BOOK I PART III
sion on the fancy and affections. The several
incidents of the piece acquire a kind of relation
by being united into one poem or representa-
tion; and if any of these incidents be an object
of belief, it bestows a force and vivacity on the
others, which are related to it. The vividness of
the first conception diffuses itself along the re-
lations, and is conveyed, as by so many pipes
or canals, to every idea that has any commu-
nication with the primary one. This, indeed,
can never amount to a perfect assurance; and
that because the union among the ideas is, in
a manner, accidental: But still it approaches so
near, in its influence, as may convince us, that
they are derived from the same origin. Belief
must please the imagination by means of the
force and vivacity which attends it; since every
idea, which has force and vivacity, is found to
be agreeable to that faculty.