222 Reverie^ coruidered as 



minds were more active amidst the uniform, 

 mingled hum of the throng, or the noise of a 

 carriage, than in more tranquil scenes. This 

 may be accounted for by asserting, 1st. That 

 such uniform sounds may be from habit, asso- 

 ciated with abstraction, as opposed to reverie ; 

 and that it is only by sharp, sudden 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, 

 however, a difBculty arises. If I remove myself 

 to silence and solitude for the purpose of phi- 

 losophical abstraction, should reverie by any 

 means find its way to my mind, and experience 

 proves that no silence and no solitude can 

 exclude it, — will not the absence of excitement 

 from external objects be favourable to the 

 continuance of those idle musings, which I 

 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 \\^i^ us a fund of information, on 

 which we may, ruminate j an object of science 



