Page:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding - Hume (1748).djvu/46

 which he chuses for the Attainment of his End, he never loses View of an End, nor will he so much as throw away his Thoughts or Reflections, where he hopes not to reap any Satisfaction from them.

all Compositions of Genius, therefore, 'tis requisite that the Writer have some Plan or Object; and tho' he may be hurry'd from this Plan by the Vehemence of Thought, as in an Ode, or drop it carelesly, as in an Epistle or Essay, there must appear some Aim or Intention, in his first setting out, if not in the Composition of the whole Work. A Production without a Design would resemble more the Ravings of a Madman, than the sober Efforts of Genius and Learning.

this Rule admits of no Exception, it follows, that in narrative Compositions, the Events or Actions, which the Writer relates, must be connected together, by some Bond or Tye: They must be related to each other in the Imagination, and form a kind of Unity, which may bring them under one Plan or View, and which may be the Object or End of the Writer in his first Undertaking.

connecting Principle among the several Events, which form the Subject of a Poem or History