put yourself upon analysing one of these words, and you must reduce it from one fet of general words to another, and then into the simple abstracts and aggregates, in a much longer series than may be at first imagined, before any real idea emerges to light, before you come to discover any thing like the first principles of fuch compositions; and when you have made fuch a discovery of the original ideas, the effect of the composition is utterly loft. A train of thinking of this fort, is much too long to be pursued in the ordinary ways of conversation, nor is it at all neceffary that it should. Such words are in reality but mere founds; but they are founds which being used on particular occafions, wherein we receive some good, or fuffer fome evil; or fee others affected with good or evil; or which we hear applied to other interesting things or events; and being applied in fuch a variety of cafes, that we know readily by habit to what things they belong, they produce in the mind, whenever they are afterwards mentioned, effects fimilar to those of their occafions. The founds being often used without reference to any particular occafion, and carrying still their first impref. fions, they at last utterly lose their connexion with the particular occafions that gave rise to them; yet the found, without any annexed notion, continues to operate as before.

SECT.

SECT. III.

GENERAL WORDS BEFORE IDEAS.

Mr. LOCKE has fomewhere observed, with his ufual fagacity, that most general words, those belonging to virtue and vice, good and evil, efpecially, are taught before the particular modes of action to which they belong are presented to the mind; and with them, the love of the one, and the abhorrence of the other; for the minds of children are so ductile, that a nurse, or any perfon about a child, by seeming pleased or difpleased with any thing, or even any word, may give the difpofition of the child a fimilar turn. When afterwards, the several occurrences in life come to be applied to these words, and that which is pleafant often appears under the name of evil; and what is difagreeable to nature is called good and virtuous; a strange confufion of ideas and affections arifes inthe minds of many; and an appearance of no small contradiction between their no. tions and their actions. There are many who love virtue and who detest vice, and this not from hypocrify or affectation, who notwithstanding very frequently act ill, and wickedly in particulars without the leaft remorse; because these particular occafions never came into view, when the passions

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on the fide of virtue were fo warmly affected by

certain words heated originally by the breath of others; and for this reason, it is hard to repeat certain sets of words, though owned by themselves unoperative, without being in some degree affected, especially if a warm and affecting tone of voice accompanies them, as suppose,

Wife, valiant, generous, good, and great.

These words, by having no application, ought to be unoperative; but when words commonly sacred to great occafions are used, we are affected by them even without the occafions. When words which have been generally fo applied are put together without any rational view, or in such a manner that they do not rightly agree with each other, the style is called bombast. And it requires in feveral cafes much good fenfe and experience to be guarded against the force of fuch language; for when propriety is neglected, a greater number of these affecting words may be taken into the fervice, and a greater variety may be indulged in combining them.

SECT. IV.

THE EFFECT OF WORDS.

IF words have all their possible extent of power,

first is, the found; the second, the picture, or representation of the thing signified by the found; the third is, the affection of the foul produced by one or by both of the foregoing. Compounded abftract words, of which we have been speaking, honour, justice, liberty, and the like) produce the first and the last of these effects, but not the second. Simple abstracts, are used to fignify some one fimple idea without much adverting to others which may chance to attend it, as blue, green, hot, cold, and the like; these are capable of affecting all three of the purposes of words; as the aggregate words, man, caftle, horfe, &c. are in a yet higher degree. But I am of opinion, that the most general effect even of these words, does not arife from their forming pictures of the several things they would represent in the imagination; because, on a very diligent examination of my own mind, and getting others to confider theirs, I do not find that once in twenty times any fuch picture is formed, and when it is, there is most commonly a particular effort of the imagination for that pur. pose. But the aggregate words operate, as I faid of the compound-abstracts, not by presenting any image to the mind, but by having from use the fame effect on being mentioned, that their original has when it is seen. Suppose we were to read a passage to this effect: "The river Danube rises in a moift and mountainous foil in the heart of Germany,

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many, where winding to and fro, it waters feveral principalities, until, turning into Austria, and laving the walls of Vienna, it passes into Hungary; there with a vast flood, augmented by the Saave and the Drave, it quits Christendom, and rolling through the barbarous countries which border on Tartary, it enters by many mouths in the Black fea." In this description many things are mentioned, as mountains, rivers, cities, the fea, &c. But let any body examine himself, and fee whether he has had impressed on his imagination any pictures of a river, mountain, watery foil, Germany, &c. Indeed it is impossible, in the rapidity and quick fucceffion of words in conversation, to have ideas both of the found of the word, and of the thing reprefented; besides, some words, expreffing real effences, are fo mixed with others of a general and nominal import, that it is impracticable to jump from sense to thought, from particulars to generals, from things to words, in fuch a manner as to answer the purposes of life; nor is it necessary that we should.

SECT. V.

EXAMPLES THAT WORDS MAY AFFECT WITHOUT RAISING IMAGES.

I FIND it very hard to perfuade several that their paffions are affected by words from whence they