114 0?f REVERIE, 



Solitude. shunned the town, that its noise and bustle might not 



disturb their meditations. Nevertheless, we have heard 

 of some, whose minds were more active amidst the uni- 

 form, mingled hum of the throng, or the noise of a car- 

 riage, than in more tranquil scenes. This may be 

 Town life. accounted for by asserting, 1st. That such uniform 

 X sounds may be from habit, associated with abstraction, 



as opposed to reverie; and i^'at it is only by sharp, sud- 

 den impulses, and not by uniform and accustomed sounds, 

 that abstraction is discomposed ; and 2dly, That, when 

 this is the case, the sounds in question will drown all 

 others, and thus weaken the influence of their excitement 

 in disturbing abstraction, and producing reverie. Here, 

 Whether re- however, a difficulty arises. If I remove myself to silence 

 treat be most and solitude for the purpose of philosophical abstraction, 

 reverie^ or to ^^^^^^<^ reverie by any means find its way to my mind, and 

 abstraction. experience proves that no silence and no solitude can ex- 

 clude it, — will not the absence of excitement from exter- 

 nal objects be favourable to the continuance of those idle 

 musings, which •! have taken pains to avoid? The first 

 object of a student is, to preclude the advances of reverie ; 

 but when its spell has stolen upon him, external stimuli 

 become desirable in order to dissolve it. Hence a retreat 

 into the shade will only facilitate reverie;* unless we carry 

 along with us a fund of information, on which we may 

 ruminate : an object of science to occupy and interest us; 

 and an inherent vigour of mind, which shall enable us to 

 resist the slighter impressions on our senses, from which 

 Second sight of ^Ijq deepest retreat is not exempt. The superstitious 

 the Highlands . \, . _ ,xu f a —i ^ 



of Scotland, dreams which are known by the name of second sight, 



are found amongst the most uninformed of mankind, in a 



country where the absence of disturbance might favor 



the highest speculations in science. The beach of the sea, 



which Plato chose as the fittest place for philosophical 



instruction, has in our own country become the favourite 



haunt of the indolent and the unthinking. 



Reverie is live- Objects and circumstances may be so disposed as to 



acco^d'^"^'** S^^^ *^ reverie a pleasing or pensive, and as we shall pre- 



ito cause. sently see, a refined or inelegant direction. I believe it is 



unnecessary to ask, whether the mind will not be more 



apt to depart from serioijg meditation in a gaudy chapel, 



I than 



