tire, and become more
distant: so on the other hand, in supposing ourselves existent in a
point of time interposed betwixt the present and the past, the past
approaches to us, and the future becomes more distant. But from the
property of the fancy above-mentioned we rather chuse to fix our thought
on the point of time interposed betwixt the present and the future, than
on that betwixt the present and the past. We advance, rather than retard
our existence; and following what seems the natural succession of time,
proceed from past to present, and from present to future. By which means
we conceive the future as flowing every moment nearer us, and the
past as retiring. An equal distance, therefore, in the past and in the
future, has not the same effect on the imagination; and that because we
consider the one as continually encreasing, and the other as continually
diminishing. The fancy anticipates the course of things, and surveys the
object in that condition, to which it tends, as well as in that, which
is regarded as the present.

SECT. VIII THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUed

Thus we have accounted for three phaenomena, which seem pretty
remarkable. Why distance weakens the conception and passion: Why
distance in time has a greater effect than that in space: And why
distance in past time has still a greater effect than that in future. We
must now consider three phaenomena, which seem to be, in a manner, the
reverse of these: Why a very great distance encreases our esteem and
admiration for an object; Why such a distance in time encreases it
more than that in space: And a distance in past time more than that in
future. The curiousness of the subject will, I hope, excuse my dwelling
on it for some time.

To begin with the first phaenomenon, why a great distance encreases our
esteem and admiration for an object; it is evident that the mere view
and contemplation of any greatness, whether successive or extended,
enlarges the soul, and give it a sensible delight and pleasure. A wide
plain, the ocean, eternity, a succession of several ages; all these are
entertaining objects, and excel every thing, however beautiful, which
accompanies not its beauty with a suitable greatness. Now when any very
distant object is presented to the imagination, we naturally reflect on
the interposed distance, and by that means, conceiving something great
and magnificent, receive the usual satisfaction. But as the fancy passes
easily from one id