The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1804-09-29
FOR THE ENQUIRER.
ON THE ILLUSIONS OF FANCY.
THE AIN o W......No. VII.

ais for fuch various and curious difquiition as
the fancy, or imagination. The metaphyiican
views it as the mimic of the fenies, Whole func-
tons il fometimes fo aptly performs, as TO iui-
pofe on the mind fiction for truth. In thus iub
ititutng the pictures or images OF its own crea-
ton, for thoie OF nature, he percevcs that it on
~ leparateS g combines thofe ideas which were
imparted by the fenfes and repoiited in the me-
mory {: That it can generate no hmple idea,
but is merely the intellectual artihcer who makes
a fabrick of the materials with which it is fur
nfhed by the feules. In the courie of his enqu-
ry into the principles of its operation, he is alto
nled to find that even this power of ieParatnG
or combining has its limits and that, with all
the fleming irregular and ditcuriive movements
OF the fancy, there are but two or three natural
relations, which as ponJ volavS enable 1t to pals
from one region of thought to another; and that
the mind can never hift itislf from idea to idea,
unlefs there is broxirity of time or place, rsjen-
bLance or contTaH between them. Thus tins
lively faculty, whole anomalies ieomed at hrit
view to defy the powers OF human inveltigation,
is found to act upon principles ut once regular,
fmple, and few. Different perfons poiieis in
different degrees the power of perceiving what
is contiguous in time or place, and what is like
or unlike; according to which degrees they are
Elid to have an active, or dull, imagination"
and fometimes, stto poneis, or TO want, fancy"
Since eloquence and poetry owe their higheit
ornaments to the imagination, it naturally be-
comes one of the principal topics of literary cri-
ticifin. AS it is the Object of the orator to per-
fiade ard of the poet to pleaie, the critic CONT
ders the fancy merely as an initr1ment tor theie
purpoies, and derives iet OF rules from the
laws of our nature, by which he aicertains the
fitneis of the means to the ends. He points out
where loofc ihould be given TO the native i'm
-petuolity ofthe imagination, and where Its unlI-
cenfed iailies ihould be curbed: ihews what
paf1ages pofiefs the awful grandeur OF the iub-
lime and what the attractive lovehneis OF beau
ty, and diitinguiihes thofe pictures o. fancy
which are dilIonant to nature from thote which
are hit off in the fpirit of her hnet models. III
word, guided at one and the fame time by the
mott liberal feelings of the heart and the Meet
dictates of reafon, he praifes or blameS the
works of imagination according to the judg-
ment of tate.
Nor is this bufy faculty unworthy the conf
Iteration oethe moraliR. Our defres and averfi-
ons either derive new vigor from the imagnati-
on or owe their exiitence to it all together 1t
is fometimes their parent and always their
nurfe. By its extenive influence over our plea
f,res and our pains it goes far towards regula-
ting our moral conduct, and according TO the
direction it may take, gives birth TO the fubli-
met heroifin or the mott unnatural depravity.
To fhew the full extent of its influence on
human happinefs would lead me into too wide
a field of moral and metaphysical speculation;
but as branch of the fubje6t purpote. TO
thew how much il tends 10 fubtitute fdliehood
for truth, by enumerating fome of the mott Or
binary illuions of fancy in which enumerati-
on, the examples are either the reiut ofmy own
obfervations, or are believed TO be in ftrlct ana
lopy with the acknowledged principles of hui
man nature.
Sometimes the fuggefiions of the imagination
are miRaken for thoie of the memory. This
propenfity is almoft always to be perceived in
children of very tender years. They prattie of
Wits they never made repeat conversations
they never heard, and defcrbe objects they
yer faw-all this too, without the flnalleh con-
fcoufrefs of falfehood. The fame predom-
nance of fancy over memory is occasionally feen
in grown perfons who deal much in narrative.
The foible of theGe people never fails to incur
the contempt of the world, and is generally i'm
puted to vanity; but where it is united to
character otherwife irreprOachable, as | have
fometimes feen it, it is fair to prefume that it
proceeds from an inbecility of tn" mind rather
than obliquity of the heart man who
watches the operations of his intee6t, mutt
have dlcovered that he occasionally had formed
a nezv aifociation of ideas at the very time he
thinks he is merely retraciHg All aiiocatiOn pre-
yiouRv formed.
Women have always been obfcrved to have
lvelier iinaginations than men. A natural con-
tequence oil this hyperion facility OF ADVOCATING
IDEAS is, they are lefs accurate in reciting mat
tiers of fact. Not Only the merits of "a favorte,
the fpleDdor of an exhibition, or the horrors of
a calamity, are exaggerated BY the force oftheir
imaginations, but what conlifs in mere number
and quantityis apt to be encreafed or dirniniih-
ed by the fame caufe. One lady, boating of the
beaux who have led her daughter ont to dance,
will convert twelve into twenty; while IN en-
vious neighbour by an oppofte deception, will
dminiih the number to five or fix and yet both
of thefe ladies may be innocent of voluntary
falfchood. The fad is thateach lifened to that
fuggefion of fancy which was moft agreeable TO
her feelings.
l once knew two ladies' difpute, and at length
bet, on the height OF their REFLECTIVE gallants,
who were very well known to both. The gen.
tlcmen turned out TO be of equal height, but
each lady bad been confident that her own IA
vorte was al leaf two inches taller than the
other.
Very ardent lover nave obierved that when
they fra meet after long icparation, they feel
difappointed i'll each others appearance. It is
becaufe the picture of the beloved object was
not in the mind merely as memory had drawn
it-imaginatior had tIperadded the colors Of
her own bright pencil.
Sometimes VIC fee the imagination 70 lively,
70 completely matter of the mind, that it pre-
walls over the plain and dirC9 communications