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Unit 11: Addison-Pleasures of Imagination ...

Among these several Kinds of Beauty the Eye takes most Delight in Colours. We no where meet Notes
with a more glorious or pleasing Show in Nature than what appears in the Heavens at the rising
and setting of the Sun, which is wholly made up of those different Stains of Light that shew
themselves in Clouds Reading For Philosophical Inquiry of a different Situation. For this Reason
we find the Poets, who are always addressing themselves to the Imagination, borrowing more of
their Epithets from Colours than from any other Topic. As the Fancy delights in every thing that
is Great, Strange, or Beautiful, and is still more pleased the more it finds of these Perfections in the
same Object, so is it capable of receiving a new Satisfaction by the Assistance of another Sense.
Thus any continued Sound, as the Musick of Birds, or a Fall of Water, awakens every moment the
Mind of the Beholder, and makes him more attentive to the several Beauties of the Place that lye
before him. Thus if there arises a Fragrancy of Smells or Perfumes, they heighten the Pleasures of
the Imagination, and make even the Colours and Verdure of the Landskip appear more agreeable;
for the Ideas of both Senses recommend each other, and are pleasanter together than when they
enter the Mind separately: As the different Colours of a Picture, when they are well disposed, set
off one another, and receive an additional Beauty from the Advantage of their Situation.

11.3 Final Causes of Beauty

Though . . . we considered how every thing that is Great, New, or Beautiful, is apt to affect the
Imagination with Pleasure, we must own that it is impossible for us to assign the necessary Cause
of this Pleasure, because we know neither the Nature of an Idea, nor the Substance of a Human
Soul, which might help us to discover the Conformity or Disagreeableness of the one to the other;
and therefore, for want of such a Light, all that we can do in Speculations of this kind is to reflect
on those Operations of the Soul that are most agreeable, and to range under their proper Heads,
what is pleasing or displeasing to the Mind, without being able to trace out the several necessary
and efficient Causes from whence the Pleasure or Displeasure arises. Final Causes lye more bare
and open to our Observation, as there are often a great Variety that belong to the same Effect; and
these, tho’ they are not altogether so satisfactory, are generally more useful than the other, as they
give us greater Occasion of admiring the Goodness and Wisdom of the first Contriver.
One of the Final Causes of our Delight, in any thing that is great, may be this. The Supreme Author
of our Being has so formed the Soul of Man, that nothing but himself can be its last, adequate, and
proper Happiness. Because, therefore, a great Part of our Happiness must arise from the
Contemplation of his Being, that he might give our Souls a just Relish of such a Contemplation, he
has made them naturally delight in the Apprehension of what is Great or Unlimited. Our
Admiration, which is a very pleasing Motion of the Mind, immediately rises at the Consideration
of any Object that takes up a great deal of Room in the Fancy, and by Consequence, will improve
into the highest Pitch of Astonishment and Devotion when we contemplate his Nature, that is
neither circumscribed by Time nor Place, nor to be comprehended by the largest Capacity of a
Created Being.
He has annexed a secret Pleasure to the Idea of any thing that is new or uncommon, that he might
encourage us in the Pursuit after Knowledge, and engage us to search into the Wonders of his
Creation; for every new Idea brings such a Pleasure along with it, as rewards any Pains we have
taken in its Acquisition, and consequently serves as a Motive to put us upon fresh Discoveries.
He has made every thing that is beautiful in our own Species pleasant, that all Creatures might be
tempted to multiply their Kind, and fill the World with Inhabitants; for ’tis very remarkable that
where-ever Nature is crost in the Production of a Monster (the Result of any unnatural Mixture)
the Breed is incapable of propagating its Likeness, and of founding a new Order of Creatures; so
that unless all Animals were allured by the Beauty of their own Species, Generation would be at
an End, and the Earth unpeopled.

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