frequently coupled together by means of relations among the words which denote them; such as a similarity of sound, or other circumstances still more trifling. The allit eration which is so common in poetry, and in proverbial sayings, seems to arise, partly at least, from associations of ideas founded on the accidental circumstance of the two words which express them beginning with the same letter.

"But thousands die, without or this or that,
Die; and endow a College, or a Cat."

Pope's Ep. to Lord BATHURST. "Ward tried, on Puppies, and the Poor, his drop."

Id. Imitat. of HORACE.

"Puffs, powders, patches; Bibles, billets-doux."

RAPE of the LOCK,

This indeed pleases only on slight occasions, when it may be supposed that the mind is in some degree playful, and under the influence of those principles of association which commonly take place when we are careless and disengaged. Every person must be offended with the second line of the following couplet, which forms part of a very sublime description of the Divine power :

"Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part,

As full, as perfect, in a Hair as Heart."

ESSAY ON MAN, Ep. i.

To these observations, it may be added, that things which have no known relation to each other, are often asso. ciated, in consequence of their producing similar effects on the mind. Some of the finest poetical allusions are founded on this principle; and accordingly, if the reader is not possessed of sensibility congenial to that of the poet, he will be apt to overlook their meaning, or to censure them as absurd. To such a critic it would not be easy to vindicate the beauty of the following stanza, in an Ode addressed to a lady by the author of the Seasons.

Oh thou, whose tender, serious eye

Expressive speaks the soul I love;
The gentle azure of the sky,

The pensive shadows of the grove.

I have already said, that the view of the subject which I propose to take, does not require a complete enumeration of our principles of association. There is, however, an important distinction among them, to which I shall have occasion frequently to refer, and which, as far as I know, has not hitherto attracted the notice of philosophers. The relations upon which some of them are founded, are perfectly obvious to the mind; those which are the foundation of others, are discovered only in consequence of particular efforts of attention. Of the former kind, are the relations of Resemblance and Analogy, of Contrariety, of Vicinity in time and place, and those which arise from accidental coincidences in the sound of different words. These, in general, connect our thoughts together, when they are suffered to take their natural course, and when we are conscious of little or no active exertion. Of the latter kind, are the relations of Cause and Effect, Means and End, of Premises and Conclusion; and those others, which regulate the train of thought in the mind of the philosopher, when he is engaged in a particular investigation.

It is owing to this distinction, that transitions, which would be highly offensive in philosophical writing, are the most pleasing of any in poetry. In the former species of composition, we expect to see an author lay down a distinct plan or method, and observe it rigorously; without allowing himself to amble into digressions, suggested by the accidental ideas or expressions which may occur to him in his progress. In that state of mind in which poetry is read, such digressions are not only agreeable, but necessary to the effect; and an arrangement founded on the sponta

neous and seemingly casual order of our thoughts, pleases more than one suggested by an accurate analysis of the subject.

How absurd would the long digression in praise of Industry, in Thomson's Autumn, appear, if it occurred in a prose essay-a digression, however, which, in that beautiful poem, arises naturally and insensibly from the view of a luxuriant harvest; and which as naturally leads the Poet back to the points where his excursion began :

In Goldsmith's Traveller, the transitions are managed with consummate skill; and yet, how different from that logical method which would be suited to a philosophical discourse on the state of society in the different parts of Europe! Some of the finest are suggested by the associating principle of Contrast. Thus, after describing the effeminate and debased Romans, the Poet proceeds to the Swiss :

My soul, turn from them-turn we to survey
Where rougher climes a nobler race display.

And, after painting some defects in the manners of this gallant but unrefined people, his thoughts are led to those of the French :

To kinder skies, where gentler manners reign,
I turn-and France displays her bright domain.

The transition which occurs in the following lines, seems to be suggested by the accidental mention of a word; and is certainly one of the happiest in our language.

Heavens! how unlike their Belgic Sires of old !
Rough, poor, content, ungovernably bold;
War in each breast, and freedom on each brow;
How much unlike the Sons of Britain now!—
-Fired at the sound, my Genius spreads her wing,
And flies, where Britain courts the western spring.

Numberless illustrations of the same remark might be collected from the ancient Poets, more particularly from the Georgics of Virgil, where the singular felicity of the transitions has attracted the notice even of those, who have been the least disposed to indulge themselves in philosophical refinements concerning the principles of Criticism. A celebrated instance of this kind occurs in the end of the first Book :-the consideration of the weather and of its common prognostics leading the fancy, in the first place, to those more extraordinary phenomena which, according to the superstitious belief of the vulgar, are the forerunners of political revolutions; and, afterwards, to the death of Cæsar, and the battles of Pharsalia and Philippi. The manner in which the Poet returns to his original subject, displays that exquisite art which is to be derived only from the diligent and enlightened study of nature.

Scilicet et tempus veniet, cùm finibus illis
Agricola, incurvo terram molitus aratro,
Exesa inveniet scabrâ rubigine pila;
Aut gravibus rastris galeas pulsabit inanes,
Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris.

The facility with which ideas are associated in the mind, is very different in different individuals: a circumstance which, as I shall afterwards shew, lays the foundation of Femarkable varieties among men, both in respect of genius

and of character. I am inclined, too, to think that in the other sex (probably in consequence of early education) ideas are more easily associated together, than in the minds

of men.

Hence the liveliness of their fancy, and the superiority they possess in epistolary writing, and in those kinds of poetry, in which the principal recommendations are ease of thought and expression. Hence, too, the facility with which they contract or lose habits, and accommodate their minds to new situations; and, I may add, the disposition they have to that species of superstition which is founded on accidental combinations of circumstances. The influence which this facility of association has on the power of Taste, shall be afterwards considered.

SECTION III.

Of the Power which the Mind has over the Train of its Thoughts.

By means of the Association of Ideas, a constant current of thoughts, if I may use the expression, is made to pass through the mind while we are awake. Sometimes the current is interrupted, and the thoughts diverted into a new channel, in consequence of the ideas suggested by other men, or of the objects of perception with which we are surrounded. So completely, however, is the mind in this particular subjected to physical laws, that it has been justly observed, we cannot, by an effort of our will, call up any one thought; and that the train of our ideas depends on causes which operate in a manner inexplicable by us.

This observation, although it has been censured as paradoxical, is almost self-evident; for, to call up a particular thought, supposes it to be already in the mind. As I shall have frequent occasion, however, to refer to the observa

By Lord KAIMES, and others.