The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1804-09-29

n Clergyman dHG ms QduSntST WCfc ONCE
viewing the face of the sill moon. The young
woman was clear Ihe ,;.w in it the figure of
yotoig man but the father rebulSing the daugh-
ter for not feeling ebartb, fays, why child,
don't you Fee the feeple -
To ordinary paates good wine at the table of
poor man will feem bad, and ordinary wine at
the houie of reputed epicure, has moi ex.
quiiite favour.
Eiop, by way of characteriiing the blind par
TALLY of mother, makes the owl, in deicribing
her young to the eagle, dwell with great en-
phaIis on their pretty faces.
Perions who feel dread of apparitions need
but meet with white COW or linen garment,
and their fancy fupplies whatever is wanting to
complete picture of horor-giveS it form, CO.
lour, motion, nay even dittinct and articulate
voice. Gholts were never yet feen by thoie who
did not previouily have a dread or belief of
them.
When Wilkes was in the zenith of his popu-
larity, one of his mott enthuialic female admi-
rers would not admit that he fquinted. Yield
ing to the effect of a nearer INFECTION, ihe re-
pied to her triumphant adversary, " Well, 1
am fure if it is 70, he fquints no more than 4
gentleman ought to do"
The wretch who has been for years the help
lefs victim of difeafe, has imagined himfelf GU
red by the touch of IN iron bodllin and on one
location l knew rheumatic patient to be
icratched with quill (mpoied on him for one
OF Perkinss points, till he was able " to take up
his bed and walk"
| 1t is iimilar illuiion of fancy which pro-
cures the ready fale of the noftrums of empires,
and vouches with tuch grateful zeal for the
cures they have wrought.
| JuggierS and ventriloquits owe their iucceiS
chiefly to the deluded imaginations of their be-
holders.
| Hypochondria, derium, and madnefs, tho
remotely cauied by corporal difeafe, are the
Immediate effects of an imagination ftimulated to
preternatural vgour.
| The falfe promiits of hope are nothing but
the Judgment led aitray by the Imagination
Ambition derives its ftrength from one fpecies
| of mental illuiion, and avarice from another.
Jealouty, envy, revenge, make the imagination
convert beauty into defornity and virtue into
vice, while love, pity and admiration, cauie an
oppofte metamorphohs. When party iprit
runs high, the fame ehay, the fame fpeech is
thought to have or TO want merit, according to
the fentiments they exprefs. This prejudice,
aSt is commonly called, or this illufon of fancy,
is often extended mott ludcrouly to the cut OF
a coat, the air of popular fong, or even to a
color that happens TO be the badge of party.
n few years iince black cape probably often
excited more horror in Paris than a itreet MUIR
der, and verify believe fome Jealous partiZans
among ourteives have thought the very RAIN
bow hideous from its resemblance to the fyieolOr
of France.
If imagination is capable not only of fubfitu-
ting its own copies of the perceptions OF fenie
for thofe of memory, but even of cheating us
out of thefe perceptions themfeves, how much
and how often mutt it pervert the judgment
How liable is every chain threatening to be turn
ed this or that way from the right line of truth,
when every link is 70 likely to be diftorted
Few are the opinions we can form which are not
connected with fome fcntment of pleature or
pain, and theie sentiments are always nouriihed
more or leis by fancy.
Let thefe considerations teach charity and
moderation to zealots of every defcriptiou, and
let them recolle6t that the opinions of Whole
truth they have the deepef conviction, if they
were formed when the mind was much excited
by feeling, are leis likely to be the demonitrati-
ons of rsajon than the Wa,fOnJ Of fancy.