Beattie, James (1735-1803)

Of Imagination [from Dissertations Moral and Critical]

London

Printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell ... and W. Creech

1783

"The fruits of Sobriety are health, gladness, governable passions, clear discernment, rectitude of opinion, the esteem of others, and long life; which, with an approving conscience, are the greatest blessings here below, and, in all common cases, an effectual security against a diseased imagination."

First. Let our general course of life be active, social, and temperate. Indolence and solitude sound prettily in pastoral poems; but we were made for fellowship, and labour: and if we give ourselves up to idleness, or abandon the society of our fellow-creatures, our lives will be unnatural, and therefore unhappy. Nothing gives so pleasing a variety to life, as Action; and nothing so effectually dissipates painful thoughts, as the countenance and conversation of a friend. Nor with our friends only should we associate: the company of strangers may be of singular use, in sweetening our tempers, and refining our manners. For this requires a more than ordinary attention to all our civilities of social intercourse; it forces the mind into new exertions, which prevent that stagnation of the faculties whereby the fancy is corrupted; it amuses, by offering to our notice a variety of new characters and incidents; and, if we study to make ourselves agreeable, which is nothing more than our acquaintance and influence.--The fruits of Sobriety are health, gladness, governable passions, clear discernment, rectitude of opinion, the esteem of others, and long life; which, with an approving conscience, are the greatest blessings here below, and, in all common cases, an effectual security against a diseased imagination.
(V, 200)

Government::Rule and Subjection::Rule over Passion Body::Disease

Reading

At least 2 entries in ESTC (1783).

Beattie, James. Dissertations Moral and Critical. Printed for Strahan, Cadell, and Creech: London, 1783. Facsimile-Reprint: Friedrich Frommann Verlag, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, 1970.

07/26/2005