| Citation |
BEP(F.749.055
18 Dec 1749:11,12 (749)
Of Fancy. From an ingenious author.
Reason and imagination, tho' they are very unlike each
other, the one acting by rule, and the other roaming
casually from object to object, and sporting itself with
phantoms and non-entities, yet seldom, or never s, are
absolutely separated; reason checks fancy in its most
extravagant sallies, and imagination enlivens reason in its
most solemn demarches. Reason without fancy is dull, and
fancy without reason is mad. . . [3d para.]
Given full scope to my fancy, it carried me, the first
thing it did, in the twinkling of an eye, to Rome; there in
as short a space of time I climb'd though a gradation of
preferments, till I was made a Cardinal, and favourite of
the pope: But the most Holy Father tempting me to something
very wicked and indecent, I deserted the Vatican in great
wrath and resentment; and, like a good Protestant, throwing
away my beads, and my scarlet hat, I took a short trip to
Constantinople, . . . [9 lines up from bottom of 3d para.]
and remembering withal, that a plurality of wives is
inconsistent with the doctrine of the establish'd Church of
England (to say nothing of the Alcoran) I stole out of the
Seraligo one moon-light night, and walked five hundred
leagues before morning; and then I arrived at a certain
King's court, where, by my good dancing, and my skill in
dress, I merited the King's daughter, and had her given me
for a wife; but she show'd such an errant scold, that there
was no living with her; so we were divorced. . . [4 more
paras.]
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