cellent 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 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, colour, 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 connexion with his profession. 41. It is observed above, p. 452, that there can be no such thing as a general idea; that all other 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, colour, 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 an excellent purpose; by it different figures, different colours, 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 the single 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 abstra tion that we distribute beings into genera and species; finding a num ber 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. to 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 num ber of persons collected in one place, without any other relation but 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 an 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 chiefly 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 scarce any reasoning without some degree of abstraction, and we cannot easily abstract without using abstract terms. Hence it follows, that without language man would scarce 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. Abstract terms, ought to be avoided Accent defined, 275. The musical ac- Action, what feelings are raised by hu- Action and reaction betwixt a pas- Actor, bombast actor, 117. The chief Eneid, its unity of action, 404. Affectation, 156. See Affection to children accounted for, Agamemnon of Seneca censured, 218. Alcestes of Euripides censured, 228. Alexandre of Racine censured, 212. Allegory defined, 351. More diffi- All for Love of Dryden censured, Alto-relievo, 433. Ambiguity, occasioned by a wrong Aminta of Tasso censured, 209. Analytic and synthetic methods of Anger explained, 44, &c. Frequently Angle, largest and smallest angle of Animals distributed by nature into Antibacchius, 308. Antispastus, 308. Antithesis, 244. Verbal antithesis, 176. 244. Apostrophe, 341, &c. Appearance, things ought to be de- Appetite defined, 28. Appetites of Apprehension, dulness and quick- Architecture, ch. xxiv. Grandeur of dwelling-houses, 425, 426. Divisions Ariosto censured, 149. 405. Aristotle censured, 450, note. Arrangement, the best arrangement of Articulate sounds, how far agreea- Artificial mount, 421. Athalie of Racine censured, 218. signs of passion, 197. Avarice defined, 27. BACCHIUS, 308. Bajazet of Racine censured, 227. Batrachomuomachia censured, 168. sists the beauty of the human visage, Belief, of the reality of external ob- Benevolence operates in conjunction Berkeley censured, 450, note. Blank verse, 282, 300. Its aptitude Boileau censured, 341. 397. Bombast, 115. Bombast in action, 117. Business, men of middle age best CADENCE, 271. 275. Careless Husband, its double plot Cause, resembling causes may pro- Chance, the mind revolts against mis- Children, love to them accounted Chinese gardens, 423. Wonder and Choriambus, 308. Chorus, an essential part of the Gre- Church, what ought to be its form Cicero censured, 265, 272, 273. Cid of Corneille censured, 208, 220. Circle, its beauty, 98. Circumstances, in a period where Class, all living creatures distribut In Climax in sense, 108. 207. 262. Coëpheres of Eschylus censured, 191. Colonnade, where proper, 427. Colour, gold and silver esteemed for Comedy, double plot in a comedy, Comet, motion of the comets and pla- 119. Commencement of a work ought to Common nature in every species of Common sense, 441, 446. Communication of passion to related Comparison, 130, &c. ch. xix. In the Complex emotion, 64, &c. Complex object, its power to gene- Complex perception, 451, 452. Conception defined, 448. Criminal, the hour of execution seems Custom and habit, chap. xiv. Ren- DACTYLE, 308. Des Cartes censured, 450, note. Description, it animates a description Concord or harmony in objects of to represent things past as present, 52. sight, 66. Concordant sounds defined, 63. Congruity and propriety, ch. x. A se- Connexion essential in all composi- The rules that ought to govern it, 370. Descriptive personifications, 333. Desire defined, 27. It impels us to |