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Front Page  Titles (by Subject) OF THE PLEASURES OF SURPRIZE. - Complete Works, vol. 4 Familiar Letters; Miscellaneous Pieces; The Temple of Gnidus; A Defence of the Spirit of Laws
OF THE PLEASURES OF SURPRIZE. - Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, Complete Works, vol. 4 Familiar Letters; Miscellaneous Pieces; The Temple of Gnidus; A Defence of the Spirit of Laws [1777]Edition used:The Complete Works of M. de Montesquieu (London: T. Evans, 1777), 4 vols. Vol. 4.
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- Familiar Letters. By President De Montesquieu.
- Letter I.: To Father Cerati * of the Congregation of the Orators of Saint Philip At Rome.
- Letter II.: To the Same.
- Letter III.: To Monsieur L’abbé Venuti * , At Clerac.
- Letter IV.: To the Abbé Nicolini * , At Florence.
- Letter V.: To Mr. Cerati, At Pisa.
- Letter VI.: To Abbé Venuti At Clerac.
- Letter VII.: To Abbé De Guasco, At Turin.
- Letter VIII.: To the Count of Guasco, Colonel of Foot.
- Letter IX.: To the Abbé De Guasco.
- Letter X.: To the Same.
- Letter XI.: To the Same.
- Letter XII.: To the Countess De Pontac.
- Letter XIII.: To Mr. Cerati.
- Letter XIV.: To Abbé De Guasco At Clerac.
- Letter XV.: To the Same.
- Letter XVI.: To the Same.
- Letter XVII.: To the Same.
- Letter XVIII.: To the Same.
- Letter XIX.: To the Same Abbé De Guasco.
- Letter XX.: To the Same.
- Letter XXI.: To Mr. Cerati.
- Letter XXII.: To Abbé De Guasco, At Aix.
- Letter XXIII.
- Letter XXIV.: To the Same.
- Letter XXV.: To the Same.
- Letter XXVI.: To the Same.
- Letter XXVII.: To Mr. Cerati.
- Letter XXVIII.: To Prince Charles Edward.
- Letter XXIX.: To the Grand Prior Solar, Ambassador From Malta, At Rome.
- Letter XXX.: To the Abbé and Count De Guasco, At Paris.
- Letter XXXI.: To Mr. Cerati.
- Letter XXXII.: To Abbé Venuti.
- Letter XXXIII.: To the Abbé Count De Guasco.
- Letter XXXIV.: To the Abbé Venuti, At Bourdeaux.
- Letter XXXV.: To Mr. Cerati.
- Letter XXXVI.: To Abbé Venuti.
- Letter XXXVII.: To Abbé Venuti.
- Letter XXXVIII: To the Abbé Count De Guasco.
- Letter XXXIX.: To Abbé De Guasco.
- Letter Xl.: to the Same.
- Letter Xli.: to the Same.
- Letter Xlii.: to the Same, At Bourdeaux.
- Letter Xliii.: to the Same.
- Letter Xliv.: to the Same Abbé De Guasco.
- Letter Xlv.: to the Same At Vienna.
- Letter Xlvi.: to the Same Abbé De Guasco At Vienna.
- Letter Xlvii.: to the Same, At Verona.
- Letter Xlviii.: to the Same.
- Letter Xlix.: to the Same, At Naples.
- Letter L.: to the Same.
- Letter Li.: to Mr. Cerati.
- Letter Lii.: to the Abbé Marquis Nicolini.
- Letter Liii.: to Abbé Count De Guasco.
- Letter Liv.: to the Same.
- Letter Lv.: to the Auditor Bertolini, At Florence.
- Letter Lvi.: to Abbé Count De Guasco.
- Letter Lvii.: a Billet to the Same.
- Letter Lviii.: to the Grand Prior Solar, At Turin.
- Letter Lix.: the Fragment of a Letter From M. De Montesquieu, to the King of Poland, Duke of Lorraine, to Solicit His Majesty For a Place In the Academy of Nantz.
- Letter Lx.: Fragment of the King of Poland’s Answer, to the Foregoing Letter.
- Letter Lxi.: to M. De Solignac, Secretary to the Literary Society At Nantz.
- Letter Lxii.: From M. De Montesquieu. to the Author of a Short View of the Philosophical Works of Lord Bolingbroke.
- Letter Lxiii.: to the Dutchess of Aiguillon.
- Letter Lxiv.: From the Dutchess of Aiguillon, to Abbé De Guasco.
- Letter Lxv.: an Article Taken From a Letter of Baron Secondat De Montesquieu, to the Abbé Count De Guasco.
- Letter Lxvi.: Article of a Letter to the Same.
- Miscellaneous Pieces of M. De Secondat, Baron De Montesquieu.
- An Oration Pronounced the 24th of January, 1728. By President Montesquieu: When He Was Received Into the French Academy, In the Room of the Late M. De Sacy.
- An Essay Upon Taste, In Subjects of Nature, and of Art.
- Of the Pleasures of the Soul.
- Of the Mental Faculties * .
- Of Curiosity.
- Of the Pleasures of Order.
- Of the Pleasures of Variety.
- Of the Pleasures of Symmetry.
- Of Contrasts.
- Of the Pleasures of Surprize.
- Of Different Causes That Produce Sensation.
- Of Sensibility.
- Of Delicacy.
- Of the Je Ne Scais Quoi.
- The Progression of Surprize.
- Of Beauties Which Result From an Embarrassment of the Soul.
- The Temple of Gnidus.
- The Preface.
- Canto I.
- Canto II.
- Canto III.
- Canto IV.
- Canto V.
- Canto VI.
- Canto VII.
- Cupid Distressed.
- Lysimachus.
- The Analysis of the Spirit of Laws. By M. D’alembert.
- A Defence of the Spirit of Laws. to Which Are Added, Some Explanations.
- Part I.
- Part II.
- The General Idea.
- Of the Counsels of Religion.
- Of Polygamy.
- On Climate.
- Of Toleration.
- Of Celibacy.
- A Particular Error Committed By the Critic.
- Of Marriage.
- Of Usury.
- “of Maritime Usury.
- Part III.: Some Explanations of the Spirit of Laws.
OF THE PLEASURES OF SURPRIZE.
This disposition of the Soul, which carries it always to different objects, makes it relish all the Pleasures which flow from Surprize; a sentiment which pleases the Soul by the object which it beholds, and by the suddeness of the action; for it perceives or feels something which it does not expect, or in a manner which it did not expect.
A thing may surprize us as wonderful, and, at the same time, as new, and also as unexpected; and, in these last cases, the principal sentiment is united to this accessory one, that the thing is new or unexpected.
It is by this that games of hazard interest us; they present us with a continued series of unexpected events: ’tis by this that social games please us; they too are a set of unforeseen events, brought about by address joined to chance.
It is by this also that we are pleased with theatrical pieces; they are unravelled by degrees, the events are concealed till they happen, new subjects of surprize are always prepared for us, and they often afford us a sensible pleasure, by shewing the events to be such as we ought to have foreseen they would be. In a word, works of genius, are commonly read for no other reason but because they procure an agreeable surprize, and make amends for the insipidity of conversations that have not this effect.
Surprize may be produced either by the object, or by the manner of producing it: for we see an object greater or less than it is in fact, or different from what it is; or we see the same object, but with an additional idea which surprises us. Such, in any thing, is the accessory idea of the difficulty of making it, or the person who made it, or the time when it was made, or the manner how it was made, or some other circumstance connected with it.
Suetonius describes the crimes of Nero with a coolness of blood which surprises us, by making us almost believe that he does not feel sufficient horror for what he describes; but he suddenly changes his style, and says, “The universe having suffered such a monster fourteen years, at last abandoned him:” Tale monstrum per quatuordecim annus perpessus terarum orbis tandem destituit. This produces in the mind different kinds of surprize: we are surprised at the author’s change of style; at the discovery of his different manner of thinking; at his method of relating in so few words one of the greatest revolutions that ever happened: thus the soul finds a vast number of different sensations that concur to move it, and to inspire it with Pleasure.
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