company, bruising them so to death that not a lineament of them could beknown. Simonides, by recollecting the manner in which they sat at table, was enabled to distinguish them, and to deliver them to their friends for burial. The aid which the recollection of the poet received, on this occasion, is said to have suggested the idea of an artificial memory.
"The principle of the scheme of Simonides, is to transfer a train of ideas, the archetypes of which are not the objects of sense, and are, therefore of difficult recollection, to another train which we cannot miss to recollect, because the archetypes are not only objects of sense, but objects of sight, with which archetypes we are perfectly familiar; or which may be placed actually before our eyes. Suppose then Simonides were to commit to memory a discourse, consisting of speculations concerning government, finances, naval affairs, or wisdom, none of the archetypes of which could be made objects of sense, at least, at the time of delivery; and to assist his recollection, he were to connect the series of ideas in that discourse, with a series of objects, which he could either place in sight, or with which he was so familiar, that he could not fail to recollect them; he would proceed in the following manner. He would take a house, for instance, either the one in which he might deliver the discourse, or another; with every part of
