MERE MEMORY. 5 



contribute to the poor. He could do that for any 

 Sunday, if you gave him any hint of it ; last week, 

 or last year, was all the same to him. His me- 

 mory was, in short, as perfect as memory could 

 be ; but then he had no judgment in the using of 

 it; and so, when in company, it often made him 

 seem, and not unfrequently made other people feel, 

 very ridiculous. 



It would not be fair to mention names on such 

 a subject ; but the fact is beyond question, and it 

 bears so closely and forcibly upon the object of 

 this section, and indeed upon the whole purpose of 

 this little volume, that I shall mention one other 

 instance. Some time ago, there was employed, as 

 a reporter to one of the morning newspapers, a 

 gentleman of the most amiable character and the 

 most upright conduct; but one who never made 

 a profound or even an original observation in his 

 life, unless the uncouth juxta-position of two mat- 

 ters of memory, between which there is no con- 

 gruity or connexion, can be regarded as a sort of 

 ludicrous originality. He had been long a faithful 

 labourer on the establishment, and so he attended 

 the Upper House, where the every-day duty was 

 then easier than that in the Commons. He took 

 no notes whatever, and yet, if an unexpected de- 

 bate sprung up, and he was left for hours before 

 any one went to relieve him, he could write out 

 the whole verbatim. While listening, he was lite- 

 rally " held by the ear," so as not only to be 

 incapable of thought, but almost of the use of all 

 his other senses. In the office, too, he was the 

 oracle of facts and dates ; and, as he had read the 

 newspapers diligently for many years, he knew 

 almost every parliamentary sentence, and could 



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