ATT 



65 



ATT 



Attalus 



II 

 Attention. 



Twenty-four jurors are required to try this false 

 verdict; who are called the grand jury. He that 

 brings the attaint can give no other evidence to the 

 grand jury, than what was originally given to the 

 petit ; because the question is solely, whether the 

 petit jury did right upon the evidence brought before 

 them ? But those against whom the attaint is brought 

 are allowed to bring new matter, in affirmance of the 

 first verdict ; because the petit jury may have formed 

 their verdict upon evidence of their own knowledge, 

 which never appeared in court ; and because the judg- 

 ment inflicted upon them, at common law, if their 

 verdict was found to be false, was peculiarly severe. 

 This judgment was : That they should lose their li- 

 beram legem, and become for ever infamous ; that 

 they should forfeit all their goods and chattels ; that 

 their lands and tenements should be seised into the 

 king's hands ; that their wives and children should 

 be turned out of doors ; that their houses should be 

 rased and thrown down ; that their trees should be 

 rooted up ; that their meadows should be ploughed ; 

 that their bodies should be cast into gaol; that the 

 party should be restored to all that he had lost in 

 consequence of the unjust verdict. The severity of 

 this judgment, however, was mitigated by the statute 

 11 Hen. VII. c. 24. revived by 23 Hen. VIII. c. 3. 

 which inflicted a more moderate punishment upon 

 attainted jurors ; viz. perpetual infamy, and, if the 

 cause of action were above j40 value, a forfeiture 

 of '20 each by the jurors; or, if under 4:0, 5 

 each ; to be divided between the king and the in- 

 jured party. So that an attaint may now be brought, 

 either upon the statute, or at common law. But the 

 practice of setting aside verdicts upon motion, and 

 granting new trials, has now superseded the use of 

 both sorts of attaints. See Blackst. Comment, b. iii. 

 ch. 25. Jacob's Law Diet. (~) 



ATTALUS, the name of several kings of Per- 

 gamus. See Univers. Hist. vol. vii. p. 263, 327, 

 382; viii. 189; x. 20, 40, (M) ; xii. 4-08; and 

 History of Free Masonry, Edinburgh, 1804, p. 29. 



U ) r 



ATTELABUS, a genus of coleopterous insects, 

 belonging to the family Rostricornes of the French 

 naturalists. See ENTOMOLOGY. (f) 



ATTENDANT Keys, in music, are, according 

 to Drs Boyce and Calcott, the keys on the fifth above, 

 and fifth below, (or fourth above) any given key 

 which in modulation are introduced, by the addition 

 of a new sharp or flat to the signature. Mr Maxwell, 

 p. 267- of his " Essay on Tune," proposes a system 

 of 18 notes in the octave, which shall make the keys 

 of C major and A minor, with their attendant keys, 

 or 6 auxiliary scales, perfect in their harmony through- 

 out. See Maxwell's Scales (if Music, and Auxiliary 

 Scales. ( t ) 



ATTENTION, a steady exertion or due applica- 

 tion of the mind to any object of sense or intellect, in 

 order to its being thoroughly understood, and after- 

 wards retained. In its etymology it denotes stretch- 

 ing or straining, from ad and tcmlo, which not in- 

 aptly expresses that strong and undivided effort of 

 our powers which is required for giving to an inte- 

 resting object its due impression. 



Whether attention be a distinct and independent 

 TOL. III. PART I. 



power of the mind, which cannot be resolved into any Attention, 

 thing else ; or whether it consist merely in a steady ' 

 and strenuous exercise of any one of our various men- 

 tal powers, or organs of external perception, accord- 

 ing as the case may require, are questions on which 

 philosophers have differed considerably in opinion. 

 All, however, have agreed, that this species of men- 

 tal exertion is indispensible, in order that objects may 

 affect our faculties to such a degree as to be after- 

 wards retained in the mind, or distinctly recollected. 

 " Memory," says Mr Locke, " depends much on 

 attention and repetition." Cat I' attention, says Hel- 

 vetius, plus ou moins grandc, qui grave plus oumoins 

 prqfondtment les objets dans la memoire. And 

 Quinctilian makes a similar observation. Nee dubium 

 est, says he, speaking of memory, quin plurimum in 

 liac parte, valeat mentis intentio, et velut acies lumi- 

 num a prospectu rerum quas intuetur non aversa. 

 These remarks seem to imply, that attention is volun- 

 tary on our parts ; and so it doubtless is to a certain 

 extent ; but when we are occupied by a very inte- 

 resting object, our attention is seized, and fixed beyond 

 our own controul. 



In those cases where our attention is entirely en- 

 grossed by something that greatly interests the mind, 

 the impressions on the organs of sense seem to pro- 

 duce no corresponding effect on our internal powers 

 of perception. A clock, for example, may strike in 

 the room where we are, and if we be deeply engaged 

 in conversation, or in any interesting speculation, we 

 shall not be able, the next moment, to recollect whe- 

 ther we heard it or not. The most acute sensation of 

 pain may pass unnoticed, if the attention be vigorous- 

 ly directed to another object. In the tumult of a 

 battle, a man may be shot through the body with- 

 out knowing any thing of the matter, till he disco- 

 vers it by the loss of blood or of strength. And 

 Archimedes, while intent upon the solution of a pro- 

 blem, was altogether unconscious of the sacking of 

 Syracuse. In such cases we are apt to conclude, that 

 the dbjects which act upon our seuses, have lost theirin- 

 fluence upon our perceptive powers ; though the truth 

 rather, seems to be, that perception still takes place, 

 but that we are unconscious of it, because our atten- 

 tion is completely engrossed by some other object. 

 That this is really the case, seems proved by a variety 

 ot facts. Thus a person who falls asleep in church, 

 and is suddenly awaked, is unable to recollect the last 

 words of tiic preacher ; and yet that they affected his 

 perceptive powers appears from this, that he would 

 have instantly awaked, had the preacher made a sud- 

 den pause in his discourse. 



It seems, therefore, to be essential to memory, even 

 in the very lowest degree, that the perception or 

 thought which we wish to remember, should remain 

 in the mind for a certain space of time, and should be 

 contemplated by it exclusively of every thing else ; 

 otherwise it will not be recollected even the very mo- 

 ment after it has been present in the mind. Hence it 

 happens that, in solitude, or the stillness of the night, 

 when the attention is undistracted by surrounding 

 objects, the impression made by any single object is 

 very strong and deep, and the memory becomes ex- 

 tremely retentive ; and hence, in the hurry of business, 

 and bustle of society, the objects which p>ess upon 

 I 



