Combination, that the genius of Milton produ ced the Garden of Eden; that of Harrington, the Commonwealth of Oceana; and that of Shakespeare, the characters of Hamlet and Falstaff. The difference between thefe feveral efforts of invention, confifts only in the manner in which the original materials were acquired; as far as the power of Imagination is concerned, the proceffes are perfectly analogous.

The attempts of Mr. Addifon and of Dr. Reid to limit the province of Imagination to objects of fight, have plainly proceeded from a very important fact, which it may be worth while to illuftrate more particularly;-That the mind has a greater facility, and, of confequence, a greater delight in recalling the perceptions of this fenfe than thofe of any of the others; while at the fame time, the variety of qualities perceived by it is incomparably greater. It is this fenfe, accordingly, which supplies the painter and the ftatuary with all the fubjects on which their genius is exercised; and which furnishes to the defcriptive poet the largest and the most valuable portion of the materials which he combines. In that abfurd fpecies of profe compofition, too, which borders on poetry, nothing is more remarkable than the predominance of phrafes that recal to the memory, glaring colours, and thofe fplendid appearances of nature, which make a strong impreffion on the eye. It has been mentioned by different writers, as a characteristical circumftance in the Oriental or Afiatic ftyle, that the greater part of the metaphors are taken from the celeftial luminaries. "The Works of "the Perfians," (fays M. de Voltaire,)" are like the "titles of their kings, in which we are perpetually "dazzled with the fun and the moon." Sir Wil liam Jones, in a fhort Effay on the Poetry of Eaftern Nations, has endeavored to fhew, that this is not owing to the bad tafte of the Afiatics, but to the old

language and popular religion of their country. But the truth is, that the very fame criticism will be found to apply to the juvenile productions of every author poffeffed of a warm imagination; and to the compofitions of every people among whom a cultivated and philofophical tafte has not established a fufficiently marked distinction between the appropriate styles of poetry and of profe. The account giv en by the Abbé Girard of the meaning of the word Phébus, as employed by the French critics, confirms ftrongly this obfervation. "Le Phebus a un brillant

66

qui fignifie, ou femble fignifier quelque chofe : le "foleil y entre d'ordinaire ; & c'ett peut-etre ce qui, "en notre langue, a donné lieu au nom de Phé"bus."*

Agreeably to these principles, Gray, in defcribing the infantine reveries of poetical genius, has fixed, with exquifite judgment, on this clafs of our conceptions:

Yet oft before his infant eye would run
Such Forms as glitter in the Muse's ray
With Orient hues

From thefe remarks it may be eafily understood, why the word Imagination, in its moft ordinary acceptation, fhould be applied to cafes where our conceptions are derived from the fenfe of fight; although the province of this power be, in fact, as unlimited as the sphere of human enjoyment and of human thought. Hence, the origin of those partial definitions which I have been attempting to correct; and hence too, the origin of the word Imagination; the etymology of which implies manifeftly a reference to visible objects.

To all the various modes in which Imagination may display itself, the greater part of the memarks

*Synonymes François

contained in this Chapter will be found to apply, under proper limitations; but, in order to render the fubject more obvious to the reader's examination, I shall, in the farther profecution of it, endeavor to convey my ideas, rather by means of particular examples, than in the form of general principles; leaving it to his own judgment to determine, with what modifications the conclufions to which we are led, may be extended to other combinations of circumftances.

Among the innumerable phenomena which this part of our conftitution presents to our examination, the combinations which the mind forms out of materials fupplied by the power of Conception recommend themselves ftrongly, both by their fimplicity, and by the interefting nature of the difcuffions to which they lead. I fhall avail myself, therefore, as much as poffible, in the following enquiries, of whatever illustrations I am able to borrow from the arts of Poetry and of Painting; the operations of Imagi nation in these arts furnishing the moft intelligible and pleafing exemplifications of the intellectual proceffes, by which, in thofe analogous but lefs palpable inftances that fall under the confideration of the Moralift, the mind deviates from the models prefented to it by experience, and forms to itself, new and untried objects of purfuit. It is in confequence of fuch proceffes (which, how little foever they may be attended to, are habitually paffing in the thoughts of all men,) that human affairs exhibit fo bufy and fo various a scene; teading, in one cafe, to improvement, and, in another, to decline; according as our notions of excellence and of happiness are just or er

roneous.

It was observed, in a former part of this work, that Imagination is a complex power.* It includes

* See page 123.

FFf

Conception or fimple Apprehenfion, which enables us to form a notion of thofe former objects of perception or of knowledge, out of which we are to make a felection; Abstraction, which feparates the felected materials from the qualities and circumftances which are connected with them in nature; and Judgment or Tafte, which felects the materials, and directs their combination. To thefe powers, we may add, that particular habit of affociation to which I formerly gave the name of Fancy; as it is this which presents to our choice, all the different materials which are fubfervient to the efforts of Imagination, and which may therefore be confidered as forming the groundwork of poetical genius.

To illuftrate these observations, let us confider the steps by which Milton must have proceeded in creating his imaginary Garden of Eden. When he firft proposed to himself that fubject of description, it is reasonable to fuppofe, that a variety of the moft ftriking fcenes which he had feen crowded into his mind. The Affociation of Ideas fuggefted them, and the power of conception placed each of them before him with all its beauties and imperfections. In every natural scene, if we deftine it for any particular purpose, there are defects and redundancies, which art may fometimes, but cannot always, correct. But the power of Imagination is unlimited. She can create and annihilate; and difpofe, at pleafure, her woods, her rocks, and her rivers. Milton, accordingly, would not copy his Eden from any one fcene, but would felect from each the features which were most eminently beautiful. The power of ab. ftraction enabled him to make the feparation, and Tafte directed him in the felection. Thus he was furnished with his materials; by a fkilful combination of which, he has created a landscape, more perfect probably in all its parts, than was ever realifed in nature; and certainly very different from any

thing which this country exhibited, at the period when he wrote. It is a curious remark of Mr. Walpole, that Milton's Eden is free from the defects of the old English garden, and is imagined on the fame principles which it was referved for the present age to carry into execution.

From what has been faid, it is fufficiently evident, that Imagination is not a fimple power of the mind, like Attention, Conception, or Abftraction; but that it is formed by a combination of various faculties. It is farther evident, that it must appear under very different forms, in the cafe of different individuals; as fome of its component parts are liable to be greatly influenced by habit, and other accidental circumftances. The variety, for example, of the materials out of which the com binations of the Poet or the Painter are formed, will depend much on the tendency of external fitu ation, to ftore the mind with a multiplicity of Conceptions; and the beauty of these combinations will depend entirely on the fuccefs with which the power of Tafte has been cultivated. What we call, therefore, the power of Imagination, is not the gift of nature, but the result of acquired habits, aided by favorable circumftances. It is not an original endowment of the mind, but an accomplishment formed by experience and fituation; and which, in its different gradations, fills up all the interval between the firft efforts of untutored genius, and the fublime creations of Raphael or of Milton.

An uncommon degree of Imagination conftitutes poetical genius; a talent which, although chiefly dif played in poetical compofition, is alfo the foundation (though not precifely in the fame manner) of vari ous other Arts. A few remarks on the relation which Imagination bears to fome of the moft interefting of these, will throw additional light on its nature and office.