BOOK II PART I
ditional weight and authority. Plagiaries are
delighted with praises, which they are con-
scious they do not deserve; but this is a kind of
castle-building, where the imagination amuses
itself with its own fictions, and strives to ren-
der them firm and stable by a sympathy with
the sentiments of others. Proud men are most
shocked with contempt, should they do not
most readily assent to it; but it is because of the
opposition betwixt the passion, which is nat-
ural so them, and that received by sympathy.
A violent lover in like manner is very much
disp pleased when you blame and condemn his
love; though it is evident your opposition can
have no influence, but by the hold it takes of
himself, and by his sympathy with you. If he
despises you, or perceives you are in jest, what-
ever you say has no effect upon him.