Page:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding - Hume (1748).djvu/47

 may be very different, according to the different Designs of the Poet or Historian. Ovid has form'd his Plan upon the connecting Principle of Resemblance. Every fabulous Transformation, produc'd by the miraculous Power of the Gods, falls within the Compass of his Work. There needs but this one Circumstance in any Event to bring it under his original Plan or Intention.

Annalist or Historian, who should undertake to write the History of Europe during any Century, would be influenc'd by the Connexion of Contiguity in Time or Place. All Events, which happen in that Portion of Space, and Period of Time, are comprehended in his Design, tho' in other respects different and unconnected. They have still a Species of Unity, amidst all their Diversity.

the most usual Species of Connexion among the different Events, which enter into any narrative Composition, is that of Cause and Effect; while the Historian traces the Series of Actions according to their natural Order, remounts to their secret Springs and Principles, and delineates their most remote Consequences. He chuses for his Subject a certain Portion of that great Chain of Events, which compose the History of Mankind: Each Link in this Chain he endeavours to touch in his Narration: Sometimes, un