weakens and infeebles them is uneasy. As opposition
has the first effect, and facility the second, no wonder the mind, in
certain dispositions, desires the former, and is averse to the latter.

These principles have an effect on the imagination as well as on the
passions. To be convinced of this we need only consider the influence
of heights and depths on that faculty. Any great elevation of place
communicates a kind of pride or sublimity of imagination, and gives
a fancyed superiority over those that lie below; and, vice versa, a
sublime and strong imagination conveys the idea of ascent and elevation.
Hence it proceeds, that we associate, in a manner, the idea of whatever
is good with that of height, and evil with lowness. Heaven is supposed
to be above, and hell below. A noble genius is called an elevate and
sublime one. ATQUE UDAM SPERNIT HUMUM FUGIENTE PENNA. [Spurns the dank
soil in winged flight.] On the contrary, a vulgar and trivial conception
is stiled indifferently low or mean. Prosperity is denominated ascent,
and adversity descent. Kings and princes are supposed to be placed at
the top of human affairs; as peasants and day-labourers are said to be
in the lowest stations. These methods of thinking, and of expressing
ourselves, are not of so little consequence as they may appear at first
sight.

It is evident to common sense, as well as philosophy, that there is no
natural nor essential difference betwixt high and low, and that this
distinction arises only from the gravitation of matter, which produces a
motion from the one to the other. The very same direction, which in
this part of the globe is called ascent, is denominated descent in our
antipodes; which can proceed from nothing but the contrary tendency
of bodies. Now it is certain, that the tendency of bodies, continually
operating upon our senses, must produce, from custom, a like tendency in
the fancy, and that when we consider any object situated in an ascent,
the idea of its weight gives us a propensity to transport it from the
place, in which it is situated, to the place immediately below it, and
so on, until we come to the ground, which equally stops the body and
our imagination. For a like reason we feel a difficulty in mounting, and
pass not without a kind of reluctance from the inferior to that which is
situated above it; as if our ideas acquired a kind of gravity from their
objects. As a proof of this, do we not find, that the facility, which