CHA P. contrivance, without any embarraffment or distraction of my VI. attention *. As to the utility of this art, it appears to me to depend entirely on the particular object which we fuppofe the speaker to have in view; whether, as was too often the cafe with the antient rhetoricians, to bewilder a judge, and to filence an adversary; or fairly and candidly to lead an audience to the truth. On the former fuppofition, nothing can poffibly give an orator a greater fuperiority, than the poffeffion of a secret, which, while it enables him to exprefs himself with facility and the appearance of method, puts it in his power, at the fame time, to difpofe his arguments and his facts, in whatever order he judges to be the most proper to mislead the judgment, and to perplex the memory, of those whom he addreffes. And fuch, it is manifeft, is the effect, not only of the topical memory of the antients, but of all other contrivances which aid the recollection, upon any principle different from the natural and logical arrangement of our ideas. In fo far as it was the object of this fpecies of artificial memory to assist an orator in recollecting the plan and arrangement of his difcourfe, the accounts of it which are given by the antient rhetoricians are abundantly fatisfactory. It appears, however, that its ufe was more extenfive; and that it was fo contrived, as to facilitate the recollection of a premeditated compofition. In what manner this was done, it is not eafy to conjecture from the imperfect explanations of the art, which have been tranfmitted to modern times. The reader may confult CICERO de Orat. lib. ii. cap. 87, 88.-Rhetor. ad Herennium, lib. iii. cap. 16. et feq.-QUINCTIL. Inft. Orat. lib. xi. cap. 2. To VI. To those, on the other hand, who speak with a view to con- CHA P. vince or to inform others, it is of confequence that the topics which they mean to illuftrate, should be arranged in an order equally favourable to their own recollection and to that of their hearers. For this purpose, nothing is effectual, but that method which is suggested by the order of their own investigations; a method which leads the mind from one idea to another, either by means of obvious and striking associations, or by those relations which connect the different steps of a clear and accurate process of reasoning. It is thus only that the attention of an audience can be completely and inceffantly engaged, and that the fubftance of a long difcourfe can be remembered without effort. And it is thus only that a speaker, after a mature confideration of his subject, can poffefs a juft confidence in his own powers of recollection, in stating all the different premises which lead to the conclufion he wishes to establish. In modern times, fuch contrivances have been very little, if at all, made use of by public speakers; but various ingenious attempts have been made, to affift the memory, in acquiring and retaining those branches of knowledge which it has been fuppofed neceffary for a scholar to carry always about with him; and which, at the fame time, from the number of particular details which they involve, are not calculated, of themselves, to make a very lafting impreffion on the mind. Of this fort is the Memoria Technica of Mr. Grey, in which a great deal of hiftorical, chronological, and geographical knowledge is comprised in a set of verses, which the student is fuppofed to make as familiar to himself as school-boys do the rules of grammar. CHA P. grammar. These verses are, in general, a mere assemblage of proper names, disposed in a rude fort of measure; fome flight alterations being occafionally made on the final fyllables of the words, fo as to be fignificant (according to certain principles laid down in the beginning of the work) of important dates, or of other particulars which it appeared to the author useful to affociate with the names. I HAVE heard very oppofite opinions with refpect to the utility of this ingenious fyftem. The prevailing opinion is, I believe, against it; although it has been mentioned in terms of high approbation by fome writers of eminence. Dr. Priestley, whofe judgment, in matters of this fort, is certainly entitled to refpect, has faid, that "it is a method fo eafily learned, and "which may be of so much ufe in recollecting dates, when "other methods are not at hand, that he thinks all persons of a "liberal education inexcufable, who will not take the small de gree of pains that is neceffary to make themselves masters of "it; or who think any thing mean, or unworthy of their no"tice, which is fo ufeful and convenient *" IN judging of the utility of this, or of any other contrivance of the fame kind, to a particular perfon, a great deal must depend on the species of memory which he has received from nature, or has acquired in the course of his early education. Some men, as I already remarked, (especially among those who have been habitually exercised in childhood in getting by heart grammar rules,) have an extraordinary facility in acquiring and retaining * Lectures on History, p. 157. the VI. 455 the most barbarous and the most infignificant verfes; which CHA P. another person would find as difficult to remember, as the geographical and chronological details of which it is the object of this art to relieve the memory. Allowing, therefore, the general utilty of the art, no one method, perhaps, is entitled to an exclufive preference; as one contrivance may be beft fuited to the faculties of one person, and a very different one to those of another. ONE important objection applies to all of them, that they accuftom the mind to affociate ideas by accidental and arbitrary connexions; and, therefore, how much foever they may contribute, in the course of conversation, to an oftentatious display of acquired knowledge, they are, perhaps, of little real fervice to us, when we are seriously engaged in the pursuit of truth. I own, too, I am I am very doubtful with respect to the utility of a great part of that information which they are commonly employed to impress on the memory, and on which the generality of learned men are disposed to value themselves. It certainly is of no use, but in fo far as it is fubfervient to the gratification of their vanity; and the acquifition of it confumes a great deal of time and attention, which might have been employed in extending the boundaries of human knowledge. To thofe, however, who are of a different opinion, fuch contrivances as Mr. Grey's may be extremely useful: and to all men they may be of fervice, in fixing in the memory thofe infulated and uninteresting particulars, which it is either neceffary for them to be acquainted with, from their fituation; or which cuftom has rendered, in the common opinion, effential branches of a liberal education. I 9 would, · VI. CHA P. would, in particular, recommend this author's method of recollecting dates, by fubftituting letters for the numeral cyphers; and forming these letters into words, and the words into verfes. I have found it, at least in my own cafe, the most effectual of all fuch contrivances of which I have had experience. SECTION VII. a Continuation of the fame Subject.Importance of making proper Selection among the Objects of our Knowledge, in order to derive Advantage from the Acquifitions of Memory. THE cultivation of Memory, with all the helps that we can derive to it from art, will be of little use to us, unless we make a proper felection of the particulars to be remembered. Such a selection is neceffary to enable us to profit by reading; and still more so, to enable us to profit by observation, to which every man is indebted for by far the most valuable part of his knowledge. WHEN we first enter on any new literary pursuit, we commonly find our efforts of attention painful and unfatisfactory. We have no difcrimination in our curiofity; and by grasping at every thing, we fail in making those moderate acquifitions which are fuited to our limited faculties. As our knowledge extends, we learn to know what particulars are likely to be of ufe |