BOOK I PART III
and vivacity, and consequently assent to it, ac-
cording to the precedent system. Admiration
and surprize have the same effect as the other
passions; and accordingly we may observe,
that among the vulgar, quacks and projectors
meet with a more easy faith upon account of
their magnificent pretensions, than if they kept
themselves within the bounds of moderation.
The first astonishment, which naturally attends
their miraculous relations, spreads itself over
the whole soul, and so vivifies and enlivens
the idea, that it resembles the inferences we
draw from experience. This is a mystery, with
which we may be already a little acquainted,
and which we shall have farther occasion to be
let into in the progress of this treatise.
After this account of the influence of be-
lief on the passions, we shall find less diffi-