ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITORS. HE much lamented Author of these THE Effays left them in the hands of his friends to be difpofed of as they thought proper, having immediately before his death deftroyed many other manufcripts which he thought unfit for being made public. When thefe were inspected, the greater number of them appeared to be parts of a plan he once had formed, for giving a connected history of the liberal fciences and elegant It is long fince he found it neceffary to abandon that plan as far too extenfive; and these parts of it lay befide him neglected until his death. His friends are perfuaded however, that the reader will find in them that happy connection, that full and accurate expreffion, and that clear illuftration which are confpicuous in the reft E 2 expected to meet with in the place where we find them; we are furprised at the fudden appearance of a friend, whom we have feen a thousand times, but whom we did not imagine we were to fee then. We admire the beauty of a plain or the greatnefs of a mountain, though we have feen both often before, and though nothing appears to us in either, but what we had expected with certainty to fee. Whether this criticifm upon the precife meaning of these words be juft, is of little importance. I imagine it is juft, though I acknowledge, that the beft writers in our language have not always made ufe of them according to it. Milton, upon the appearance of Death to Satan, fays, that The Fiend what this might be admir'd; Admir'd, not fear'd. But if this criticifm be juft, the proper expreffion fhould have been wonder'd.—Dryden, upon the discovery of Iphigenia sleeping, fays, that The fool of nature ftood with ftupid eyes But what Cimon must have felt upon this occafion could not fo much be Surprise, as Wonder and Admiration. All that I contend for is, that the fentiments excited by what is new, by what is unexpected, and by what is great great and beautiful, are really different, however the words made ufe of to exprefs them may fometimes be confounded. Even the admiration which is excited by beauty, is quite different (as will appear more fully hereafter) from that which is inspired by greatness, though we have but one word to denote them. These fentiments, like all others when inspired by one and the fame object, mutually fupport and enliven one another: an object with which we are quite familiar, and which we fee every day, produces, though both great and beautiful, but a small effect upon us; because our admiration is not fupported either by Wonder or by Surprise and if we have heard a very accurate defcription of a monster, our Wonder will be the lefs when we fee it; becaufe our previous knowledge of it will in a great measure prevent our Surprise. It is the defign of this Effay to confider particularly the nature and caufes of each of these sentiments, whofe influence is of far wider extent than we should be apt upon a careless view to imagine. I fhall begin with Surprise. SEC. SECT. I. SECTION I. Of the Effect of Unexpectedness, or of WHEN an object of any kind, which has been for fome time expected and forefeen, prefents itself, whatever be the emotion which it is by nature fitted to excite, the mind must have been prepared for it, and must even in fome measure have conceived it before-hand; because the idea of the object having been fo long present to it, must have before-hand excited fome degree of the fame emotion which the object itself would excite : the change, therefore, which its prefence produces comes thus to be lefs confiderable, and the emotion or paffion which it excites glides gradually and eafily into the heart, without violence, pain, or difficulty. But the contrary of all this happens when the object is unexpected; the paffion is then poured in all at once upon the heart, which is thrown, if it is a ftrong paffion, into the moft violent and convulfive emotions, fuch as fometimes caufe immediate death; fometimes, by the suddenness of the extacy, so entirely disjoint the whole frame of the imagination, that it never after returns to its former tone I. and compofure, but falls either into a frenzy SECT. or habitual lunacy; and fuch as almost always occafion a momentary lofs of reason, or of that attention to other things which our fituation or our duty requires. How much we dread the effects of the more violent paffions, when they come fuddenly upon the mind, appears from those preparations which all men think neceffary when going to inform any one of what is capable of exciting them. Who would choose all at once to inform his friend of an extraordinary calamity that had befallen him, without taking care before-hand, by alarming him with an uncertain fear, to announce, if one may fay fo, his misfortune, and thereby prepare and difpofe him for receiving the tidings? Those panic terrors which fometimes feize armies in the field, or great cities, when an enemy is in the neighbourhood, and which deprive for a time the moft determined of all deliberate judgments, are never excited but by the fudden apprehenfion of unexpected danger. Such violent confternations, which at once confound whole multitudes, benumb their understandings, and agitate their hearts, with all the agony of extravagant fear, can never be produced by any foreseen danger, how great foever. Fear, though naturally a very ftrong paffion, never rifes to fuch exceffes, unless exasperated both by Wonder, from the uncertain |