ON REVERIE. 



123 



which we have previously identified with the recollection 



of our original object of contemplation. As nail-biting 



is intended to fix abstraction, drumming with our fingers . Dramming 

 , . , ' ■ . rm_. -x 1 with the fina- 



ls a practice, by which we promote reverie. Ihis it does ^^^ 



partly from habit and partly upon a principle already 

 mentioned ; namely, that a gentle uniform stimulus draws 

 attention from all others, except such as are sudden and 

 violent; which will dissolve any reverie, however inter- 

 esting, and however artfully promoted, unless in a 

 diseased state of the mind. 



If, therefore, we find that this last mentioned practice 

 is favourable to the continuance of our minds in the re- 

 gions of imagination, we must frequently, when we have 

 greater command over our thoughts, study to connect and 

 blend the practice with internal disapprobation of our 

 indolence. 



If, however the habit of reverie have been too deeply If reverie be 

 fixed in our minds to be entirely eradicated ; — or if (as is "t**oi,JhT to be 

 the case with many) we be unwilling to part with this regulated ; 

 pleasing weakness, and consider the moments spent in such 

 desultory musings, as the most delightful of our lives, we 

 ought still to be anxious to regulate them in such a manner 

 as to prevent them from being cither unprofitable or cri- 

 minal. 



We may hinder them from becoming unprofitable, by or rendered 

 cultivating a taste for intellectual pleasures ; by habitual P^^o"'^*"*'^* 

 application to a variety of branches of study ; — and by 

 frequenting the society of the learned or the refined. The 

 reverie, which we cannot conquer, will thus be converted 

 into a rational employment; — for taste and memory will 

 direct it to subjects of science and utility. 



The best rules for preventing fits of absence from be- The reveries of 

 coming criminal, will be found in that book, which is thca ^'^^"^^^ and 

 highest authority on this part of the subject. Keep the ^jji bg^tj^out 

 heart with diligence, for out of it proceed evil thoughts ; — repreach. 

 the springs of conduct ; the issues of life. Be strenuous 

 in '' casting down imaginations" that are contrary to 

 virtue ; and '' bringing every thought into the captivity 

 of principle." The authors of the book from whence 

 these maxims are extracted, were aware, that it was im- 

 possible to put an entire en to the influence of matter 

 R 2 over 



