COMMON THINGS TIME. 



lat such interval of time must have elapsed since we fell asleep. 

 But if we fall asleep in tne evening and do not awaken until the 

 next day but one, we are unconscious of the lapse of more than 

 one night. Robinson Crusoe, alone on the desert island, being 

 indisposed, swallowed a narcotic composed of rum and the infusion 

 of tobacco, which threw him into a profound sleep that continued 

 from the night until the afternoon of the next day but one, and 

 he was unconscious of the lapse of more than a single night. He 

 found accordingly, when liberated from his solitary abode, upon 

 comparing his journal with the actual dates, that he had lost a 

 day in his account. 



5. It might, therefore, be naturally inferred that the succession 

 of our thoughts or mental impressions, being the origin of ou: 

 perception of duration, would be necessarily a measure of dura- 

 tion, and indeed the only measure of it. It is easy, nevertheless, 

 to see that such an inference can only be admitted with consider- 

 able qualification. The succession of sensible impressions pro- 

 duced by certain regular and uniform series of external appear- 

 ances is unquestionably an exact and the only exact measure of 

 time, but it would be, on the other hand, a grave error to assume 

 that such a just measure of duration can result indifferently from 

 every series of mental impressions. Who does not know that a 

 series of agreeable thoughts and brilliant ideas has the effect of 

 making time pass with unwonted rapidity ? 



" Too late I stayed. Forgive the crime ! 



Unheeded flew the hours. 

 How noiseless falls the foot of Time 

 Which only treads on flowers ! 



" Ah ! who with clear account remarks 



The ebbing of his glass, 

 When all its sands are diamond sparks, 

 Which dazzle as they pass ? " 



Again, the series of our thoughts becomes a most fallaciou 

 measure of time when we are the sport of the more exciting 

 passions and emotions, such as hope, fear, or despair. 



"Rosalind. Time travels in divers paces with divers persons; I'll tell 

 you who time ambles withal, who time trots withal, who time gallops 

 withal, and who he stands still withal. 



' ' Orlando. I prythee, who does he trot withal ? 



" Ros. Marry, he trots hard with a young maid, between the contract 

 of her marriage, and the day it is solemnised. If the interim be but a 

 se'nnight, time's pace is so hard, that it seems the length of seven years. 



" Orl. Who ambles time withal ? 



"Ros. With a priest that lacks Latin, and a rich man that hath not 

 the gout : for the one sleeps easily, because he cannot study, and the other 

 lives merrily, because he feels no pain ; the one lacking the burden of lean 

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