An agreeable object, taking a strong hold of the mind, occasions a slower succession than when the objects are indifferent: gran deur and novelty fix the attention for a considerable time, excluding all other ideas; and the mind thus occupied is sensible of no vacuity. Some emotions, by hurrying the mind from object to object, accelerate the succession. Where the train is composed of connected perceptions or ideas, the succession is quick; for it is so ordered by nature, that the mind goes easily and sweetly along connected objects.* On the other hand, the succession must be slow, where the train is composed of unconnected perceptions or ideas, which find not ready access to the mind; and that an unconnected object is not admitted without a struggle, appears from the unsettled state of the mind for some moments after such an object is presented, wavering between it and the former train: during that short period, one or other of the former objects will intrude, perhaps oftener than once, till the attention be fixed entirely upon the new ob

ject. The same observations are applicable to ideas suggested by language: the mind can bear a quick succession of related ideas; but an unrelated idea, for which the mind is not prepared, takes time to make an impression; and therefore a train composed of such ideas, ought to proceed with a slow pace. Hence an epic poem, a play, or any story connected in all its parts, may be perused

* See Chap. 1.