Ch. VIII. AND DISSIMILITUDE. 291

fed: of magnifying and diminishing, is sound re-
markably greater than in that firsl mentioned;
and the rdason will appear upon analyzing the ope-
ration : the firsl feeling we have is of surprise at
the uncommon difference of two creatures of the

same species : we are next sensible, that the one
appears less , the other larger,, than they did for-
merly; and that new circumstance, increaling our
surprise, makes us imagine a Hill greater opposi-
tion between the animals than if we had formed

no notion of them beforehand.
I shall confine myself to one other supposition ;
That the speftator was acquainted beforehand with
one of the animals only, the lapdog for example.
This new circumstance will vary the effeft; for
instead of widening the natural difference , by en-
larging in appearance the one animal , and dimi-
nishing the ocher in proportion , the whole appa-
rent alteration will rest upon the lapdog: the sur-
prise to sind it less than it appeared formerly, di-
lefts to it our whole attention, and makes us con-
ceive it to be a most diminutive creature: the ma-
stiff in the mean time is quite overlooked. I am
able to illustrate this esseft by a familiar example.
Take a piece of paper or of linen tolerably white ,•
and compare it with a pure white of the same kind :
the judgment we formed of the sirst objeft is in-
stantly varied ; and the surprise occasioned by find-
ing it less white than was thought, produceth a
T a