BOOK I PART III
the related object is but feigned, the relation
will serve to enliven the idea, and encrease its
influence. A poet, no doubt, will be the better
able to form a strong description of the Elysian
fields, that he prompts his imagination by the
view of a beautiful meadow or garden; as at an-
other time he may by his fancy place himself in
the midst of these fabulous regions, that by the
feigned contiguity he may enliven his imagina-
tion.
But though I cannot altogether exclude the
relations of resemblance and contiguity from
operating on the fancy in this manner, it is ob-
servable that, when single, their influence is
very feeble and uncertain. As the relation of
cause and effect is requisite to persuade us of
any real existence, so is this persuasion requi-
site to give force to these other relations. For