abstractedly from the body that occupies it; and hence the abstract term space. In the same manner, existence may be considered abstractedly from any particular thing that exists; and place may be considered abstractedly from any particular thing that may be in it. Every series or succession of things, suggests the idea of time; and time may be considered abstractedly from any series of succession. In the same manner, we acquire the abstract term motion, rest, number, and a thousand other abstract terms; an excellent contrivance for improving speech, as without it speech would be wofully imperfect. Brute animals may have some obscure notion of these circumstances, as connected with particular objects: an ox probably perceives that he takes longer time to go round a long ridge in the plough, than a short one; and he probably perceives when he is one of four in the yoke, or only one of two. But the power of abstraction is not bestowed on brute animals; because to them it would be altogether useless, as they are incapable of speech.

40. This power of abstraction is of great utility. A carpenter considers a log of wood with regard to hardness, firmness, color, and texture: a philosopher, neglecting these properties, makes the log undergo a chemical analysis; and examines its taste, its smell, and its component principles: the geometrician confines his reasoning to the figure, the length, breadth, and thickness. In general, every artist, abstracting from all other properties, confines his observations to those which have a more immediate connection with his profession.

41. It is observed above, p. 478, that there can be no such thing as a general idea; that all our perceptions are of particular objects, and that our secondary perceptions or ideas must be equally so. Precisely, for the same reason, there can be no such thing as an abstract idea. We cannot form an idea of a part without taking in the whole; nor of motion, color, figure, independent of a body. No man will say that he can form any idea of beauty, till he think of a person endued with that quality; nor that he can form an idea of weight, till he takes under consideration a body that is weighty. And when he takes under consideration a body endued with one or other of the properties mentioned, the idea he forms is not an abstract or general idea, but the idea of a particular body with its properties. But though a part and the whole, a subject and its attributes, an effect and its cause, are so intimately connected, as that an idea cannot be formed of the one independent of the other; yet we can reason upon the one abstracting from the other.

This is done by words signifying the thing to which the reasoning is confined; and such words are denominated abstract terms. The meaning and use of an abstract term is well understood, though of itself, unless other particulars be taken in, it raises no image nor idea in the mind. In language it serves excellent purpose; by it different figures, different colors, can be compared, without the trouble of conceiving them as belonging to any particular subject; and they contribute with words significant to raise images or ideas in the mind.

42. The power of abstraction is bestowed on man, for the purpose solely of reasoning. It tends greatly to the facility as well as clearness of any process of reasoning, that, laying aside every other circumstance, we can confine our attention to he ingle property we desire to investigate.

43. Abstract terms may be separated into three different kinds, all equally subservient to the reasoning faculty. Individuals appear to have no end; and did we not possess the faculty of distributing them into classes, the mind would be lost in an endless maze, and no progress be made in knowledge. It is by the faculty of abstraction that we distribute beings into genera and species: finding a number of individuals connected by certain qualities common to all, we give a name to these individuals considered as thus connected, which name, by gathering them together into one class, serves to express the whole of these individuals as distinct from others. Thus the word animal serves to denote every being that can move voluntarily; and the words man, horse, lion, &c. answer similar purposes. This is the first and most common sort of abstraction; and it is of the most extensive use, by enabling us to comprehend in our reasoning whole kinds and sorts, instead of individuals, without end. The next sort of abstract terms comprehends a number of individual objects, considered as connected by some occasional relation. A great number of persons collected in one place, without any other relation than merely that of contiguity, are denominated a crowd: in forming this term, we abstract from sex, from age, from condition, from dress, &c. A number of persons connected by the same laws and by the same government, are termed a nation: and a number of men under the same military command, are termed an army. A third sort of abstraction is, where a single property or part, which may be common to many individuals, is selected to be the subject of our contemplation; for example, whiteness, heat, beauty, length, roundness, head, arm.

44. Abstract terms are a happy invention: it is by their means chief ly, that the particulars which make the subject of our reasoning are brought into close union, and separated from all others however naturally connected. Without the aid of such terms, the mind could never be kept steady to its proper subject, but be perpetually in hazard of assuming foreign circumstances, or neglecting what are essential. We can, without the aid of language, compare real objects by intuition, when these objects are present; and when absent, we can compare them in idea. But when we advance farther, and attempt to make inferences and draw conclusions, we always employ abstract terms, even in thinking; it would be as difficult to reason without them, as to perform operations in algebra without signs; for there is scarcely any reasoning without some degree of abstraction, and we cannot easily abstract without using abstract terms. Hence it follows, that

without language man would scarcely be a rational being.

45. The same thing, in different respects, has different names. With respect to certain qualities, it is termed a substance; with respect to other qualities, a body; and with respect to qualities of all sorts, a subject. It is termed a passive subject with respect to an action exerted upon it; an object with respect to a percipient: a cause with respect to the effect it produces; and an effect with respect to its cause.

INDEX.

ABSTRACTION, power of, 486. Its use,

487.
Abstract terms, ought to be avoided in
poetry, 122, 401.
Cannot be com-
pared but by being personified, 326.
Personified, 351. Defined, 486. The
use of abstract terms, 487.
Accent, defined, 292. The musical ac-
cents that are necessary in an hexam-
eter line, 296. A low word must not
be accented, 310. Rules for accenting
English heroic verse, 309, 310. How
far affected by the pause, 311. Ac-
cent and pause have a mutual influ-
ence, 312.

Action, what feelings are raised by hu-
man actions, 27. 115. 172. We are
impelled to action by desire, 29. Some
actions are instinctive, some intended
as means to a certain end, 31. Ac-
tions great and elevated, low and gro-
velling, 115. Slowness and quickness
in acting, to what causes owing, 152.
157. Emotions occasioned by pro-
priety of action, 168. Occasioned by
impropriety of action, ib. Human
actions considered with respect to dig-
nity and meanness, 175. Actions the
interpreters of the heart, 208. Action
is the fundamental part of epic and
dramatic compositions, 420. Unity
of action, 429. We are conscious of
internal action as in the head, 475.
Internal action may proceed without
our being conscious of it, ib.
Action and reaction betwixt a passion
and its object, 65.
Actor, bombast actor, 126. The chief
talents of an actor, 206. An actor
should feel the passion he represents,
217. Difference as to pronunciation
betwixt the French and English ac-
tors, 219, note.
Admiration, 65. 131.
Eneid. See Virgil.
Affectation, 167.

Affection, to children accounted for, 43.
To blood-relations, ib. Affection for
what belongs to us, ib. Social affec-
tions more refined than selfish, 62.
Affection in what manner inflamed
into a passion, 65. Opposed to pro-
pensity, 67. Affection to children
endures longer than any other affec-|

tion, ib.
Opinion and belief influ-
enced by affection, 88. Affection de-
fined, 195. 484.
Agamemnon, of Seneca censured, 231.
Agreeable emotions and passions, 58,
&c. Things neither agreeable nor
disagreeable. See Object.
Alcestes, of Euripides censured, 242,
438, 439.

Alexandre, of Racine censured, 225.
Alexandrine line, 298.
Allegory, defined, 370. More difficult
in painting than in poetry, 376. In
an historical
424.
poem,
All for Love, of Dryden censured, 235.
Alto Relievo, 459.
Ambiguity, occasioned by a wrong
choice of words, 255; occasioned by
a wrong arrangement, 270.
Amynta, of Tasso censured, 222.
Amor patriæ, accounted for, 45.
Amphibrachys, 324.
Amphimacer, 324.

Analytic and synthetic methods of rea-
soning compared, 22.
Anapestus, 323.

Anger, explained, 47, &c. Frequently
comes to its height instantaneously,
65. Decays suddenly, 66. Some-
times exerted against the innocent, 85.
and even against things inanimate, ib.
Not infectious, 95. Has no dignity
in it, 175.

Angle, largest and smallest angle of
vision, 92.

Animals, distributed by nature into
classes, 467.
Antibacchius, 324.
Anticlimax, 286.
Antispastus, 324.

Antithesis, 259. Verbal antithesis, 188.

259.

Apostrophe, 359, &c.

Appearance, things ought to be described
in poetry, as they appear, not as they
are in reality, 393.

Appetite, defined, 31. Appetites of hun-
ger, thirst, animal love, arise without
an object, 40. Appetite for fame or
esteem, 100.

Apprehension, dulness and quickness of
apprehension, to what causes owing,
152.

Architecture, ch. xxiv. Grandeur of

Basso-relievo, 460.

manner in architecture, 119. The si- | Base, of a column, 462.
tuation of a great house ought to be
lofty, 166. A playhouse or a music-
room susceptible of much ornament,
167. What emotions can be raised
by architecture, 443. Its emotions
compared with those of gardening, ib.
Every building ought to have an ex-
pression suited to its destination, 444.
457. Simplicity ought to be the go-
verning taste, 443. Regularity to be
studied, 445. 454. External form of
dwelling-houses, 452, 453. Divisions
within, 453. 458, 459. A palace ought
to be regular, but in a small house
convenience ought to be preferred,
452, 453. A dwelling-house ought to
be suited to the climate, 454. Con-
gruity ought to be studied, 457. Ar-
chitecture governed by principles that
produce opposite effects, 459, 460.
Different ornaments employed in it,
459, 460. Witticisms in architecture,
464. Allegorical or emblematical or-
naments, ib. Architecture inspires a
taste for neatness and regularity, 465.
Ariosto, censured, 160. 430.
Aristæus, the episode of Aristaus in the
Georgics censured, 323.
Aristotle, censured, 477, note.
Army, defined, 488.

Batrachomuomachia, censured, 179
Beauty, ch. iii. Intrinsic and relative,
103. 449. Beauty of simplicity, 104.
of figure, ib., of the circle, 105. of the
square, ib., of a regular polygon, 106.
of a parallelogram, ib., of an equila-
teral triangle, ib. Whether beauty is
a primary or secondary quality of ob-
jects, 107. Beauty distinguished from
grandeur, 110. Beauty of natural
colors, 161. Beauty distinguished
from congruity, 166. Consummate
beauty seldom produces a constant
lover, 199. Wherein consists the
beauty of the human visage, 204.
Beauty proper and figurative, 482.
Behavior, gross and refined, 62.
Belief, of the reality of external objects,
51. Enforced by a lively narrative,
or a good historical painting, 56, 57.
Influenced by passion, 87. 361. In-
fluenced by propensity, 88. Influ-
enced by affection, ib.

Arrangement, the best arrangement of
words is to place them if possible in
an increasing series, 252. Arrange-
ment of members in a period, ib. Of
periods in a discourse, 253. Ambi-
guity from wrong arrangement, 270.
273. Arrangement natural and in-
verted, 280, 281.

Articulate sounds, how far agreeable,
248. 250.

Artificial mount, 448.
Arts. See Fine Arts.
Ascent, pleasant, but descent not pain-
ful, 114.

Athalie, of Racine censured, 231.
Attention, defined, 484. Impression
made by objects depends on the degree
of attention, ib. Attention not always
voluntary, 485.

Attractive passions, 210.
Attractive objects, 97.

Attractive signs of passion, 210.
Attributes, transferred by a figure of
speech from one subject to another,
365, &c.

Avarice, defined, 29.
Avenue, to a house, 448.
Aversion, defined, 65. 195.

Bacchius, 324.

Bajazet, of Racine censured, 241.
Barren scene, defined, 431.

Benevolence operates in conjunction
with self-love to make us happy, 97.
Benevolence inspired by gardening,
451.

Berkeley, censured, 477, note.
Blank verse, 298. 315. Its aptitude for
inversion, 317. Its melody, ib. How
far proper in tragedy, 428.
Body, defined, 475.
Boileau, censured, 360. 417.
Bombast, 124. Bombast in action, 126.
Bossu, censured, 432, note.
Burlesque, machinery does well in a
burlesque poem, 57. Burlesque dis-
tinguished into two kinds, 179.
Business, men of middle age best quali-
fied for it, 152.

Cadence, 287. 292.

Capital, of a column, 463.
Careless husband, its double plot well
contrived, 426.

Cascade, 129.

Cause, resembling causes may produce
effects that have no resemblance; and
causes that have no resemblance
may produce resembling effects, 283
Cause, defined, 488.

Chance, the mind revolts against misfor
tunes that happen by chance, 418.
Character, to draw a character is the
master-stroke of description, 397, 398.
Characteristics, of Shaftsbury criticised,
167, note.

Children, love to them accounted for, 43.
A child can discover a passion from
its external signs, 211. Hides none
of its emotions, 215.

Chinese, gardens, 450. Wonder and | Complexion, what colour of dress is the
surprise studied in them, 451.