speeches shall be "natural"--but natural within the framework of the
situation and character as established by the dramatist on the
imaginative level. The author's words on illusion recall the passage in
Dryden about reason's suffering itself to be "hoodwinked" by imaginative
presentation, foreshadow Coleridge's "willing suspension of disbelief,"
and directly suggest Johnson's passages on the subject. Experience will
show, he says, "that no Dramatick Piece can affect us but by the
Delusion of our Imagination; which, to taste true and real Pleasures at
such Representations, must undergo a very great Imposition." For
example, on our stage all nations speak English, and shock no one; also
the actors are recognized as actors and not as the persons represented,
and the stage as a stage and not Rome, or Denmark. Without such
imposition "farewell all Dramatick Performances."

And then, in continuation of this pre-Johnsonian (and pre-Coleridgean)
argument he goes on to say that delusion must be accepted, never,
however, in defiance of our reason but with the approval of our reason.
That Shakespeare's plays create delusion with the assistance of reason
is proved by the success they have so long enjoyed. Sublimity of
sentiments, exalted diction, and "in short all the Charms of his Poetry,
far outweigh any little absurdities in his Plots." He knew how to work
up "great and moving Circumstances in such a Way as to affect our
Passions strongly." The word used here throughout is _delusion_, but the
sense, just as is largely the case with Johnson, is _illusion_--not a
demand for such a verisimilitude as will deceive, but for such
representation as will lead the imagination to voluntary, pleasurable
acceptance.

Likewise, when Anonymous considers unity his emphasis, like Johnson's
and Hurd's, is no longer on the mechanical unities but on unity of