SOLACE. 61 



Even those contrivances to which we resort for 

 the purpose of procuring sleep, are proofs that ob- 

 servation is the means by which we obtain that re- 

 freshment. When the mother stills her infant to 

 repose, it is not by silence, which, as it is the ac- 

 companiment, we would naturally think should be 

 the best means of procuring sleep. She sings her 

 lullaby; and it is well worthy of remark that the 

 sweeter her voice is, and the more musical and 

 modulated its tones, the sooner does her smiling 

 charge sink into that balmy rest which is so essen- 

 tial to its present health and its future growth. The 

 ticking of the clock too, the slow dropping of water 

 from the eaves of the house, the chirping of the 

 cricket at the hearth, and the booming of the wind, 

 and especially its soft music in the chinks and cran- 

 nies, where it is murmuring in promise of rain, all 

 lead us to that comfortable state of tranquillity which 

 is the preface to balmy sleep. 



In all these cases, it is really observation which 

 is the solace of the mind the all-healthful medicine 

 which drugs the body to a state of wholesome and 

 invigorating repose ; so also, in the contrivances to 

 which we have recourse in order to procure sleep, 

 if it is not direct observation, it is something very 

 much resembling it, which is the real cause why we 

 obtain that refreshing sleep which mere quietude 

 will not bring us. Ordinary people have recipes for 

 sleep, which are all but infallible, in slowly repeat- 

 ing the letters of the alphabet, or counting the num- 

 bers upwards from one, until sleep puts an end to 

 the monotonous repetition. Those who know a 

 little more may be proof against these very simple 

 contrivances ; but they, too, have their resources, 

 and they all in so far resemble observation, they 

 are all operations of the mind, upon something which 

 stands out clear and graphic, as if there were a pic- 

 ture of it before the eyes, and only one step removed 

 from actual observation. The multiplication of two 

 F 



