BOOK I PART III
viction: though the want of resemblance, or
contiguity, may render its force inferior to that
of other opinions. It is thus the understand-
ing corrects the appearances of the senses, and
makes us imagine, that an object at twenty foot
distance seems even to the eye as large as one
of the same dimensions at ten.
We may observe the same effect of poetry in
a lesser degree; only with this difference, that
the least reflection dissipates the illusions of
poetry, and Places the objects in their proper
light. It is however certain, that in the warmth
of a poetical enthusiasm, a poet has a coun-
terfeit belief, and even a kind of vision of his
objects: And if there be any shadow of argu-
ment to support this belief, nothing contributes
more to his full conviction than a blaze of po-
etical figures and images, which have their ef-