These loose Hints I have thrown together, in order to excite the Curiosity of Philosophers, and beget a Suspicion at least, if not a full Persuasion, that this Subject is very copious, and that many Operations of the human Mind depend on the Connexion or Association of Ideas, which is here explain'd. Particularly, the Sympathy betwixt the Passions and Imagination will, perhaps, appear remarkable; while we observe that the Affections, excited by one Object, pass easily to another connected with it; but transfuse themselves with Difficulty, or not at all, along different Objects, which have no manner of Connexion together. By introducing, into any Composition, Personages and Actions, foreign to each other, an injudicious Author loses that Communication of Emotions, by which alone he can interest the Heart, and raise the Passions to their proper Height and Period. The full Explication of this Principle and all its Consequences would lead us into Reasonings too profound and too copious for these Essays. 'Tis sufficient for us, at present, to have establish'd this Conclusion, that the three connecting Principles of all Ideas are the Relations of Resemblance, Contiguity, and Causation.
ESSAY
