154 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. CANTO iv. 



" Call'd by thy voice Resemblance next describes 

 Her sister- thoughts in lucid trains or tribes; 

 Whence pleased Imagination oft combines 

 By loose analogies her fair designs; 

 Each winning grace of polish'd wit bestows 

 To deck the Nymphs of Poetry and Prose. 310 



" Last, at thy potent nod, Effect and Cause 

 Walk hand in hand accordant to thy laws; 

 Rise at Volition's call-, in groups combined, 

 Amuse, delight, instruct, and serve Mankind; 



Polish'd wit bestows, 1. 309. Mr. Locke defines wit to consist of 

 an assemblage of ideas, brought together with quickness and variety, 

 wherein can be found any resemblance or congruity, thereby to 

 make up pleasant pictures and agreeable visions in the fancy. To 

 which Mr. Addison adds, that these must occasion surprise as well as 

 delight; Spectator, Vol. I. No. LXII. See Note on Canto III. 1. 145. 

 and Additional Note, VII. 3. Perhaps wit in the extended use of 

 the word may mean to express all kinds of fine writing, as the word 

 Taste is applied to all agreeable visible objects, and thus wit may 

 mean descriptive sublimity, beauty, the pathetic, or ridiculous, but 

 when used in the confined sense, as by Mr. Locke and Mr. Addison as 

 above, it may probably be better defined a combination of ideas with 

 agreeable novelty, as this may be effected by opposition as well as by 

 resemblance. 



