Addison,[1] "upon the first naming of an emperor, will immediately tell you his age, family, and life. To remember where he enters in the succession, they only consider in what part of the cabinet he lies; and by running over in their thoughts such a particular drawer, will give you an account of all the remarkable parts of his reign." If our ideas were arranged with equal method and order, the mind would turn to them, with the like facility.
Sensible objects have a powerful effect in recalling to the mind the ideas with which it was occupied when those ideas were presented. Thus the sight of any remarkable scenes in the course of a second journey, will frequently remind a person of the subject of which he was thinking or talking when he last travelled that road; or, to adopt the elegant language of Mr. Foster.[2] "Places and things which have an association
- ↑ Dialogue upon the usefulness of ancient Medals, pp. 21, 22, 12mo. 1726.
- ↑ Essays, p. 12. For a very pretty illustration of this subject, see also Spectator, No. 417.
ently illustrate and confirm this fact. The Grand Duke having asked Magliabechi whether he could procure a book that was particularly scarce, he replied, 'no, sir, it is impossible, for there is but one in the world, that is in the Grand Signior's library at Constantinople, and is the seventh book on the second shelf, on the right hand side as you go in.'
