irst, that we take an extraordinary part in the passions
of others, and that we are easily affected and brought into sympathy by
any tokens which are shown of them; and there are no tokens which can
express all the circumstances of most passions so fully as words; so
that if a person speaks upon any subject, he can not only convey the
subject to you, but likewise the manner in which he is himself affected
by it. Certain it is, that the influence of most things on our passions
is not so much from the things themselves, as from our opinions
concerning them; and these again depend very much on the opinions of
other men, conveyable for the most part by words only. Secondly, there
are many things of a very affecting nature, which can seldom occur in
the reality, but the words that represent them often do; and thus they
have an opportunity of making a deep impression and taking root in the
mind, whilst the idea of the reality was transient; and to some perhaps
never really occurred in any shape, to whom it is notwithstanding very
affecting, as war, death, famine, &c. Besides many ideas have never been
at all presented to the senses of any men but by words, as God, angels,
devils, heaven, and hell, all of which have however a great influence
over the passions. Thirdly, by words we have it in our power to make
such _combinations_ as we cannot possibly do otherwise. By this power of
combining we are able, by the addition of well-chosen circumstances, to
give a new life and force to the simple object. In painting we may
represent any fine figure we please; but we never can give it those
enlivening touches which it may receive from words. To represent an
angel in a picture, you can only draw a beautiful young man winged: but
what painting can furnish out anything so grand as the addition of one
word, "the angel of the _Lord_"? It is true, I have here no clear idea;
but these words affect the mind more than the sensible image did; which
is all I contend for. A picture of Priam dragged to the altar's foot,
and there murdered, if it were well executed, would undoubtedly be very
moving; but there are very aggravating circumstances, which it could
never represent:

Sanguine foedantem _quos ipse sacraverat_ ignes.

As a further instance, let us consider those lines of Milton, where he
describes the travels of the fallen angels through their dismal
habitation:

"O'er many a dark and dreary vale
They passed, and many