6 CULTIVATION OP MEMORY, ] 



sionally to put forth all the vigour of your attention, at thei 

 risk of a little temporary fatigue. It will facilitate your ac*^ 

 quisition of a reward, which the listless exertions of the iii'i 

 dolent can never obtain. 



It is in science, or philosophy, as in many a fairy tale. Thei 

 different obstacles which the hero encounters, are not pro^i 

 gressively greater and greater ; but his most difficult achieve*^ 

 ments are often at the very commencement of his careers 

 He begins, perhaps, with attacking the castle of some en-^ 

 chanter, and has to force his way, unassisted, through thd 

 griffins and dragons that oppose his entrance. He finishei^ 

 the adventure with the death of the magician — and strips 

 him of some ring, or other talisman, which renders his sutn 

 sequent adventures comparatively easy and secure. The 

 habit of attentive thought, which the consideration of diffi-^ 

 cult subjects necessarily produces, in those who are not toq 

 indolent to give attention to them, or too indifferent to fee| 

 interest in them, is more truly valuable than any talisman, of; 

 which accident or force might deprive you. The magid 

 with which this endows you, is not attached to a ring, or a 

 gem, or any thing external ; it lives, and lives for ever, in th0 

 very essence of your minds. — Brown. i 



LESSON 4. I 



\ 

 Cultivation of Memory. w 



 Super'fluous, unnecessary. '), 



Cha'os, confusion, ch in words from the Greek sound like k. 



Memory implies two things : first, a capacity of retaining 

 knowledge ; and, secondly, a power of recalling that know- 

 ledge to our thoughts when we have occasion to apply it to 

 use. When we speak of a retentive memory, we use it il| 

 the former sense ; when of a ready memory, in the latter^ 

 Without memory, there can be neither knowledge, arts, noli 

 sciences ; nor any improvement of mankind in virtue, oi^ 

 morals, or the practice of religion. Without memory, th^ 

 soul of man would be but a poor, destitute, naked being, with 

 an everlasting blank spread over it, ?^xcept the fleeting ideaai 

 of the present moment. | 



