70. 
D K E 
DRE AD'I.ESSNESS, f. Fearleffhefs ;• intrepidity ; 
undauntedhefs.—Zelraane, to whom danger then was a 
caufe of dreadkffnej's, all the compofition of her elements 
being nothing but fiery, with fvviftnefs of clefire eroded 
him. Sidney. 
DREAM, f. [drown, Dut. This word is derived by 
Meric Cafaubcn, witli more ingenuiiy titan truth, from 
xyct Tti ihe comedy of life ; dreams being, as plays 
are, a re prefer: tat ion of fomething which does not really 
happen. This conceit Junius has enlarged by quoting an 
epigram : 
7 -V.ir/) o j 3 to? y.v.i 'zrcaynov v> ^adz 'zrufzw, 
T'cv cnisu-.-iv fi£T«9si;> '/) ipep= ra; oovica;. Antliol. ] 
A phantafm of deep ; the thoughts of a deeping man : 
Glorious dreams dand ready to reftore 
The pleading dhapes of all you faw before. Drydtn. 
An. idle fancy ; a wild conceit; a groundlefs fufpicion : 
Let him keep 
A hundred knights ; yes, that on ev’ry dream, 
Each buz, each fancy, each complaint, diflike,. 
He may enguard his dotage.. Shahejpeare. 
To DREAM, v. n. [pret. dreamed, or dreamt.'] To have 
the representation of Something in deep. —Dreaming is the 
having of ideas, whild the outward fenfes are (lopped, 
not fuggeded by any external objeCls, or known occa¬ 
sion, nor under the rule or conduit of the underftanding. 
Locke. —It lias of before the noun : 
I have nightly dnee . 
Dreamt Rencounters ’tvvixt thy.felf and me : 
We have been down together in my deep, 
Unbuckling helms, filling eacli other’s throat, 
And wak’d half dead with nothing. Shakefpcarc. 
To think ; to imagine.—He never dreamed of the deluge, 
nor thought that fird orb more than a tranfient cruft. 
Burnet. 
He little dream'd how nigh he was to care, 
Till treach’rous fortune caught him in the fnare. Dryd. 
To think idly.—They dream on in a condant ccurfe of 
reading, but not digefling. Locke. —To be fluggiflt; to 
idle : 
Why does Anthony dream out his hours, 
And tempts not fortune for a noble day ? Drydtn. 
To DREAM, v. a. To fee in a dream : 
At length in deep their bodies they compofe, 
And dreamt the future fight, and early rofe. Drydtn. 
“ Dreams, (fays Addifon,) look like the amufements 
of the foul, when die is difencumbered of her machine; 
her fports and recreations, when die lias laid her charge 
adeep.”—Scarcely indeed are there any of the functions 
of nature lefs open to our obfervation, than the human 
mind in this Rate, The dreamer himfelf cannot well 
obferve the manner in which dreams arife ordifappear to 
him. When iie awakes, he cannot recoiled the circum¬ 
stances of his dreams with fufficient accuracy. Were we 
to watch over him with the mod vigilant attention, we 
could not perceive with certainty what emotions are ex¬ 
cited in his mind, or what thoughts pafs through it, 
during his deep. But though we could afeertain thefe 
phenomena, many other difficulties would dill remain. 
What parts of a human being are aCtive, what dormant, 
when he dreams? Why does not he always dream while 
afieep ? Or why dreams he at all ? Do any circumdances 
in our conditution, fituation, and peculiar character, de¬ 
termine the nature of our dreams? Thefe are quedions 
about which we can only conjecture. In dreaming, we 
are not confcious of being adeep. This is well known 
from a thoufand circumdances. When awake, we often 
recolledt our dreams; and we remember on fuch occa¬ 
sions, that while thofe dreams were palling through our 
minds, it never occurred to us that vve were feparated by 
D R E 
deep from the active world. In dreaming, alfo, we dd 
not confider ourfelves as witneffing or bearing a part in a 
fictitious feene : we feem not to be in a (irniiar fituation 
with the aCtors in a dramatic performance, or the fpeCta- 
tors before whom they exhibit, but appear to be engaged 
in the bufinefs of real life. All the varieties of thought 
which pafs through out' minds when awake, may alfo 
occur in dreams ; all the images which imagination pre- 
fents in the former date, die is alfo able to call up in the 
latter; all tire fame emotions may be excited, and we are 
often aCluated by equal violence of padion ; none of the 
tranfaCtions in which we are capable of engaging while 
awake is impoflible in dreams : and while dreaming, we 
are not fenlible of any didinCtion between our dreams and, 
the events and tranfaCtions in which vve are actually con¬ 
cerned in our intercourfe with the world. 
Though in dreams the imagination appears to be free 
from all redraint, yet it is generally agreed, that the ima¬ 
ginary tranfaCtions of the dreamer bear always fome rela¬ 
tion to his particular character in the world, his habits 
of action, and the circumdances of his life. The lover, 
we are told,, dreams of his miftre-fs; the mifer of his mo¬ 
ney ; the plnlofopher renews his refearches 1 in deep often 
with the fame pain and fatigue as when awake ; and even 
the merchant, at times, returns to balance his books, and. 
compute the profits of an adventure, when (lumbering., 
on his pillow. And not Only do the more.general cir¬ 
cumdances of a perfon’s life influence his dreams ; his 
paijions and habits are nearly the fame when afleep as 
when awake. A-perfon whofe habits of life are virtuous, 
does not in his dreams plunge into a feries of crimes; 
nor are the vicious reformed when they pafs into this 
imaginary world. The choleric man finds himfelf offend¬ 
ed by flight provocations as well in his dreams as in hi$ 
ordinary intercourfe with .mankind ; and a mild temper 
continues pacific in deep. The character of a perfon’s 
dreams is influenced by iiis circumdances when awake in 
a dill more unaccountable.manner. Certain dreams ufu- 
ally arife in the mind after a perfon lias been in certain 
fituations. Dr. Beattie relates, that he once, after riding 
thirty miles in a high wind, palled a part of the fucceed- 
ing night in dreams beyond defeription terrible. The 
date of a perfon’s health,, and the manner in which the 
vital functions are carried on, are thought to have a con- 
fiderabie influence in determining the character of dreams. 
After too full a meal, or after eating an unufual kind of 
food,' a perfon is laid to have dreams of. a troublefome 
and terrifying nature. 
In dreaming, the mind for the mod part carries on no 
intercourfe through the fenfes with furrounding objects. 
Touch a perfon gently who is afleep, he rarely feels the 
impreffion. You may awake him by a fmart blow ; but 
when the droke is not fufficiently drong to awake him, 
he remains infenfibie of it. We fpeak foftly befide a 
perfon afleep, without fearing that lie will overhear. His 
eye-lids are (hut; and even though light fiiould fall upon 
the eye-ball, yet dill his powers of vifion are not awaken¬ 
ed to aCtive exertion, unlefs the light be fo drong as to 
roufe him from deep. He is infenfibie both to fweet and 
to difagreeable fmells. It is not eafy to try whether his 
organs of tade retain their activity, without awakening 
him ; yet from analogy it may be prefumed that thefe too 
are inactive. With refpect to the circumdances here enu¬ 
merated, it is indifferent whether a perfon be dreaming of 
buried in deep deep. Yet there is one remarkable faCt con¬ 
cerning dreaming, which may feem to contradict what has 
been here afferted. In dreams, we are liable not only to 
fpeak aloud in confequence of the fuggedions of imagina¬ 
tion, but even to get up, and walk about, and engage in 
little enterprifes, without awaking. Now, as we are in this 
indance fo aCtive, it feems that we cannot be then infen¬ 
fibie of the prefence of furrounding objects. The deep- 
walker is really fenfibie in a certain degree of the pre¬ 
fence of the objeCts around him ; but he does not attend 
to them with all tlreir circumdances, nor do they excite 
