UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 155 



" Whatever be the character of your mind," 

 he replied, " and whether you choose to observe 

 them or not, those complex operations are habi- 

 tually going on there ; imagination rapidly se- 

 lects from the materials presented to it by me- 

 mory, and by its own creative power forms new 

 trains of thoughts to pursue. The fine arts fur- 

 nish innumerable instances of this process. 

 But imagination is not a simple effort of the 

 mind: tell me then, Bertha, if you can, what 

 other intellectual faculties are engaged with if, 

 besides conception, which you have rightly said, 

 only exhibits the simple objects of our former 

 perceptions, and from which we are to make a 

 fresh selection ?" 



" I believe, uncle, there is first that power 

 which enables us to separate from our concep- 

 tions those circumstances which are not wanted 

 for our purpose the name is " 



" Abstraction. It is one of the most impor- 

 tant of our faculties, and is not less necessary to 

 our general conduct in life, than for the most re- 

 fined intellectual pursuits. It helps us to re- 

 move the glare which often dazzles and deceives 

 our moral perceptions ; it reduces our compli- 

 cated ideas to their constituent parts ; and it pre- 

 sents us with the means of considering certain 

 qualities of an object apart from the rest ; and, 

 therefore, of classing them with others : in short, 

 it is equally subservient to the power of reason- 



