BOOK II PART III
ture, would have a similar influence. Nor is
this only true, when the fancy remains fixed,
and from the present instant surveys the fu-
ture and the past; but also when it changes its
situation, and places us in different periods of
time. For as on the one hand, in supposing our-
selves existent in a point of time interposed be-
twixt the present instant and the future object,
we find the future object approach to us, and
the past retire, and become more distant: so
on the other hand, in supposing ourselves ex-
istent in a point of time interposed betwixt the
present and the past, the past approaches to us,
and the future becomes more distant. But from
the property of the fancy above-mentioned we
rather chuse to fix our thought on the point
of time interposed betwixt the present and the
future, than on that betwixt the present and
the past. We advance, rather than retard our