(LOCKE) [WHITER, Walter]. A Specimen of a Commentary on Shakespeare. Containing I. Notes on As You Like It. II. An Attempt to explain and illustrate various passages, on a new principle of criticism, derived from Mr. Locke's Doctrine of the Association of

(LOCKE) [WHITER, Walter]. A Specimen of a Commentary on Shakespeare. Containing I. Notes on As You Like It. II. An Attempt to explain and illustrate various passages, on a new principle of criticism, derived from Mr. Locke's Doctrine of the Association of Ideas. London: printed for T. Cadell. 1794.

[vi], 258 pp., errata leaf. Modern marbled boards, morocco label. First edition.

An interesting attempt at applying Locke's account of the association of ideas to the reading of a text. The association of ideas is taken to be `the combination of those ideas, which have no natural alliance or relation to each other, but which have been united by chance.' The author uses this as a way of understanding the creative artist. The power of such an association `over the genius of the poet' consists in `supplying him with words and with ideas, which have been suggested to the mind.' That suggestion works by a `principle of union unperceived by himself (the poet) and independent of the subject to which they are applied.'Yolton 1794.2.