ch produces it; but on the contrary, our
proximity. A common soldier bears no such envy to his general as to
his sergeant or corporal; nor does an eminent writer meet with so great
jealousy in common hackney scriblers, as in authors, that more
nearly approach him. It may, indeed, be thought, that the greater
the disproportion is, the greater must be the uneasiness from the
comparison. But we may consider on the other hand, that the great
disproportion cuts off the relation, and either keeps us from comparing
ourselves with what is remote from us, or diminishes the effects of
the comparison. Resemblance and proximity always produce a relation of
ideas; and where you destroy these ties, however other accidents may
bring two ideas together; as they have no bond or connecting quality
to join them in the imagination; it is impossible they can remain long
united, or have any considerable influence on each other.

I have observed in considering the nature of ambition, that the great
feel a double pleasure in authority from the comparison of their own
condition with that of their slaves; and that this comparison has a
double influence, because it is natural, and presented by the subject.
When the fancy, in the comparison of objects, passes not easily from the
one object to the other, the action of the mind is, in a great measure,
broke, and the fancy, in considering the second object, begins, as it
were, upon a new footing. The impression, which attends every object,
seems not greater in that case by succeeding a less of the same kind;
but these two impressions are distinct, and produce their distinct
effects, without any communication together. The want of relation in the
ideas breaks the relation of the impressions, and by such a separation
prevents their mutual operation and influence.

To confirm this we may observe, that the proximity in the degree of
merit is not alone sufficient to give rise to envy, but must be assisted
by other relations. A poet is not apt to envy a philosopher, or a poet
of a different kind, of a different nation, or of a different age. All
these differences prevent or weaken the comparison, and consequently the
passion.

This too is the reason, why all objects appear great or little, merely
by a comparison with those of the same species. A mountain neither
magnifies nor diminishes a horse in our eyes; but when a Flemish and
a Welsh horse are seen together, the one appears greater and the other
les