Ib.
s. vii. p. 168.
A man cannot well understand an essence, and hath no idea of it in his mind, much less can a painter's pencil do it.
Noticeable, that this is the only instance I have met in any English classic before the Revolution of the word 'idea' used as synonymous with a mental image. Taylor himself has repeatedly placed the two in opposition; and even here I doubt whether he has done otherwise. I rather think he meant by the word 'idea' a notion under an indefinite and confused form, such as Kant calls a
schema
or vague outline, an imperfect embryo of a concrete, to the individuation of which the mind gives no conscious attention; just as when I say — "any thing," I may imagine a poker or a plate; but I pay no attention to its being this rather than that; and the very image itself is so wandering and unstable that at this moment it may be a dim shadow of the one, and in the next of some other thing. In this sense, idea is opposed to image in degree instead of kind; yet still contra-distinguished, as is evident by the sequel, "much less can a painter's pencil do it:" for were it an image,
individui et concreti
, then the painter's pencil could do it as well as his fancy or better.