fecretly revolved in his mind a fucceffion of thought, which had gradually led him away from the fubject of converfation. Among the languages of different nations, even where we cannot fufpect the leaft connexion or communication, 'tis found, that the words, expreffive of ideas, the moft compounded, do yet nearly correspond to each other: A certain proof, that the fimple ideas, comprehended in the compound ones, were bound together by fome univerfal principle, which had an equal influence on all mankind.

THO' it be too obvious to escape observation, that different ideas are connected together; I do not find, that any philofopher has attempted to enumerate or class all the principles of affociation; a subject, however, that seems very worthy of curiofity. To me, there appear to be only three principles of connexion among ideas, viz. Refemblance, Contiguity in time or place, and Cause or Effect.

THAT thefe principles ferve to connect ideas will not, I believe, be much doubted. A picture naturally leads our thoughts to the original: The mention of one apartment in a building naturally introduces an enquiry or difcourfe concerning the others: And if we think of a wound, we can scarce forbear reflecting on the pain which follows it. But that this enumeration is compleat, and that there are no other principles of affociation, except thefe, may be difficult to prove to the fatisfaction of the reader, or even to a man's own fatisfaction. All we can do, in fuch cases, is to run over feveral inftances, and examine carefully the principle, which binds the different thoughts to each other, never ftopping till we render the principle as general as poffible. The more inftances we examine, and the more care we employ, the more affurance fhall we acquire, that the enumeration, which we form from the whole, is compleat and entire. Instead of entering into a detail of this kind, which would lead into many useless fubtilties, we fhall confider fome of the effects of this connexion upon the paffions and imagination; where we may open a field of fpeculation more entertaining, and perhaps more instructive, than the other.

As man is a reasonable being, and is continually in pursuit of happiness, which he hopes to attain by the gratification of fome paffion or affection, he feldom acts or speaks or thinks without a purpose and intention. He has ftill fome object in view; and however improper the means may fometimes be, which he chufes for the attainment of his end, he never lofes view of an end, nor will he fo much as throw away his thoughts or reflections, where he hopes not to reap any fatisfaction from them.

In all compofitions of genius, therefore, 'tis requifite that the writer have fome plan or object; and tho' he may be hurried from this plan by the vehemence of thought, as in an ode, or drop it carelefly, as in an epiftle or effay, there muft appear fome aim or intention, in his firft fetting out, if not in the compofition of the whole work. A production without a defign would refemble more the ravings of a madman, than the fober efforts of genius and learning.

As this rule admits of no exception, it follows, that in narrative compofitions, the events or actions, which the writer relates, muft be connected together, by fome bond or tye: They must be related to each other in the imagination, and

Refemblance.

• Contiguity.

Caufe and Effect.

form

form a kind of Unity, which may bring them under one plan or view, and which may be the object or end of the writer in his first undertaking.

THIS Connecting principle among the feveral events, which form the fubject of a poem or hiftory, may be very different, according to the different defigns of the poet or historian. OVID has formed his plan upon the connecting principle of refemblance. Every fabulous transformation, produced by the miraculous power of the gods, falls within the compass of his work. There needs but this one circumstance in any event to bring it under his original plan or intention.

An annalist or historian, who should undertake to write the history of Europe during any century, would be influenced by the connexion of contiguity in time and place. All events, which happen in that portion of fpace, and period of time, are comprehended in his defign, tho' in other refpects different and unconnected. They have ftill a fpecies of unity, amidst all their diversity.

BUT the most ufual fpecies of connexion among the different events, which enter into any narrative compofition, is that of caufe and effect; while the hiftorian traces the series of actions according to their natural order, remounts to their fecret fprings and principles, and delineates their most remote confequences. He chufes for his fubject a certain portion of that great chain of events, which compose the history of mankind: Each link in this chain he endeavors to touch in his narration: Sometimes, unavoidable ignorance renders all his attempts fruitless: Sometimes, he fupplies by conjecture what is wanting in knowlege: And always, he is fenfible, that the more unbroken the chain is, which he prefents to his readers, the more perfect is his production. He fees, that the knowlege of caufes is not only the most fatisfactory; this relation or connexion being the strongest of all others, but alfo the most inftructive; fince it is by this knowlege alone, we are enabled to controf events, and govern futurity.

HERE therefore we may attain fome notion of that Unity of Action, about which all critics, after ARISTOTLE, have talked fo much: Perhaps, to httle purpose, while they directed not their tafte or fentiment by the accuracy of philofophy. It appears, that in all productions, as well as in the epic and tragic, there is a certain unity required, and that, on no occafion, can our thoughts be allowed to run at adventures, if we would produce a work, which will give any lafting entertainment to mankind. It appears alfo, that even a biographer, who fhould write the life of ACHILLES, would connect the events, by fhewing their mutual dependence and relation, as much as a poet, who fhould make the anger of that hero, the fubject of his narration. Not only in any limited portion of life, a man's actions have a dependance on each other, but also during the whole period of his duration, from the cradle to the grave; nor is it poffible to ftrike off one link, however minute, in this regular chain, without affecting the whole feries of events, which follow. The unity of action, therefore, which is to be found in biography or history, differs from that of epic poetry, not in kind, but in degree. In epic poetry, the connexion among the events is more close and fenfible: The narration is not carried on thro' fuch a length of time: And the actors haften to fome remarkable period, which fatisfies the curiofity of the reader. This conduct of the

• Contrary to ARISTOTLE, Μῦθος δ ̓ ἐσίν εἷς, είχε ὥσπερ τινὲς οἴολαι, ἐὰν περὶ θ ̓ ἕνα ἤ. Πολλὰ γὰρ, Πολλὰ γὰρ, καὶ ἀπείρα τῷ γένει συμβαίνει, ἐξ ὧν ἐνίων ἐσιν ἔν. Ούτω δι

καὶ πραξεις, ενός πολλαί ἰσιν, ἐξ ὧν μία υδεμία γίνεται
πράξις, &c. Κεφ. η.
n.

epic poet depends on that particular fituation of the Imagination and of the Paffions, which is fuppofed in that production. The imagination, both of writer and reader, is more enlivened, and the paffions more enflamed than in history, biography, or any fpecies of narration, which confine themfelves to ftrict truth and reality. Let us confider the effect of these two circumftances, an enlivened imagination and enflamed paffions, circumftances, which belong to poetry, especially. the epic kind, above any other fpecies of compofition; and let us examine the reason why they require a ftricter and clofer unity in the fable.

FIRST. All poetry, being a fpecies of painting, approaches us nearer to the objects than any other fpecies of narration, throws a ftronger light upon them, and delineates more distinctly those minute circumstances, which, tho' to the historian they seem fuperfluous, ferve mightily to enliven the imagery, and gratify the fancy. If it be not neceffary, as in the Iliad, to inform us each time the hero buckles his fhoes, and ties his garters, it will be requifite, perhaps, to enter into a greater detail than in the HENRIADE;, where the events are run over with. fuch rapidity, that we fcarce have leifure to become acquainted with the scene or action. Were a poet, therefore, to comprehend in his fubject any great compafs of time or feries of events, and trace up the death of HECTOR to its remote caufes, in the rape of HELEN, or the judgment of PARIS, he muft draw out his poem to an immeasurable length, in order to fill this large canvas with just painting and imagery. The reader's imagination, enflamed with fuch a series of poetical defcriptions, and his paffions, agitated by a continual fympathy with the actors, muft flag long before the period of the narration, and must fink into laffitude and difguft, from the repeated violence of the fame movements..

SECONDLY. That an epic poet muft not trace the causes to any great diftance, will farther appear, if we confider another reason, which is drawn from a property of the paffions ftill more remarkable and fingular. 'Tis evident, that in a juft compofition, all the affections, excited by the different events, defcribed and reprefented, add mutual force to each other; and that while the heroes are all engaged in one common fcene, and each action is strongly connected with the whole,, the concern is continually awake, and the paffions make an eafy tranfition from one object to another. The strong connection of the events, as it facilitates the paffage of the thought or imagination from one to another, facilitates alfo the transfufion of the paffions, and preferves the affections ftill in the fame channel and direction. Our fympathy and concern for Eve prepares the way for a like sympathy with ADAM: The affection is preferved almost entire in the tranfition; and the mind feizes immediately the new object as strongly related to that which for merly engaged its attention.. But were the poet to make a total digreffion from: his fubject, and introduce a new actor, no way connected with the perfonages, the imagination, feeling a breach in the transition, would enter coldly into the new feene; would kindle by, flow degrees; and in returning to the main fubject of the poem, would pafs, as it were, upon foreign ground,, and have its concern to excite anew, in order to take party with the principal actors. The fame inconve nience follows in a lefs degree, where the poet traces his events to too great a dis stance, and binds together actions, which tho not entirely disjoined, have not fos ftrong a connexion as is requifite to forward the tranfition of the paffions. Hence arifes the artifice of the oblique narration, employed in the Odyssey and Æneid;

where

where the hero is introduced, at first, near the period of his defigns, and afterwards shows us, as it were in perfpective, the more diftant events and causes. By this means, the reader's curiofity is immediately excited: The events follow with rapidity, and in a very clofe connexion: And the concern is preferved alive, and, by means of the near relation of the objects, continually increafes, from the beginning to the end of the narration.

THE fame rule takes place in dramatic poetry; nor is it ever permitted, in a regular compofition, to introduce an actor, who has no connexion, or but a small one, with the principal perfonages of the fable. The fpectator's concern must not be diverted by any scenes, disjoined and separated from the reft. This breaks the courfe of the paffions, and prevents that communication of the feveral emotions, by which one scene adds force to another, and transfuses the pity and terror, which it excites, upon each fucceeding fcene, 'till the whole produces that rapidity of movement, which is peculiar to the theatre. How muft it extinguish this warmth of affection to be entertained, on a sudden, with a new action and new perfonages, no way related to the former; to find fo fenfible a breach or vacuity in the courfe of the paffions, by means of this breach in the connexion of ideas; and instead of carrying the fympathy of one scene into the following, to be obliged, every moment, to excite a new concern, and take party in a new fcene of action?

BUT tho' this rule of unity of action be common to dramatic and epic poetry; we may still obferve a difference betwixt them, which may, perhaps, deferve our attention. In both thefe fpecies of compofition, 'tis requifite that the action be one and fimple, in order to preserve the concern or fympathy entire and undiverted: But in epic or narrative poetry, this rule is alfo established upon another foundation, viz. the neceffity, that is incumbent on every writer, to form fome plan or defign, before he enter on any difcourfe or narration, and to comprehend his fubject in fome general aspect or united view, which may be the conftant object of his attention. As the author is entirely loft in dramatic compofitions, and the fpectator fuppofes himself to be really prefent at the actions reprefented; this reafon has no place with regard to the ftage; but any dialogue or converfation may be introduced, which, without improbability, might have paffed in that determinate portion of space, reprefented by the theatre. Hence in all our ENGLISH comedies, even thofe of CONGREVE, the unity of action is never ftrictly obferved; but the poet thinks it fufficient, if his perfonages be any way related to each other, by blood, or by living in the fame family; and he afterwards introduces them in particular fcenes, where they difplay their humors and characters, without much forwarding the main action. The double plots of TERENCE are licences of the fame kind; but in a lefs degree. And tho' this conduct be not perfectly regular, it is not wholly unfuitable to the nature of comedy, where the movements and paffions are not raised to fuch a height as in tragedy; at the fame time, that the fiction or reprefentation palliates, in fome meafure, fuch licences. In a narrative poem, the firft propofition or defign confines the author to one fubject; and any digreffions of this nature would, at firft view, be rejected, as abfurd and monftrous. Neither BOCCACE, LA FONTAINE, nor any author of that kind, tho' pleafantry be their chief object, have ever indulged them.

Τα

To return to the comparison of history and epic poetry, we may conclude, from the foregoing reasonings, that as a certain unity is requifite in all productions, it cannot be wanting to history more than to any other; that in hiftory, the connexion among the feveral events, which unites them into one body, is the relation of caufe and effect, the fame which takes place in epic poetry; and that in the latter compofition, this connexion is only required to be closer and more fenfible, on account of the lively imagination and ftrong paffions, which must be touched by the poet in his narration. The PELEPONNESIAN war is a proper fubject for history, the fiege of ATHENS for an epic poem, and the death of ALCIBIADES for a tragedy.

As the difference, therefore, between history and epic poetry confifts only in the degrees of connexion, which bind together thofe feveral events, of which their fubject is compofed, 'twill be difficult, if not impoffible, by words, to determine exactly the bounds, which feparate them from each other. That is a matter of tafte more than of reafoning; and perhaps, this unity may often be discovered in a fubject, where, at first view, and from an abstract confideration, we should least expect to find it.

'Tis evident, that HOMER, in the course of his narration, exceeds the first propofition of his fubject; and that the anger of ACHILLES, which caufed the death of HECTOR, is not the fame with that which produced fo many ills to the GREEKS. But the strong connexion between those two movements, the quick tranfition from one to another, the contrafte betwixt the effects of concord and difcord among the princes, and the natural curiofity which we have to fee ACHILLES in action, after fuch long repofe; all these causes carry on the reader, and produce a fufficient unity in the fubject.

Ir may be objected to MILTON, that he has traced up his causes to too great a distance, and that the rebellion of the angels produces the fall of man by a train of events, which is both very long and very cafual. Not to mention that the creation of the world, which he has related at length, is no more the cause of that catastrophe, than of the battle of PHARSALIA, or any other event, that has ever happened. But if we confider, on the other hand, that all thefe events, the rebellion of the angels, the creation of the world, and the fall of man, refemble each other, in being miraculous and out of the common courfe of nature; that they are fuppofed to be contiguous in time; and that being detached from all other events, and being the only original facts, which revelation discovers, they strike the eye at once, and naturally recall each other to the thought or imagination: If we confider all these circumftances, I fay, we fhall find, that these parts of the action have a fufficient unity to make them be comprehended in one fable or narration. To which we may add, that the rebellion of the angels and the fall of man have a peculiar refemblance, as being counterparts to each other, and presenting to the reader the same moral, of obedience to our Creator.

! Contrafte or contrariety is a fpecies of connexion among ideas, which may, perhaps, be confidered as a fpecies of refemblance. Where two objects are contrary, the one destroys the

other, i. e. is the cause of his annihilation, and the idea of the annihilation of an object implies the idea of its former existence.

Q9

THESE