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whelmed with forrow: And the princess, informed by Pifanio of the particular circumftances of her husband's departure, expreffes herself in the following manner:

I would have broke mine eye-ftrings ; crack'd 'em, but To look upon him; till the diminution

Of space had pointed him sharp as my needle:
Nay, follow'd him, till he had melted from
The fmallness of a gnat to air; and then
Have turn'd mine eye, and wept *.

Thefe lines exprefs the reluctance of the heart to part with the object of its affections,

There is a paffage very fimilar to this in Ovin's

tory of Ceyx and Halcyone.

Suftulit illa

Humentes oculos, ftantemque in puppe recurva,
Concuffaque manu dantem fibi figna, maritum
Prima videt; redditque notas: Ubi terra receffit
Longius, atque oculi nequeunt cognofcere vultus,
Dum licet, infequitur fugientem lumine pinum.
Haec quoque, ut haud poterat, fpatio fubmota, videri ;
Vela tamen fpectat fummo fluitantia malo :

Ut nec vela videt, vacuum petit anxia lectum;

Seque toro ponit.

Halcyones lacrymas.

Renovat lectufque locufque

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tions, and the efforts of paffion ftruggling with difappointment: That the sentiments they convey are natural and agreeable to the conduct of the paffions, may very easily

be illustrated.

Some portion of the complacency and delight we receive from the presence of those we love and admire, is annexed to their idea, or to our thoughts concerning them when they are abfent. The idea of Leonatus would be, of all others, the most agreeable to Imogen; and the secret wifhes and defires of her heart would for ever recall him to her remembrance. But ideas of memory and imagination, though they may be exceedingly lively, though they entertain the mind with various and unusual images, and are capable of cherishing and inflaming the moft vehement paffions, yield little enjoyment, compared with actual fenfation. The conviction of present existence diftinguishes, in an emiment manner, the ideas received from ob

jects

jects ftriking immediately on our fenfes, from the operations of memory, and the illufions of fancy. Fancy may dazzle and amufe: But reflection, and the confcioufnefs of our prefent fituation are forever intruding; and the vifion vanishes at their approach. In the prefent inftance, however, the figure of Leonatus can hardly be diftinguished: And the fenfation received by Imogen is imperfect, and confequently painful. This leads us to a fecond obfervation. A thought never fluctuates in the mind folitary and independent, but is connected with an affemblage, formed of thoughts depending upon one another. In every group or affemblage, fome ideas are pre-eminent, and fome fubordinate. The principal figure makes the strongest impreffion; and the reft are only attended to, on account of their relation to the leading image. The mention of fun-rifing, not only excites the idea of a luminous. body ascending the eastern sky, but fuggefts M

the

the images of party-coloured clouds, meadows spangled with dew, and mists hovering on the mountains. Writers, whofe works are addreffed to the imagination, studying to imitate the various appearances of nature, and, at the fame time, fenble that a compleat enumeration of every circumftance and quality of an object would be no less tiresome than impoffible, are diligent in selecting the leading and capital ideas, upon which the greatest number of other images are dependent. Difcernment, in the choice of circumftances, and skill in their arrangement, are, according to Longinus, the principles of true defcription, Now, we obferved above, that the reality of an object enhances the pleasure of the perception; and therefore that the perceptions we receive by the senses are preferred to reprefentations merely fancied. But fuppofe we receive a fingle perception from an object exceedingly interefting; this single, and

even

even imperfect perception, makes a lively impreffion, and becomes the leading idea of an affemblage. Though all the fubordinate and adventitious images are the mere coinage of fancy; yet, on account of their intimate union with the primary idea, they operate on the mind, as if their architype really exifted. They receive the ftamp of reality from the primary perception upon which they depend; they are deemed legitimate, and are preferred to the mere illufions of fancy. In this manner, the diftant, and even imperfect view of Leonatus fuggests a train of ideas more agreeable than those of memory and imagination: And it is not till this tranfient confolation is removed, that Imogen would have turned her eye and wept."

The propriety of the following sentiments depends on the fame principles with the former: For the belief that Leonatus, at certain fixed periods, was employed in discharging the tender offices of affection, M 2 would

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