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.
SECTION VIII.
The same subject continu'd
Thus we have accounted for three phænomena, 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 phænomena, 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 en creases 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 phænomenon, why a great distance encreases our esteem and admiration for an object; 'tis 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
