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there were neither ladies nor musicians; another will, on the contrary, notice ladies in preference to smoke and paddle-wheels; a third, perhaps, will have seen neither smoke, paddle-wheels, nor ladies; he was particularly struck with the presence of a Spanish cat, or English dog, &c. &c.
The noticing some notions in preference to others, will depend upon a variety of circumstances, which would be too long, and besides not indispensably necessary, to be enumerated here; suffice that some notions are noticed, and others are not, although, in reality, they do all stand stubbornly before the senses. And so it is with regard to notions that spring up and stand before the inagination; some of them are noticed, and some of them are not;—e.g. the notion of the pen with which I am writing makes jump up before my mind the person of the stationer of whom I bought it, and also the shelves that were behind him; but I must not suppose that this notion, my pen, has brought before my imagination nothing else besides the stationer and his shelves; the notion, my pen, has, in reality, brought before my imagination a host of notions, but I have not noticed them all. I have noticed the stationer and his shelves in preference to all the rest: this preference will depend upon a variety of circumstances, which would be too long, and besides not indispensably necessary, to be enumerated here—suffice it to know that some of the sprung-
