ON REVERIE. 117 



enfeebled and incapable of exertion. Finding his spirits 

 sunk as much below the point of exhilaration, as his last 

 doze had raised them above it, he increased the quantity 

 of stimulus in a progressive duplicate ratio : — Tlie unfor- 

 tunate Brown at length fell a victim to dram-drinking. 



The Turks, who chew opium in large quantities, are *^i^^ Turks, 



, . , .0 ,,1 1 who take opi- 



rauch addicted to reverie, home traveller relates, that um, are ad- 

 he has observed a native of Turkey sitting from morning dieted to reve- 

 till evening in the same posture, poring in a stream where 

 he had fixed a bottle, for the sake of being thrown into a 

 pleasing rumination by the bubbling noise it made with 

 the water. ^ 



They who have indulged their minds in a habit of inat- Long-contlnu- 

 tention and wandering, are apt to prolong their time of ^^ ^^^l ** ^^' 

 study, that they may finish, before they rise from their 

 desk, the task they have allotted for the day: under the 

 impression that they are by this means redeeming the time 

 they have lost in dissipation of thought. 



This is a mistaken economy, and proves no saving qf Much of the 

 time in the end. He, who, greedy of knowledge, neglects ^j^^ ^^-^^^ ^^^ 

 to accustom himself to regular bodily exercise, will find exercise is use- 

 many of the hours which he has passed at his desk, to be ^"^* 

 undeserving of being computed with the hours of actual 

 • improvement : and will thus become sensible, that if a 

 / certain portion of time had been given to exercise, the 

 hours of his actual improvement would have been more in 

 number. When the body has been sedentary and indo- 

 lent, the faculties make fruitless attempts to grasp the 

 objects of their study. — This is the case in reading : it is 

 still more so in composition. With great wisdom, there- 

 fore, did the Greeks mingle gymnastic exercises with the 

 study of philosophy. In the morning, after the spirits 

 have been recruited by rest, the mind being (with the 

 body) fresh and vigorous, is not disposed to deviate 

 from the subject presented to it. It was accordingly at 

 this time of the day, that the kings of Egypt transacted all 



teir public business. 

 In the evening these circumstances are altered. The Evening stu- 

 tigue and the meals of the day, and the recurrence of dies are of lit- 



|ie images that have passed before the senses, are inimical ^* ^^* 



the vigorous stretch of intense thought. Brutus used 



to 



